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Unnatural Habits (Phryne Fisher #19)

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 402 ratings · 111 reviews

1929: Girls are going missing in Melbourne. Little, pretty golden-haired girls. And not just pretty. Three of them are pregnant, poor girls from the harsh confines of the Magdalene Laundry. People are getting nervous.Polly Kettle, a pushy, self-important Girl Reporter with ambition and no sense of self preservation, decides to investigate - and promptly goes missing hersel...more

Paperback, 348 pages

Published October 1st 2012 by Allen & Unwin (first published 2012)

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May 25, 2013 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The long list of Phryne Fisher mysteries revolves around the stylish The Hon. Ms. Fisher and her entourage solving a murder here, another crime there. In this, the 19th in the series, Phryne sets about finding three missing pregnant women and soon discovers other upsetting mysteries to solve: young blonde girls, mostly teenagers, have also gone missing. And then she is confronted with the disappearance of an aspiring young woman reporter who was chasing a story about the missing girls.

The police...more

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May 07, 2013 Debbie Maskus rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have truly missed reading Kerry Greenwood. I prefer the Phryne Fisher series over the Corinna Chapman series. Both series are set in Australia, but the similarities end there. The unnatural habit refers to nuns. The series is set in the 1920's with a wealthy, but determined heroine. Phryne shares her wealth with many, and is constantly trying to improve a woman's life. This story involves the abduction of young, virginal, blonde young women. Greenwood introduces each chapter with a small quota...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Kevin Lanahan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, chick-lit

My wife, the librarian, has brought home all the Phryne Fisher books and I, the dutiful husband, have read them all. After the last one, Dead Man's Chest, Greenwood gets back on her game with a fairly interesting story. After some boring storytelling in her last Corinna Chapman book and her dreadful Egyptian story, she is back to what appears to be her favorite character.

As Phryne gets a little older, she maintains her style and sense of adventure, but has also been adding strays to her househo...more

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Mar 28, 2013 A. rated it 5 of 5 stars

An ambitious girl reporter, Polly Kettle, who has no sense of self preservation, decides to work as an investigative reporter rather than the fluff pieces she has been assigned. The story opens with Phyrne rescuing Polly from a gang intent on beating her and Polly shares the story she is investigating, girls are going missing in Melbourne. Little, pretty golden-haired girls. And not just pretty. Three of them are pregnant, poor girls from the harsh confines of the Magdalene Laundry. Shortly afte...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Larraine rated it 4 of 5 stars

I first encountered author, Kerry Greenwood, when I read a review of the first Corinna Chapman book, Earthly Delights. She had already written quite a few of the now 18 Phryne Fisher books. I got hooked on Corinna, but just got around to giving Phryne a try.

Phryne and Corinna are two very decidedly different characters. Corinna is very much a woman of the present, not rich, not beautiful, not at all slim and working as a baker after giving up a successful career as an accountant. Phryne is weal...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Grey853 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

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Feb 06, 2013 Val Sanford rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian-mystery, historical-mystery, mystery, women-sleuths

Phryne Fisher is sometimes a bit too perfect for me. She's the James Bond of Australia, circa 1928. Her glorious clothes, her incredible body and her insatiable appetite for adventure, love and fast cars don't sit well with me sometimes, but I always keep reading because she draws me in, too, with her socialist leanings and her disregard for societal constraints.

In Unnatural Habits, Phryne finally becomes a whole person to me.

Girls are missing. Both young, blonde girls and unwed mothers are dis...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Trak rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, australian, aww-challenge-2013, crime, fiction

I have to admit that it has been some time since I read Phryne Fisher, I did manage a handful of the early novels, even watched the television series but was surprised to realise that Miss Fisher is up to book 19. This was no deterrent in reading Unnatural Habits for the only things that seemed to be different, from my memory of the earlier books, is that Phryne’s household has grown and she has more notoriety with the general public.
Miss Fisher is still her independent, free-wheeling, scandalo...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, mystery-thriller-goodies

Our intrepid Miss Fisher is searching for Margaret (but they call me Polly) Kettle--wannabe serious news reporter for a Melbourne newspaper. Miss Kettle, in turn, is searching for 3 young (and very, very pregnant)girls who walked away from their 'lying in' home and vanished.
No case that Phryne gets involved in is ever simple--this one eventually includes a white slavery ring!
In the course of her investigation Phryne is ably assisted by her household--faithful companion Dot, adopted daughters Jan...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Carl Brookins rated it 4 of 5 stars

I confess it’s a cause for celebration when another Phryne Fisher adventure shows up. Yes, the publisher sent this novel in the hope that I’d give it a review. Yes, I have written elsewhere that I love the Phryne Fisher crime novels. The Honorable Phryne Fisher is an aristocratic displaced single woman living on her inheritance in Melbourne, Australia where she serves the downtrodden and criminally beset. Her relations with a few coppers is excellent and she has over the years, taken to her boso...more I confess it’s a cause for celebration when another Phryne Fisher adventure shows up. Yes, the publisher sent this novel in the hope that I’d give it a review. Yes, I have written elsewhere that I love the Phryne Fisher crime novels. The Honorable Phryne Fisher is an aristocratic displaced single woman living on her inheritance in Melbourne, Australia where she serves the downtrodden and criminally beset. Her relations with a few coppers is excellent and she has over the years, taken to her bosom four needy souls, Dot who became Phryne’s secretary and factotum, and two teenaged girls, Jane and Ruth, rescued from serious poverty. Now a fourth, a boy named Tinker, a lad of unusual skills for one so young has joined the menage. Life on the streets and waterfronts will do that, I suppose.

In the early Twentieth Century, when the series is set, women as emancipated as is the Hon. Miss Fisher, are rare indeed. Her wealth is a great help, but so too are her attitudes and her diverse talents. Distant and poor relation of the aristocracy of the UK, the Great War elevated her to wealth and high society. Bored, she decamped to Australia, after a stint as an ambulance driver in the war. She is, in this outing, the mistress of a monstrously wealth Chinese merchant named Lin Chung.

The plot centers on the mysterious disappearances of small blond girls from the city. The question of why, since no bodies are discovered, is what has been done with them. At the same time, questions are arising as to the treatment of young pregnant and unmarried women by the local Catholic church.

This novel is darker and grittier than most of the previous stories in this series, but Fisher makes do in a most forthright fashion, focusing her justifiable wrath on kidnappers and religious zealots. Smoothly written as always, the pace is jaunty the scenes are well illuminated and the novel is thoroughly satisfying. I live in the hope for more adventures with this most excellent female investigator.
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Jan 06, 2013 Marisa Wikramanayake rated it 5 of 5 stars

I discovered Greenwood quite by chance somewhere around 2007. And ever since I have eagerly awaited the next installment of a Phryne Fisher or Corrinna Chapman mystery. You can just imagine how thrilled I was when ABC started airing the TV series of Phryne Fisher last year.

Accordingly I was excited to find a new offering – Phryne’s 19th outing Unnatural Habits. I bought it to read on my flight overseas at the end of the year and avoided it till I was in my plane seat.

Phryne is much the same, the...more I discovered Greenwood quite by chance somewhere around 2007. And ever since I have eagerly awaited the next installment of a Phryne Fisher or Corrinna Chapman mystery. You can just imagine how thrilled I was when ABC started airing the TV series of Phryne Fisher last year.

Accordingly I was excited to find a new offering – Phryne’s 19th outing Unnatural Habits. I bought it to read on my flight overseas at the end of the year and avoided it till I was in my plane seat.

Phryne is much the same, the same devil may care attitude towards social conventions that don’t make any sense, the same thrill when danger is around, the same degree of annoyance that people are doing things they shouldn’t. Nasty things. And indeed they are.

In 1920s-30s Melbourne, girls are missing yet again. Young girls, young pregnant girls, those who wanted to be, and those who didn’t want to be, sold to the highest bidder, raped, and those who find themselves caught up in the white slave trade. Smack bang in the middle of all this lands an eager female reporter, keen to prove herself, naive to the extreme. As if young girls disappearing and a reporter nearly getting beaten up if not for the intervention of Phryne were not enough to make Phryne curious, Phryne has to get involved when the reporter herself vanishes.

She has to follow a trail through socialist and feminist run communes, through charitable nuns who run laundry services, while combing through brothels and clubs and keeping Inspector Jack Robinson informed just enough to ensure he doesn’t forbid her from becoming kidnapped and sold off herself. Because to solve this mystery that’s just what she may have to do.

If you have never read the Fisher series before, you are in for a treat. Mix a flapper in ’20s Melbourne with a radically (for the time) feminist attitude and an inclination to assume that she is James Bond and you have Phryne. Start with Cocaine Blues and work your way up – the novels vary a tad in the relationships between people when compared to the TV series and you will not regret diving into the entire collection of cases. The latest reports on Greenwood’s FB page state that she is currently writing the next Phryne Fisher – music to my ears. The sooner the better.(less)

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Dec 23, 2012 Readerwoman Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries

The divine Miss Fisher returns—for the 19th time. If you are new to Phryne Fisher, and author Kerry Greenwood, you are missing a great, erudite, fun and sometimes-risque series. This book, like all in the series, can be read without reading previous books. Ms. Greenwood does an excellent job of bringing new readers up to date without any repetition or blather. Yet each volume brings us a fuller understanding of the complexities that are Phryne.

In Unnatural Habits, protagonist Phryne (pronounced...more The divine Miss Fisher returns—for the 19th time. If you are new to Phryne Fisher, and author Kerry Greenwood, you are missing a great, erudite, fun and sometimes-risque series. This book, like all in the series, can be read without reading previous books. Ms. Greenwood does an excellent job of bringing new readers up to date without any repetition or blather. Yet each volume brings us a fuller understanding of the complexities that are Phryne.

In Unnatural Habits, protagonist Phryne (pronounced fry-nee) is swept into an unpleasant mess involving kidnapped girls, white slavery and personal abuses by church organizations that should have had the welfare of their parishioners at heart. It is 1929, Melbourne, Australia, and Phryne, not born to wealth but now indulging herself in nice things since her father's ascension to a title in England, is determined that her wealth will not only give her a comfortable lifestyle, but help better the lives of those around her. Those include her adopted daughters, Jane and Ruth, her cook and houseman Mr. and Mrs. Butler, her aide-de-camps Bert and Cec, and her maid-cum-sidekick Dot.

Greenwood does a wonderful job of making the characters believable, and fully fleshed out in realistic behaviors and mannerisms. In this book, when a determined and misguided girl reporter, Polly Kettle, goes missing while investigating a church-run laundry, Phryne and Dot step in to help. There are layers of evil to penetrate and piracy afoot! Greenwood explores more than just the fleshpots of the Roaring 20s; she also shows a world where the poor, while always with us, are abused and misused for the benifit of others, while leaving them malnourished and poorly housed. Although dealing with sometimes uncomfortable topics, Greenwood keeps her touch light and deft, letting her readers feel as if they are exploring the inside story, while having fun with a clever mystery.

As is often the case, Greenwood deals with real places (the Magdalen Laundries, for instance, were real, and not just in Australia) and real people, sprinkling her book with bon mots about social justice and political upheavals that help spark the storyline. Even though free-standing, each book in the series deepens the reader's understanding of the characters: Lin Chung, Phryne's longtime lover, and his protective cohorts who, while not interfering with her detecting, stay in the background to insure her safety; her police insider, John ("just call me Jack") Robinson, a detective-inspector who has learned to trust Phryne's instincts; and Dot's fiance, Hugh Collins, also a police officer. As her team works the co-mingled cases, and delves into the darker byways of Melbourne life, we are set to reminiscing about days when the bad guys were really bad, and the good guys (and gals) were gutsy, determined and unrelentingly curious. A worthy series whose quality of writing remains high, and the plots adroit and twisty.
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Mar 11, 2013 Joyce rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, crime, historical, humor, mystery, sense-of-place, women

I've listened to most of the series, and I like some much better than others. This title hit the spot--whether because it really is an excellent mystery and the characterizations fine or because it was the right book for my mood. Who knows. Phryne is always a force to be reckoned with--a dashing heroine not unlike adventure heroes in her sense of mission. Loved the parallel to chess--it's the queen that's the most powerful piece on the board, and Phryne proves she is just that here. Lovely perio...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Angela Savage rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-fiction

Explaining his reason for wrapping up the Kenzie-Gennaro series, Dennis Lehane allegedly says, "Have you every heard anyone say ‘The seventeenth book in the series was my favorite’?"

Perhaps Mr Lehane lacks Ms Greenwood's chutzpah as I'm here to say Unnatural Habits, the nineteenth book in the Phryne Fisher series, is my favourite to date.

The central plot concerns the disappearance from Melbourne of a swathe of golden-haired girls, some of them pregnant, and the ambitious but not at all streetwis...more Explaining his reason for wrapping up the Kenzie-Gennaro series, Dennis Lehane allegedly says, "Have you every heard anyone say ‘The seventeenth book in the series was my favorite’?"

Perhaps Mr Lehane lacks Ms Greenwood's chutzpah as I'm here to say Unnatural Habits, the nineteenth book in the Phryne Fisher series, is my favourite to date.

The central plot concerns the disappearance from Melbourne of a swathe of golden-haired girls, some of them pregnant, and the ambitious but not at all streetwise girl reporter who has taken it upon herself to investigate. But as Ms Greenwood has explained, her reading often takes her off on tangents and there are several subplots involving the 'gentlemen only' Blue Cat Club, a separatist women's commune in Bacchus Marsh, and a vigilante who is going around anaesthetising abuses of women and sterilising them while they are under.

In addition to the usual appeal of Phryne Fisher novels - the sparkling heroine and her loyal entourage, the insights into the Melbourne of 1929 rendered in loving detail - I was particularly interested in the stories surrounding the Abbotsford Convent, where wayward young women, some of them pregnant, were sent to work in the laundries. I had a great-aunt who was a nun at the Convent (now an arts precinct) in the 1970s. We used to visit her often, and I have fond memories of 'the Magdalens', women in their 50s sent away to the convent as wayward girls and never claimed by their families. These women spoiled us kids rotten; it wasn't until years later I realised they may well have had their own babies taken from them and adopted out.

I also enjoyed the insight into Melbourne's queer history, afforded by the role of the Blue Cat Club in the narrative. The site of this former members' only club is on the corner of Centre Place (formerly Calico Alley) and Flinders Lane in Melbourne's CBD near where I work, and I love imagining it in its former glory: all crystal chandeliers, marble copies of the Apollo Belvedere and the David, and in the air 'the scent of patchouli, so favoured by dear Oscar.'

Author PM Newton once described Phryne Fisher novels as 'cosies with teeth', which is particularly apt in the case of Unnatural Habits, given what Phryne does to her lover Lin Chung after witnessing the appalling conditions to which the 'bad girls' in the laundries of the Abbotsford Convent are subjected.

There is a darker shade to Unnatural Habits and in my opinion, it becomes the Hon Miss Fisher very well.(less)

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Feb 11, 2013 Bev Hankins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: early-20th-c, historical-mystery, mystery

I do love Miss Phryne Fisher of the Kerry Greenwood mysteries. There are some series that become stale or too formulaic as they go on, but Greenwood manages to keep the surprises coming and the interest piqued....even at entry #19: Unnatural Habits. This particular outing puts a little bit darker spin on the adventures of the grownup's Nancy Drew.

Phryne finds herself drawn into the world of "bad girls" and white slaving when a spate of disappearances occurs that involves everyone from fallen wom...more I do love Miss Phryne Fisher of the Kerry Greenwood mysteries. There are some series that become stale or too formulaic as they go on, but Greenwood manages to keep the surprises coming and the interest piqued....even at entry #19: Unnatural Habits. This particular outing puts a little bit darker spin on the adventures of the grownup's Nancy Drew.

Phryne finds herself drawn into the world of "bad girls" and white slaving when a spate of disappearances occurs that involves everyone from fallen women who are pregnant out of wedlock to young blonde daughters of some of Australia's middle class to a reckless, self-important girl reporter who hasn't the sense to smell danger even when it reeks like Limburger cheese. After rescuing said reporter from being beaten by the minions of certain people unhappy about her nosiness, Phryne discovers that Polly Kettle (reporter) is looking for a scoop on the missing girls. When Polly herself goes missing, Phryne and her household are on the job--going from horrid "laying-in" homes for the unfortunate pregnant to behind the scenes at a convent laundry to an exclusive "gentleman's club." By the time it is all over, Phryne has to restrain herself from permanently removing a few priests from the church and indulges in a little high-seas piracy to save the girls from a fate worst than death. And she does it all with her usual elegance, sharp wit, and courage--even when outnumbered twenty to one.

The Phryne Fisher stories are always good for a quick, adventurous read. Full of details of 1920s Australia and lots of interesting action. The mystery plots may not be terribly intricate, but that's really not what I'm looking for when I pick up a Miss Fisher mystery. I want Miss Fisher doing some on the ground detective work, putting the bad guys in their place, being brave and feisty, using her wits and leaving the awestruck in her path. She may be larger than life and a tad too perfect at everything--but what is an escape novel for, if not for that? Kerry Greenwood has struck a wonderful balance with her 1920s super-heroine and I, for one, hope that Phryne goes on for another 19 adventures or more.

This was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks!(less)

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Jan 21, 2013 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I do look forward to Kerry Greenwood's novels with Phryne Fisher as the strong willed, confident to the point of arrogance, and completely liberated heroine in the 1920's. Involved by accident with white slavery and the Magdalene Laundry at the local convent this begins with the saving of a woman reporter from the attack of thugs. After the incident the reporter is kidnapped and Phryne is off and running. With her usual assuredness she interviews drunken fathers, the members of a very exclusive...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Monica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-and-or-evil

The Hon. Miss Phryne Fisher, fashion plate, aviatrix, and iconoclast, takes on the horrors of the Magdalen laundries. An eager young reporter is investigating the disappearance of three young women from the lying in home where the nuns have sent them. Phryne defends her from an attack on the street and a few days later, the reporter disappears, an apparent kidnap victim. The police are looking both for the disappeared girls and the reporter, and her police friend Jack allows as how Phryne's help...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian, crime, ebook, review-books

It's almost impossible now to read these books and not have visions of the perfect Essie Davies as Phryne in the TV series wafting elegantly before your eyes. Which actually enhances the storylines as, although always beautifully described and outlined by Greenwood, she now has a physicality and a more three dimensional feel. It also didn't hurt that the dialogue, which was always crisp, sharp, clever and funny, has a voice as well.

I sort of lost my way with the Phryne Fisher series somewhere ba...more It's almost impossible now to read these books and not have visions of the perfect Essie Davies as Phryne in the TV series wafting elegantly before your eyes. Which actually enhances the storylines as, although always beautifully described and outlined by Greenwood, she now has a physicality and a more three dimensional feel. It also didn't hurt that the dialogue, which was always crisp, sharp, clever and funny, has a voice as well.

I sort of lost my way with the Phryne Fisher series somewhere back in the middle of what is now 19 books, and it was actually sharing the listening to the audio books with himself in the car that rekindled interest. It's too easy to forget the humour, and the gentle social commentary in these books, especially when the cover art and the blurbs often tend to suggest that there's something slightly on the cosy side about the series. Whilst the delivery might be cleverly on the lighter side, and the humour subtle and very tongue in cheek, the plotlines are often veering into non-cosy territory (as does Miss Fisher's love life), but possibly, to my memory, never quite so pointedly as in UNNATURAL HABITS.

For a book that's set in 1929 there's something depressingly current day about the main storyline - the mistreatment, abuse and exploitation of young girls. Girls who are the victims of rape, abuse, poverty, neglect or simply girls who made a mistake, they were abandoned to systems and organisations which, whilst carefully revealed in UNNATURAL HABITS, were obviously appalling. Whilst Greenwood is cautious in her revelations of details of what went on, there is no masking the revulsion and disapproval of the institutions and facilities that treated young women, and their babies with such awful cruelty. It's the restraint with which many of the observations are made that makes them all the more pointed.

As with all things Phryne however, this is not a single stream plot. In the search for missing young girls, Phryne encounters a variety of establishments and people from the "gentlemen-only" Blue Cat Club, to the farming commune of women in Bacchus Marsh, and a brush with the "middle-class" which seems to have the potential to derail Phryne more than any of society's "fringe dwellers" ever would. In a particularly satisfying sidebar, there's also the small matter of a vigilante anaesthetising and surgically, and very skilfully, sterilising serial women abusers.

Melbourne, and Greater Victoria, are always lovingly rendered in these books. There's obviously considerable research into the locations of the period, but the books never read as a geographical treatise. The action insinuates itself into the landscape of the time beautifully, the little details of what Phryne sees, and experiences, come alive for the reader, transporting you back, for example, to the fledgling Apple Orchards of Bacchus Marsh and surrounds.

As you'd expect, there is quite a bit of ladylike and very non-ladylike action in these books. Phryne commits acts of daring doing in order to save the day, ably assisted by her retinue of minions (now where have I heard that word before...). Her household continues to evolve, her wardrobe to beguile, and her Melbourne enchant. You can't help but foster a sneaking desire for an Adventuresses Club, to see the wonder of the Blue Cat Club, and the Block Arcade as it was then.

UNNATURAL HABITS, by dint of the subject matter that it tackles, seems to have headed off into slightly darker territory than previous books, but it does it elegantly, and with the same sense of wrongs to be righted, offences to be avenged, and life to be lived.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
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Dec 04, 2012 Katy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fun, funny, historical-fiction, intra-war-years, mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 23, 2013 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: detective-humor, social-history

Another book chosen by the cover, but as the Lane Road Library Expert on Period-Lady-Detective Fiction, I'm glad I did. You may know this character from from the PBS series Miss Fisher Mysteries (watch it for the costumes)but read the books. Set in Australia in the 20's with a lot of fast, witty dialog and unusual characters in a setting you don't get every day. Phryne (rhymes with briny)is an independently wealthy young woman who heads a household of dependents of various ages. This is the 19th...more

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Oct 16, 2012 Damaskcat rated it 5 of 5 stars

Phryne Fisher rescues a young journalist, Polly Kettle, from an awkward and potentially dangerous situation. Shortly afterwards she hears Polly has gone missing. Her friend – Detective Jack Robinson – asks for her help. Phryne, in her usual inimitable fashion, starts asking awkward questions and soon discovers that Poppy was onto something.

Girls are disappearing without trace and it seems as though pregnant girls are being badly treated by the local convent in their Magdalen laundries. Are thes...more

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Mar 12, 2013 Debbie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Debbie by: wordingerd@aol.com

The usual charming adventure. Phryne investigates a Magdalene laundry, enforced slavery of young girls, and the plight of ambitious women without the preachyness of Anne Perry. Each of Phrynes outfits is very nicely described and are almost as delicious to read about as the Viennese pastries lovingly describes in Frank Tallis mysteries.

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Nov 18, 2012 Jgrace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio, historical-fiction, mystery

Unnatural Habits – Kerry Greenwood
audio version performed by Stephanie Daniel
3 stars

The 19th book in the series and it’s 1929. The divine Phryne Fisher is investigating a number of strange disappearances. Several young pregnant girls are missing from a convent supported refuge for unwed mothers. Pretty little blond girls are missing from their Melbourne homes and an intrepid girl reporter is missing from her investigation. Phryne makes use of all her usual ‘minions’ to rescue the oppressed and...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another fabulous book in Kerry Greenwood's series focused around the world of Phyrne Fisher in 1920s Melbourne ... a Melbourne that definitely has a dark underbelly, an underbelly that spreads from the highest to the lowest.

Once again Kerry weaves in the historical fabric of life in 1920s Melbourne in a way that gives insight into just how hard life could be, especially if you were an unwed mother. But remember, this is Phyrne Fisher's world, so whilst there is darkness, this isn't served up as...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Sheila Beaumont rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, mysteries-suspense-thrillers

Another winner in the always-delightful Phryne Fisher series, set in Australia. Our heroine has her work cut out for her in this one: missing blond girls who may be victims of a white-slavery ring, three poor, pregnant girls who have vanished, and a missing young woman reporter, investigating the now-notorious Magdalene Laundry, who may have been kidnapped. Never fear, Phryne, intelligent, courageous, independent, and competent at everything she does, with the help of her friends and household "...more

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Dec 25, 2012 Alison Dellit rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, historical-fiction, fiction

I've been looking forward to this indulgence for ages, and it was just as expected. The impeccable Phryne Fisher triumphs against the forces of slavery and sexual abuse with the assistance of a motley crew of left-wing taxi drivers, doctors, farmers, policemen, brothel owners, servants and children. It wasn't a long book, but by the end I'd had enough of the remarkably cheerful and right-folk-rewarding world by the end. Apparently there is a limit to how much idealised history I can stomach, and...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Fred rated it 4 of 5 stars

What a wonderful time it was to spend some time with Phryne and her minions.

Phryne is on her way to meet a friend for drinks when she a lady about to be assaulted, but before she is, she is rescued by those that keep an eye out for Phryne. The lady is Polly Kettle, a reporter, who is chasing a story about three pregnant girls who have gone missing. Before Phryne can get much more information from Polly about the young, unmarried girls, Polly goes missing, too. About this time Jack, her police de...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Coralie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-own-this-book

This latest Phryne Fisher Mystery is just as agreeable and totally enjoyable as all her others.
I find it difficult to individually review Kerry Greenwood's lady detective stories because they all have excellent plots, they bring my favourite characters to life and I always learn a little more about the 'underbelly' of Melbourne in the 20's which is fascinating in itself.

I adore the character of Phryne, and what adventurous, romantic woman wouldn't? So many of us would love to be Phryne, and for...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Karen Blinn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Phryne Fisher is at it again down under in Australia. She has added a new member to her house household in the form of "Tinker" an adolescent from an overly large fishing family. This time out a young, female newspaper reporter disappears as well as pre-adolescent blonde girls in great number from orphanages and off the streets of town. Also, numerous unwed mothers have gone missing. It's up to Phryne to straighten out the mess so that others can take credit for it, which is how she prefers it....more

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Nov 19, 2012 Catie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, australian

I thought this was somewhat of a return to form for Phryne Fisher, it's a good mystery with a lot of threads, all the usual characters get involved and Phryne Fisher is in top form. I felt that the last book was a bit insipid, with the mystery pushed to the background, so that's nice to see. On the other hand I did find some of the class commentary in this book a bit hard to take- Phryne is frequently critical of the aspirational middle classes, but her own extreme wealth and high position in so...more

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Mystery

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Historical Fiction

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Mystery > Cozy Mystery

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About Kerry Greenwood

Kerry Greenwood was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray and after wandering far and wide, she returned to live there. She has a degree in English and Law from Melbourne University and was admitted to the legal profession on the 1st April 1982, a day which she finds both soothing and significant.

Kerry has written twenty novels, a number of plays, including The Troubadours with Stephen D'Arcy,...more

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Books by Kerry Greenwood

Murder on the Ballarat Train (Phryne Fisher, #3)

Death at Victoria Dock (Phryne Fisher, #4)

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Trivia About Unnatural Habits

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title link	preview: Unnatural Habits
avg rating	preview: Unnatural Habits Goodreads rating: 4.00 (402 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15736511-unnatural-habits?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341467958l/15736511.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15736511-unnatural-habits?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Unnatural Habits by Kerry Greenwood[/url]

Unnatural Habits (Phryne Fisher #19)

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