Kerry Greenwood - Cooking the Books (2011)

This is the sixth book in the Corinna Chapman series.

I adore Corinna. She's not Goddess-perfect in any way and that makes her one of my favourite characters. Corinna is nice, practical, hard-working, affectionate, loyal, not self-involved, empathic, open-minded, understanding, happy with herself - she's all the things people should be if we lived in a better world. Corinna is all the things that would make a better world.

Corinna is a niche baker in Melbourne CBD who lives in a very eccentric building, Insula, filled with equally eccentric residents. Mysteries come her way and, with the help of her lover Daniel, Corinna sets out to solve them. In this book someone is pranking the lead star of a new television series and it's threatening to end the show. Dramas among the actors and crew mirror the melodrama on the soap and Corinna bakes her way through pettiness and intrigue to find lost children, a nasty prankster and stolen bonds.

Kerry Greenwood - The Phryne Fisher Mysteries

I've just read my way through the entire Phryne Fisher Mysteries. They're wonderful!

I really enjoyed the glimpses into the past, the little things that make books special - the brand of perfume, the mode of dress, the type of car, Protestant versus Catholic, the political landscape, the rise of the union & the beginning of the global recession.

I love Greenwood's views on World War 1 - the war to end all wars. It didn't end anything, it set the groundwork for the next 100 years of war. We're still dealing with the fallout from the decisions made in the Versailles Treaty.

It's amazing how human Phryne's character is, with all her flaws and yet so strong and sincere at such a young age - the character is only 28, but she seems to think she is so old and mature, and back then she was.

Her sexual escapades are not for the prude-hearted, she takes on new lovers, discards old lovers and does not apologise for being who she is - a strong, independent, sexual woman of the 1920s, a time not known for women's liberation. I adore her. Phryne brings the 1920s Melbourne alive. I can almost see her as she drives her Hispano-Suiza down St. Kilda's streets, solving crimes and helping people.

I've watched some of the television episodes, but they do not compare to the books for storyline or detail. If you want to meet the real Phryne Fisher, read the books! With her pearl-handled pistol, her Gitanes and silk underwear, her love of cocktails and her belief in doing what is right - even if the law says it is wrong.