When Phryne and her daughters go to an amusement park where Phryne accidentally discovers one of the displays is actually a mummified body. This leads to an investigation of the events in a gold field in 1857. Meanwhile, Lin Chung is now officially in charge of his extensive extended family and needs to resolve an old feud involving those same gold fields.

re-read 2/3/2024 ( )

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1Ps3NvPPG9/

Kerry Greenwood - The Castlemaine Murders: Fairly standard, excepting the over-the-top amusement park. #cursorybookreviews #cursoryreviews ( )

I could see Essie Davis on every page of this romp.
This is the thirteenth book in the series of Phryne Fisher Mysteries. ( )

A good depiction of life on the Australian gold fields in the 1850s, and the subsequent mystery is well laid out, if hard to believe. Phryne Fisher gets to the bottom of it all with style and grace. ( )

A review I wrote in 2020:

The Castlemaine Murders by Kerry Greenwood

Set in Australia, Phryne is an escapee from the constraints of 1920s English upper class society.
Phryne and her sister, Beth, started life in extreme poverty in Melbourne but when a succession of
heirs died out in the First World War, their father inherited an Earldom in England. Phryne, after
escaping school to serve in an ambulance unit during the war and then coming into her own
inheritance and therefore financial freedom, disappeared off to Australia and lives a delightfully
independent lifestyle. By this point in the series she has two adopted daughters, rough and ready
socialist friends, a very sweet maid called Dot, a lavish lifestyle and numerous attractive men
friends. She also seems to find herself accidental part-time detective…

In this mystery, the 13th in the series, there is a little too much detail of cadavers for my liking but
glossing over that, it’s good fun. Phryne and her lover Lin Chung find themselves caught up in a
70 year old Australian gold mining mystery when a stuffed dummy at a local fun fair turns out to
be the well-preserved body of a missing man….

Kerry includes quite a comprehensive bibliography at the back for history enthusiasts to read up
about the Australian gold rush and although a light and fun read, it shows how much historical
research she puts into her novels. There’s also a TV series based on the books called Miss
Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. ( )