The other day, in preparation for a group meeting at work, I realized a lot of my entertainment revolves around murder. Adam and I are working our way through the eight seasons of Castle. We’ve been trying to chase down Jack the Ripper in Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective. On my runs, Hercule Poirot is one of my frequent companions. And while my sewing machine has been whirling, my laptop has been playing Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Needless to say, when it was my turn to talk about how I’ve been filling my time during the stay at home order, murder was axed from the conversation.

Most of you know the names, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. They are the quintessential murder investigators, after all. Even if the show’s been canceled for a few years, Rick Castle probably rang a bell for a lot of you reading. Miss Fisher, on the other hand, is perhaps a mystery.

I found her while scrolling through Amazon Prime’s endless offerings. I needed something to keep me entertained while I was cutting out mask pieces and sewing ties. A sassy, whip-smart socialite adventurer with a killer wardrobe turned last detective burst onto my laptop screen. If that didn’t pique my interest, I don’t know what would. I was hooked before the jazzy opening jingle played.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries was an Australian drama series that aired from 2012 to 2015. Her adventures are set in the 1920s in Melbourne. Miss Fisher, Phryne to her friends, returns to her homeland to get some distance from her family now based in England and settle some unfinished business. Her eye for detail and her insatiable curiosity helps her find her calling, much to the initial chagrin of Detective Inspector Robinson.

A full-length film was released earlier this year. With such a gap between the movie and the show finale, a fan following had to exist. And what do you know, Miss Fisher isn’t just a TV character, she started out on the page first.

Oh, what’s that I’ve stepped in? A whole new series that I’m twenty books behind in? Oh well, I’ve started down this rabbit hole, can’t turn back now.

Miss Phryne Fisher made her debut back in 1989 in Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood. Since then, Greenwood has put out twenty mysteries involving the chic detective, the last being published in 2013.

The last episode in the TV series played through, and I realized I couldn’t go on to the movie just yet. I wasn’t quite ready to let Miss Fisher go. Instead, I clicked over to Libby and checked out the first book.

What appears on the big and little screens aren’t always the same as what’s on the page. It would be complicated to pull that kind of one to one ratio. TV and novels aren’t the same medium. That said, the showrunners manipulated the source material to fit into a TV show format without damaging the structure of the story and characters. Not something you see every day, which makes me think they were fans of the source material.

I could sit here and talk about her wardrobe for another thousand words or so, but I won’t. I’ll just take a quick moment to reiterate, her closet is chock full of gorgeous ensembles and accessories. The cloche needs to make a comeback. But Phryne’s clothes aren’t her greatest asset by a long shot.

She is a woman who knows her business and does not offer apologies or excuses. While this isn’t a rare quality for the other mastermind detectives I named, it is when it comes to women who step into the role of sleuth.

Part of that is that we don’t have a ton of “lady detectives” to select from. Agatha Christie gave us a few, most notably Miss Marple. I have only read one Miss Marple mystery, but she didn’t leave a great impression. She downplayed her genius. Over and over again. In a super gossipy kind of way.

Hercule Poirot would never have ever acted that way. He is always embued with self-worth and self-assurance. Phryne takes that same tact, diving in with both feet. She is confident she had the tools to get to the bottom of the mystery she was tasked with, which is enjoyable as much as it is enviable.

Greenwood doesn’t clear her heroine’s path either. Social mores and prejudice while tracking down her leads litter her path. She’s underestimated. But, to The Honorable Phryne Fisher, obstacles are meant to be stepped over and walked around.

Her fortuitous financial circumstances open a lot of doors for her. But, as I sit here scribbling, Bruce Wayne comes to mind, and he had a more considerable fortune. So, I can’t nitpick too much on that point. And at least Phryne had a good dollop of how the other half lived.

While I say she’s got the same confidence as her male counterparts, that doesn’t mean she is a masculine character. Quite the opposite, in fact. Miss Fisher is very much in touch with her feminity, even embracing and reveling in it. Making her quite a contradiction in terms and very, very human.

If you can’t tell, I adored this character, both on the page and on the screen. Looks like I have no choice but to add another murder mystery series into the reading rotation.

My friend Libby, a library app for ebooks and audiobooks, will be put to work for that. If you can’t get your hands on the novels though your library’s participation with Libby, or other like service, they were a reasonably priced purchase in Amazon’s Kindle store. I would also definitely recommend you try the TV series.

And that’s all I’ve got for today’s post, Nerd Girls. Stay safe, well, and stocked with books.