Murder and Mendelssohn by Kerry Greenwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed the Phryne Fisher books but by Murder and Mendelssohn I found myself falling out of love with Phryne. As she “collects” children, pets and men some of her charm feels hollowed out particularly when I realized that the timeline for the 20 books is condensed to…I think it was six months. I also wasn’t fond of the writing of a gay character who made an exception for Phryne–not so much the principle of it, truth is always stranger than fiction and in life people are more complicated than labels but I found myself worn out by Phryne’s marvelousness.

Complaints aside, the series itself has charm particularly in the little details and characters periphery to Phryne. These are the reason I can genuinely say that I liked it. The resolution of the story was a bit obvious and I am unsure if this was intentional or if Greenwood is just exhausted by Phryne’s marvelousness too. I really want to continue loving the series but I admit a certain disappointment with Murder and Mendelssohn that I just can’t shake.

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