Tag Archives: Kerry Greenwood

August 21, 2009

MWF – Part 1

Filed under: Events/appearances — Tags: , , , , — PD Martin @ 5:07 am

First off, sorry there was no blog last week – a few technical hitches my end.

Today was my first session at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. My panel topic – Who knew crime was this sassy? The session was chaired by Elly Varenti and the other panellists were Kerry Greenwood and Lisa Lutz.

Let me tell you, you couldn’t get a more diverse range of authors and leading ladies! Having read both Kerry’s and Lisa’s latest books in the lead up – Murder on a Midsummer Night and Revenge of the Spellmans – I was armed and ready to discuss our work.

Kerry’s heroine, Phryne Fisher, is an extremely modern woman for her era – the 1920s in Melbourne. Who knew people drank so much in the 1920s?? Phryne is a self-funded socialite who also takes on PI cases and is definitely an engaging character. In this book she investigates an accidental drowning on behalf of the victim’s mother, who’s sure her son didn’t take his own life. On the side, Phryne’s also looking for an illegitimate child of a wealthy family. The book is classy and entertaining!

Lisa’s leading lady, Isabel Spellman, is a PI who’s on a career break – but takes on a “small” case of suspected adultery, which turns out to be more complicated than it first appeared. While Isabel’s tailing her mark, she’s also investigating a few family mysteries, such as her brother’s vacation, her sister’s PSAT scores and a mysterious blackmailer. Revenge of the Spellmans is a thoroughly entertaining novel that had me laughing out aloud !

Obviously neither of these women is like Sophie, which made for an interesting panel discussion. We talked about our different settings, our heroines, our research …the list went on. It was a great panel, and lots of fun!

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