Phryne’s brows knitted together. ‘Mrs Knight? Is this the bereaved mother?’
Jack nodded. ‘I don’t know, because I wasn’t there, but apparently Fraser’s professional conduct could do with some polish. So there we have it. Patronage only gets you so far.’
‘Well, that’s all good news. Jack, I have a tale to tell you over dinner which may well make your knotted and combinéd locks to part like quills upon the fretful porpentine, but that can wait. Mr B?’
Materialising once more in the manner of butlers everywhere, the faithful servitor raised an enquiring eyebrow.
‘Two bottles of the Widow, I think. And glasses for everyone. This calls for a celebration.’
‘Yes, Miss Phryne.’
Ruth emerged from the kitchen in a vast, floury apron. ‘Dinner’s all but ready. We have roast chicken, cold salmon, steamed vegetables, three salads, and ices to follow.’
Mr Butler returned with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot in one hand and a silver tray in the other, with seven glasses perched upon it. Somehow the tray remained perfectly level, and the glasses barely clinked against each other.
‘Ruth, call your sister. Dot?’
‘Coming, Miss.’ Dot emerged from her room, in a light brown dress and a beige scarf. She looked at the champagne bottle with doubt in her face. ‘Miss, what are we celebrating?’
‘Our homecoming, Dot. And Jack’s as well, from troubled waters. And the successful conclusion of all our mysteries.’
The members of the household gathered, and each accepted a glass of champagne. Phryne raised her own. ‘The detectives!’
The glasses chinked together. ‘The detectives!’
‘And confusion to our enemies!’
‘Hear, hear!’
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The spa country in the Shire of Hepburn is to this day every bit as wonderful as I have portrayed it here. I have, however, taken a number of liberties with history for narrative purposes. The Daylesford Highland Gathering is held annually in November. It was never held in late summer; nor was it held during the 1920s, so far as we know. Its first recorded appearance was in 1952. Nor are there any records of anything called the Temperance Hotel. Nevertheless, the debate between outright Prohibition and Open Slather was fierce and prolonged, and proponents of the former were only narrowly defeated in the Western Australian referendum of 1950. We do know that some hotels and licensed premises did choose the very antipodean compromise described in the form of the Temperance. Other compromises between the two camps resulted in the distressing phenomenon known as the six o’clock swill, wherein workers who left their places of employment at five pm flocked to their nearest watering hole in competition to see how much beer they could manage to order and consume before the bar staff called Last Drinks. This was not a good thing, and we don’t do it any more, for good and sufficient reasons.
Contract bridge as it is now played was invented—or at least popularised—by Harold Vanderbilt during a cruise to Havana in 1925. It is very unlikely, though, that it would have spread to rural Victoria by 1929, and since auction bridge (the earlier form) is roughly the same game except for its bidding conventions, I have my characters playing the easier form. While even at its highest levels bridge is not as difficult as chess, it is nevertheless a highly cerebral game, and reveals more of the players’ character. Bridge players might note that Vanderbilt originally proposed the One Club opening bid for all strong hands. Under the tyranny of Ely Culbertson, such frivolities were not tolerated, but the modern game has resurrected Vanderbilt’s innovation, which I believe to be a very fine one.
I have been less than kind to the Victoria Police in this book, also for reasons of narrative. As my readers will be aware, police officers who appear in my books are generally intelligent, dedicated, hard-working and utterly admirable—as are the vast majority of their real-life counterparts. But in this, my sixty-fifth book, I felt it was time to show the Other Side of policing, as (regrettably) it sometimes occurs. The serving officers of my acquaintance will, I am certain, recognise the type of bone-headed ignoramus portrayed herein from their own careers, and will I hope accept my assurance that I hold them, and their doughty comrades, in the highest regard.
Kerry Greenwood
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bertrand, Ina and Gael Elliott, A Hard Day’s Work: Growing Spuds Around Trentham, Trentham Historical Society, Trentham, Vic., 2009.
Crawford, Richard, Men, Women and Bridge, Sterling, New York, 1978.
Culbertson, Ely, Contract Bridge, Penguin, New York, 1949.
Darwin, Norm, Gold’n Spa: History of the Hepburn Shire, H@nd Publishing, Ballarat, Vic., 2005.
Kyneton Guardian, History of Kyneton, Kyneton, Vic., 1935.
Menadue, John E., The Story of the Three Lost Children, Daylesford & District Historical Society, Daylesford, Vic., 1967.
Osborne, Murrell, Timber, Spuds and Spa: A Descriptive History and Lineside Guide of the Railways in the Daylesford District, 1880–1978, Australian Railway Historical Society Victorian Division, Daylesford, Vic., 1993.
Patterson, R.D., A Most Commodious Up-Country Hall: A Brief History of the Daylesford Town Hall, Shire of Daylesford and Glenlyon, Daylesford, Vic., 1985.
Wishart Edward, Maura Wishart and Derrick Stone, Spa Country: Victoria’s Mineral Springs, Victorian Government, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne, 2010.
Victorian Railways Advertising Division, Where to Go in Victoria, Victorian Railways, Melbourne, 1927.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks to the indefatigable Heather Mutimer from the Daylesford & District Historical Society, Mari Eleanor, Amanda Butcher, Julie Waugh, Canon Judith Hall, Brian Kelly, Paul Kelly, Mick Miller, David Greagg (without whom etc.), Annette Barlow and all the wonderful team at Allen & Unwin, and the people of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kerry Greenwood is the author of more than fifty novels, a book of short stories, six non-fiction works, and the editor of two collections of crime writing. Her beloved Phryne Fisher series has become a successful ABC TV series, ‘Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries’, which sold around the world. She is also the author of the contemporary crime series featuring Corinna Chapman, baker and reluctant investigator. The most recent Corinna Chapman novel was The Spotted Dog. In addition, Kerry is the author of several books for young adults and the Delphic Women series. When not writing, Kerry has been an advocate in magistrates’ courts for the Legal Aid Commission and, in the 2020 Australia Day Honours, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to literature. She is not married, has no children, is the co-warden of a Found Cats’ Home and lives with an accredited wizard. In her spare time, she stares blankly out the window.
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