With more than a dash of glamour and serious helpings of style, the witty and courageous Phryne Fisher returns.

In 1928 St Kilda's streets hang with fairy lights. Magic shows, marionettes, tea dances, tango competitions, lifesaving demonstrations, lantern shows, and picnics on the beach are all part of the Flower Parade.

And who else should be chosen to be Queen of the Flowers but the gorgeous, charming and terribly fashionable Hon Phryne Fisher? Phryne needs a new dress and a swimming costume but she also needs a lot of courage to confront her problems: a missing daughter, the return of an old lover, and a young woman found drowned at the beach at Elwood.

"Kerry Greenwood is one of Australia's leading writers of mystery fiction . . . Miss Fisher is a remarkable and engaging creature who can solve whodunits as easily as if she were the naughty niece of Miss Marple" - Sydney Morning Herald

"Greenwood's prose has a dagger in its garter; her hero is raunchy and promiscuous in the best sense" - Weekend Australian

"Fisher, a feisty sophisticate of the 1920s whose honour lies with the greater good. She's all class and intelligence: a seductive creature with a great wardrobe" - Australian Style