Kerry Greenwood - Murder on a Midsummer Night

Praise for Kerry Greenwoods Phryne Fisher series

Independent, wealthy, spirited and possessed of an uninhibited style that makes everyone move out of her way and stand gawking for a full five minutes after she walks byPhryne Fisher is a woman who gets what she wants and has the good sense to enjoy every minute of it! Geelong Times

Phryne is a wonderful fantasy of how you could live your life if you had beauty, money, brains and superb self control The Age

Fisher is a sexy, sassy and singularly modish character. Her 1920s Melbourne is racy, liberal and a city where crime occurs on its shadowy, largely unlit streets. Canberra Times

The presence of the inimitable Phryne Fisher makes this mystery a delightful, glamorous romp of a novela literary glass of champagne with a hint of debauchery. Armidale Express

Impressive as she may be, Phryne Fisher, her activities and her world are never cloying thanks to Greenwoods witty, slightly tongue-in-cheek prose. As usual, its a delightfully frothy, indulgent escape with an underlying bite. Otago Daily Times

Greenwoods strength lies in her ability to create characters that are wholly satisfying: the bad guys are bad, and the good guys are great. Vogue

If you have not yet discovered this Melbourne author and her wonderful books featuring Phryne Fisher, I urge you to do so now In a word: delightful Herald Sun

Elegant, fabulously wealthy and sharp as a tack, Phryne sleuths her way through these classical detective stories with customary panache Greenwoods character is irresistibly charming, and her stories benefit from research, worn lightly, into the Melbourne of the period The Age

The astonishing thing is not that Phryne is so gloriously fleshed out with her lulu bob and taste for white peaches and green chartreuse, but that I had not already made her acquaintance. Bendigo Advertiser

K ERRY G REENWOOD is the author of more than forty novels and six non-fiction works, and the editor of two collections. Previous novels in the Phryne Fisher series are Cocaine Blues, Flying too High, Murder on the Ballarat Train, Death at Victoria Dock, The Green Mill Murder, Blood and Circuses, Ruddy Gore, Urn Burial,Raisins and Almonds, Death Before Wicket, Away with the Fairies, Murder in Montparnasse, The Castlemaine Murders, Queen of the Flowers, Death by Water, Murder in the Dark and most recently A Question of Death: An illustrated Phryne Fisher Treasury. She is also the author of a crime series featuring Corinna Chapman, baker and reluctant investigator, the first four novels of which are Earthly Delights, Heavenly Pleasures, Devils Food and Trick or Treat. In addition Kerry is the author of several books for young adults and the Delphic Women series.

When she is not writing Kerry is an advocate in magistrates courts for the Legal Aid Commission. She is not married, has no children and lives with a registered Wizard.

A Phryne Fisher
Mystery

Kerry Greenwood

First published in 2008

Copyright Kerry Greenwood 2008

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

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National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Greenwood, Kerry.

Murder on a midsummer night

ISBN 978 1 74114 999 9

Fisher, Phryne (Fictitious character) Fiction

A823.3

Typeset in 11.5 on 14pt Adobe Garamond by Midland Typesetters, Australia Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to Mark Pryor. A verray parfit gentil knightand a good judge of wine, as well.

Many thanks to Ann Poole for Mr Palisi, Tom Lane for his ancestor Mr Adami, and with gratitude to the usual suspects like David and Dennis and Alan and Samantha of Dragonfly. To my mother, Jeannie, whose memories and library I ransacked without pause. To Annette and Patrick, and to the amazing Beth Norling whose line would have made Ert scream with delight. And to my friends, for all those parties I never got to, all those birthdays I forgot, all those lunches we never had... thank you for forgiving me.

From the Greek of Tymnes

She came from afar, and her master said

He had not such a dog in all his days.

We called her Moll: she went into the dark.

Upon those roads we cannot hear her bark.

And in devoted, loving memory of Monsieur, the elegant, gentlemanly, stripy cat, now residing in Bubastis.

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is as strong as death... Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it.

The Song of Solomon 8:67
The Holy Bible

What if a little paine the passage have
That makes frail flesh to feare the bitter wave?

Edmund Spenser
The Faerie Queene

It had been such an agreeable day until then.

The year, aware that it was very new and ought not to put itself forward, was beginning its career as 1929 modestly. There were mild blue skies. There were sweet breezes (in St Kilda they were scented with Turkish lolly and old beer, admittedly, but one could perceive that the year meant well) and cool water. Phryne Fisher had bathed early then plunged herself into a bracing shower. She had cleansed her admirable form with pine-scented soap and patted it dry with the fluffiest of towels. Her breakfast, prepared by that jewel of cooks, Mrs Butler, and served by the gem of the butlering profession, Mr Butler, had included homemade lemon butter for her toasted baguette and real coffee made from real coffee beans and not from a bottle with a man in a fez on the front.

Her household this sunny morning was disposed to be quietly industrious, from her two adopted daughters, Jane and Ruth, making a recipe file in the parlour to Dot mending stockings in the garden under the jasmine. Ember the black cat was hunting sparrows and Molly the black and white almost-sheepdog was guarding the kitchen door. It was not perhaps very likely that burglars would come in through the back door in broad daylight, but if they did, Molly was ready for them, and she was also within easy reach of a cook whose generosity with meat scraps was legendary in canine circles.

Mr Butler was updating the cellar book, one of his favourite occupations. He had the drinks tray ready for when Miss Phryne might call for citron presse, a jug of which reposed in the American Refrigerating Machine with the shaved ice, lemon slices and mint sprigs.