The Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher disembarks the Orient at Victoria Dock, returning to Melbourne after years abroad. Almost as soon as she checks into the Windsor Hotel, Phryne is embroiled in mystery: poisoned husbands, cocaine smuggling rings and illegal abortionists – not to mention erotic encounters with the handsome Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisse. Her adventure reaches its steamy end in the Turkish Bath Palace off Little Lonsdale Street.

The glamorous Phryne Fisher, accompanied by her maid Dot, decides to travel to the country by train to collect her new Hispano-Suiza motor car. The charm of rail travel soon evaporates though, when Phryne unexpectedly has to use her trusty pearl-handled pistol to save a young woman’s life and solve the disappearance of her fellow passenger’s mother. Her train trip derailed by a gruesome murder, Phryne speeds home in her Hispano-Suiza to her new abode in St Kilda where she works through the clues until she discovers her unassuming murderer.

Phryne, gorgeous in her sparkling evening gown, had thought she would dance the night away at the hottest dancehall in town, the Green Mill. That was before death spoiled the evening. In jazz-mad 1920s Melbourne, Phryne finds there are hidden perils lurking in the smoky shadows – like a mystery man from her past – and it takes all her ingenuity, and her rusty flying skills, to unravel the trail of blackmail and murder.

A young man with a blue tattoo lies cradled in Phryne's arms. Sadly, it's not another scene of glorious seduction. This time it's murder. Outraged by this brutal slaughter, Phryne promises to find out who is responsible. But Phryne doesn't yet know how deeply into the mire she'll have to go – bank robbery, anarchists and the kidnap of her beloved maid Dot. Her investigations lead her into the arms of the delicious yet dangerous anarchist, Peter the Painter.

When a young man is found dead in a bookshop at the Eastern Market, Phryne Fisher is plunged into the diverse worlds of Jewish politics, alchemy, and poison. She works her way through the mystery with help from the old faithfuls – Bert, Cec, Dot, Dr Mac and Detective Inspector Jack Robinson. Ultimately, though, it’s her stealth and wit that solve the crime – and all for the price of a song...