Raisins and Almonds
A
Phryne Fisher Mystery
Kerry Greenwood
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-168-7 (1590581687)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-168-1 (9781590581681)
Publication Date: September 2007
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Phryne Fisher loves dancing, especially with
gorgeous
young Simon Abrahams. But Phryne’s contentment at the Jewish
Young People’s Society Dance is cut short when
Simon’s
father asks her to investigate the strange death of a devout young
student in Miss Sylvia Lee’s bookshop located in the Eastern
Market.
Miss Lee has been arrested for the murder, and Phryne agrees that she
is a very unlikely murderer. Investigation leads her into the exotic
world of Yiddish, refugees, rabbis, kosher dinners, Kadimah, strange
alchemical symbols, and chicken soup.
Phyrne picks her way through the mystery with the help from the old
faithfuls Bert and Cec, her taxi driver friends; her devoted companion
Dot; and Detective Inspector "Call me Jack" Robinson. Phryne soon finds
herself at the heart of a mystery far graver and more political than
she at first appreciates.
And all for the price of a song ...
Review:
Melbourne
socialite Phyrne Fisher encounters the mystery of alchemy and the
reality of Middle East politics in Raisins
and Almonds,
the ninth mystery in this consistently enjoyable series by Kerry
Greenwood. The title is taken from a Yiddish lullaby of the same name.
A young Jewish scholar has dropped dead, murdered in the bookshop of
Sylvia Lee. The police arrest the most unlikely suspect for the crime,
the bookshop owner Sylvia Lee, and seem content with their decision.
Miss Lee's landlord, Benjamin Abrahams, who just happens to be the
father of Phyrne's latest lover Simon, suspects someone else may have
committed the crime and hires Phyrne to find the real killer.
There is little mystery in Raisins
and Almonds.
Phyrne knows very early in the book how the scholar was murdered (or at
least what was involved in committing the murder), and she probably
knows who (as does the reader) as well, but not the why. Her
investigation
takes her into a world of which she is unfamiliar and, for the most
part, in which she is unwelcome. For a series that is generally light
and amusing, this book is easily one of the darkest and most somber.
Greenwood is known for adding a little extra mystery for the astute
reader at the beginning of each chapter of each book in this series,
and part of the
fun in Raisins and
Almonds is
interpretting these mini-mysteries. Anyone with a basic chemistry
background
will recognize the formulas given at the start of the first two
chapters; what do these chemical compounds have to do with the death of
a Jewish scholar in a Melbourne bookstore? Many other chapters
reference terms of alchemy and the classical elements (water, fire,
air, earth). All of these factor into the "why" of the murder but may
not explain it entirely. The seemingly omnipresent politics of the
Israelis and the Palestinians also play a role here. Is Greenwood
trying to equate peace in the Middle East with turning lead into gold
under the guise of a murder mystery set in 1920s Australia? Maybe ...
or maybe this is just a simple story of a young sophisticated woman
solving the murder of a young educated man in a bookshop.
Special thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of Raisins and Almonds for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series (listed in order of their original publication in Australia; ISBNs and publication dates are for books available from Poisoned Pen Press) ...
Cocaine Blues
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), April 2006
ISBN-10: 1-59058-236-5 (1590582365)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-236-7 (9781590582367)
Flying Too High
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), July 2006
ISBN-10: 1-59058-237-3 (1590582373)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-237-4 (9781590582374)
Murder on the
Ballarat Train
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), October 2006
ISBN-10: 1-59058-241-1 (1590582411)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-241-1 (9781590582411)
Death at
Victoria Dock
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), December 2006
ISBN-10: 1-59058-238-1 (1590582381)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-238-1 (9781590582381)
The Green Mill
Murder
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), April 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59058-240-3 (1590582403)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-240-4 (9781590582404)
Blood
and Circuses
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), July 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59058-235-7 (1590582357)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-235-0 (9781590582350)
Ruddy Gore
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), June 2005
ISBN-10: 1-59058-118-0 (1590581180)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-118-6 (9781590581186)
Urn Burial
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), December 2005
ISBN-10: 1-59058-169-5 (1590581695)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-169-8 (9781590581698)
Raisins and
Almonds
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), November 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59058-168-7 (1590581687)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-168-1 (9781590581681)
Death Before
Wicket
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), January 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59058-170-9 (1590581709)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-170-4 (9781590581704)
Away with the
Fairies
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), January 2005
ISBN-10: 1-59058-022-2 (1590580222)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-022-6 (9781590580226)
Murder in
Monparnasse
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), June 2004
ISBN-10: 1-59058-042-7 (1590580427)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-042-4 (9781590580424)
The Castlemaine
Murders
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), September 2004
ISBN-10: 1-59058-117-2 (1590581172)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-117-9 (9781590581179)
Queen
of the Flowers
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), July 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59058-171-7 (1590581717)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-171-1 (9781590581711)
Death by Water
Murder in the
Dark
Omnimystery keywords for Raisins and Almonds
...
Location(s) referenced: Melbourne,
Australia.
