Food in A Question of Death - Beouf en Daube

In Putin on the Ritz Mrs Veale ordered boeuf en daube. Phryne convinces her she dropped her pearls in the dish causing them to dissolve. I tried cooking my own here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 kg lean beef
1 tbs flour
2 onions, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 slices bacon, diced
1 bouquet garni or a small bunch containing one sprig each of thyme, chervil and parsley
2 zucchini, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced and deseeded
1 tbspn of olive oil
1 finger sized bit of orange peel
250 g stoned black Kalamata olives
500 ml red wine
A pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Dice the meat and coat it with flour. Fry the onions and garlic. Throw in the meat and cook gently
until it is browned. Pour the wine and all the other ingredients into the pan, and stir gently over low
heat until it has all combined and begins to look silky. If it looks a bit dry, pour in another 500 ml of
water, and if it still absorbs liquid add some more wine.

Put this in a very slow oven for about three hours, or longer if your guests are always late. This
peasant dish is from the south of France

A Question of Death - The real Camberwell Wonder

In the Camberwell wonder Mr Slade convinces a simple boy working for him to confess to his murder which he has faked so he can elope with his mistress. This story is based on the Campden Wonder (which Phryne incorrectly calls the Camden wonder in the book)

On 16 August 1660 a 70-year-old man named William Harrison left his home in Chipping Campden, intending to walk two miles to the village of Charingworth. When he did not return home at the expected time his wife sent his manservant John Perry to look for him. Neither Harrison nor Perry had returned by the next morning.

Edward Harrison, William Harrison's son, was then sent out to look for the pair and on his way to Charingworth he met John Perry. The servant said that he had not been able to find his master, and he and Edward continued to Ebrington, where they questioned one of the tenants whom Harrison had been going to see. The tenant said that Harrison had been there the previous night. Edward Harrison and John Perry then went to the village of Paxford, but their search proved fruitless.

Edward and John then headed back to Chipping Campden. During the journey they heard that some items belonging to William Harrison had been discovered on the main road between Chipping Campden and Ebrington. These included a hat, a shirt and a neckband. Although the hat had been slashed by a sharp implement, and the shirt and the neckband were covered in blood, there was no sign of the body of William Harrison.

Under questioning John Perry said that he knew Harrison had been murdered, but claimed to be innocent of the crime. He then said that his mother, Joan, and his brother, Richard, had killed Harrison for his money and hidden the body. Joan and Richard denied that they had had anything to do with Harrison's disappearance, but John kept up his assertion that they were guilty.

The first court hearings dealt with charges linked to a plot to steal money from William Harrison. Despite his mother and brother pleading "not guilty", John Perry's testimony convinced the jury based on the following:

John seemed to have no apparent reason to be lying about the matter.
John claimed that he was the one who suggested the robbery to Richard.
John told the court that Joan and Richard had already stolen 140 pounds from William Harrison's house the previous year.
John had lied about being attacked by robbers a few weeks before Harrison's disappearance.
In order to speed the trial along the presiding judge decided to grant pardons to all three defendants for the theft of money in 1659.

In Spring 1661 the court reconvened to hear the charge of murder. This time John Perry joined his mother and brother in pleading not guilty in the killing William Harrison. The servant claimed that his original testimony had been false by reason of insanity. Nevertheless the jury found all three of the Perrys guilty and they were sentenced to death.

The three Perrys were hanged together in Gloucestershire. On the scaffold Richard and John reiterated that they were entirely innocent of killing William Harrison. As their mother was also suspected of being a witch, she was executed first.

In 1662 Harrison returned to England aboard a ship from Lisbon. He claimed that he had been abducted from England by pirates, transferred to a Turkish ship and sold into slavery near Smyrna in Anatolia (Turkey). Harrison said that after about a year and three quarters his master had died and that he then went to a port and stowed away on a Portuguese ship, finally returning to Dover by way of Lisbon

Food in A Question of Death - Whole Baked Fish

In The Miracle of St Mungo Phryne reinacts the miracle to help Lucy save face in retrieving her locket by hiding it in a fish. Here is the recipe for whole baked fish (minus any jewellery):

Ingredients:
1 whole fish (about a kilogram) sea bass, salmon,
trout or snapper
1 tbsp chopped parsley
8 tbsp bread crumbs
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tsp lemon rind
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter

Method:
Clean and scale the fish, remove the insides and eyes, and cut off the fins. Mix all the remaining
ingredients together, except butter, to make the stuffing. Stuff the fish with half the stuffing, and
sprinkle the rest in a baking dish. Lay the fish down in the baking dish and dot fish with butter, then
cover with a lid or foil and bake for ten minutes. Take off the lid and bake for a further ten minutes,
until you can pull a bone out cleanly.

Food in A Question of Death

The following meals appear in A Question of Death:
Terrine of cannard a l orange, le filet avec pomme de terre a la lyonnaise et salad vert with vinegerette, champagne, cheese and fruit and coffee - Puttin on the Ritz

Sole with lemon, roast beef with potatoes, carrot, Yorkshire pudding and gravy, raspberries and clotted cream and cheese and biscuits. - The Miracle of St Mungo

Vegetable soup ,turkey with chestnut stuffing, plum pudding, chicken soup - Overheard on the Balcony

Clothing in A Question of Death

The following outfits appear in A Question of Death:

Scarlet brocade evening dress, black gloves, diamond clip and a band of diamonds around her upper arm and throat - Hotel Splendide

Claret evening dress by Paitou with gold and black grapes embroidered around the hem, gold slippers and a purple cap – Puttin on the Ritz

Red satin erte dress, red brochade shoes - Overheard on the Balcony

Wine coloured wool, cloche with green and black flowers, boots, trousers & jumper with parrots on - Death Shall be Dead.

Peach and black bloused top and a pair of palpable, scandalous trousers – Carnival

Wine coloured wool dress - The Camberwell Wonder

Golden afternoon dress with silk embroidered bee - Come, Sable Night

A Question of Death - Come, Sable Night Synopsis

Phryne has invited the madrigal choir over to her house for a rehearsal and to hear the latest gossip. Whilst passing round the champagne cups Claude Greenhill informs her that the clubs lothario Lawrence has dumped Diane whom he was meant to be marrying to take up with Violet her younger sister. One of the other girls Alexandra is gutted as she thought she was next after Diane.

Claude says Lawrence is not as bad a Victor who is the clubs casanova however everyone knows it so none of the girls would fall for him. Phryne notes that Jane who is moping has. Victor comes over and tells Phryne not to believe all she hears from Claude but Phryne reminds him that she knows him. Lawrence joins the conversation and announces that he and Violet are to be married and he wants to choir to sing at the reception.

Diane thrusts a bouquet of roses into Lawrence hands and congratulates him. Lawrence is cut by one of the thorns on the roses. The choir start to sing but halfway through a song Lawrence keels over. One of the choir Anne who is in the medical profession checks him over and proclaims he is dead.

Phryne ushers the choir into another room and calls the doctor. The doctor comes and states Lawrence died from anaphylactic shock and asks what he ate. Phryne lists the foods including strawberries. The doctor says it would have been the strawberries and writes the death certificate. Phryne says if Lawrence knew he was allergic to a food he would have avoided it but the doctor tells her that these allergies can sneak up on people.

Phryne calls Lawrence parents and hires an undertaker. She then asks Anne to get Victor and Claude to come see her. Phryne asks Victor if he put something in the wine that Victor had popped when the wedding announcement was made as he had opened it outside the room. Victor asks why they would think that and Claude says maybe Victor and Lawrence were lovers. Victor said they had been once or twice but Lawrence didn't really like him. Victor says he put nothing in the wine but Lawrence was allergic to bee stings. He also tells them that Lawrence wanted him to marry Diane but he just couldn't and breaks down crying. Phryne sends him to wash his face in the bathroom. Victor returns and Phryne asks him to do something for her she says Jane. She’s in a bad way. I want you to resolve her future, Victor. Settle quite a lot of money on her. I’m not asking you to marry her,’ Victor agrees and Phryne send him back to rehearsal and asks him to send Violet and Alexandra out to her.

Phryne asks them if they knew of Lawrence' allergy. They say no and they thought they would as he told them everything. Violet says Diane might have known. Phryne sends them back to the rehearsal and Claude says it looks like they didn't know about the murder. Phryne agrees but grabs Claude by the ear and says he did though. Claude questions her and she say he is the librarian and arrange the order the music would be sung and he was trying to send a message to someone by doing this.

Claude eventually says the message was for Diane as he knew she was furious and hoped it would shock he out of doing something like this. Phryne realises that Diane must have put bee venom on the thorns of the roses that she gave to Lawrence. Claude says that Lawrence is worth a lot of money and changed his will to include her when he was going to marry Diane but he was short on his income and borrowed money from her and did not pay it back.

Claude and Phryne realise that the venom would no longer be on the flowers so there is no way of proving the crime. Claude says they could call the police but Phryne says they have no evidence. They are thinking about this dilemma when Claude spots a drunken bee climbing out of one of the roses. The pair fall about laughing realising that the death was simply an accident.

A Question of Death - The Camberwell Wonder Synopsis

Jack Robinson attends a crime scene whereby the victim has been murdered the arrest the murderer at the scene and drive him back to the station but all the way he won't talk and only tells them that he killed the victim over and over.

Meanwhile Phryne is home from a date with a man dancing at the Green Mill. However her date is very clumsy and has stomped all over her feet. She fights him off and doesn't allow him into her house. When she comes in she kicks off her ruined shoes and asks Dot. She asks Dot for her slippers and a small glass of green chartreuse and says it is the last time she does anyone a favour.

Dot says she recognises Phryne's date Mr Clarke's name from the papers. Phryne says that is her dates father who helped with mentally disabled people by putting them to work but was probably exploiting them and not paying them properly.

Dot reads the story from the paper which states Mr Clarke is missing and the gardener is accused of murder. Just then the phone rings. It is Lady Rose who is a friend of the Clarkes. She tells Phryne she has a commission for her. Phryne tells her it is after midnight and agrees to see her in the morning at 9am and the goes to bed.

The next morning Phryne heads to Lady Rose' house and is greeted by the maid who tells her Lady Rose is in a foul mood over the murder and that she personally didn't like Mr Clarke as he had some shady dealings to do with import and export.

Lady Rose introduces Phryne to Mrs Slade her cleaner. She says Mrs Slade's son Stevie was simple minded and worked for Mr Clarke and it is he who is accused of Mr Clarke's murder. Mrs Slade says her son wouldn't hurt anyone but he said he did it and there was blood on his collar. Mrs Slade thinks someone put words in Stevie's mouth.

Phryne asks to see the Clarke's house and Lady Rose gets ready to go out. Her maid tells Phryne that Mr Clarke was accused of smuggling goods. They go to the Clarke house, a large mansion called Camberwell.

Phryne pulls up to the house and is let in by a simple boy. She asks Lady Rose if all the staff are mentally disabled and Lady Rose tells her the Housekeeper, Butler and the Steward who looks after all the other staff aren't. She meets Sergeant Day who tells her Jack is on the case but they have no body only he bloody collar. Phryne suggests they send the collar to the lab to check if it is human blood or animal.

Inside they meet Jack and Mrs Clarke who is sat on the floor chanting. Jack tells them she has been doing that all morning and he can't get her to talk to him. Phryne asks what he wants to know and Jack says when she last saw her husband. Lady Rose asks Mrs Clarke but her answer is vague but then she sees the look in Lady Rose's eyes and tells her yesterday morning, he had a meeting with some businessmen and then he was supposed to be back for lunch and he never came.

Jack asks if Mr Clarke was worried about any business dealings or anything but Mrs Clarke tells him that her husband did not talk to her about his business. Lady Rose asks Mrs Clarke if Mr Clarke was planning on leaving her but she says no and he couldn't as he has no money of his own. She says he was always asking her to sign checks for him and he seemed a lot happier recently as he had been singing in the bath.

Phryne asks what he sang and Mrs Clarke tells her French songs. Phryne recognises the song. Jack says he has no further questions but needs to search the house. Phryne goes with him and they are shown to Mr Clarke's room by the steward (who is a hard faced man) as the butler is indisposed.

When they get there they realise the room has been cleaned and the bin emptied. They ask where the rubbish would have gone and ask to see it. Phryne searches through the rubbish and finds something important on a scrap of paper. She runs back into the house to show Jack. Phryne shows Jack the paper and says she has to hurry as it is nearly 11 already then she tells him she will meet him back at Russell Street station then rushes out of the house.

Phryne says that Lady Rose' maid was right that Mr Clarke was a smuggler and the figures on the scrap of paper she found were money that was accruing from the smuggling. She said the paper is torn from a book called Famous Historical Puzzles and the title of the chapter was “The Camden Wonder”. Phryne tells them it is a favourite of hers and is about a certain

gentleman, who has had shady dealings with both sides who vanishes one night. All that is found of him is a torn shirt, stained with blood, and one shoe. The steward of his house confesses out of

the blue that he, his mother and his brother murdered the gentleman. Both mother and brother deny it fiercely, beg their relative to come to his senses, but it goes to trial. The gentleman has been gone for a year. Then the steward changes his story, tries to withdraw his confession, says that he doesn’t know what happened to the gentleman. They stop to pick up Mrs Slade and Phryne says she will continue the story on the way. When Lady Rose returns with Mrs Slade Phryne tells them the steward withdrew his confession, but they were all tried anyway.’Lady Rose asks where the body was as you cannot have a murder without a body but Phryne tells them you can and the trio were hung in the story.

They arrive a the police station and Phryne talks to Stevie. She asks if Mr Clarke was his friend and Stevie agrees and Phryne asks if Mr Clarke cut Stevie's arm. Stevie says yes it was a joke and he did it to bloody the collar. Phryne ask Stevie if Mr Clarke asked him to confess to the murder and told him he wouldn't be in trouble. Stevie says yes and Phryne tells him he has to tell the truth now as the joke is over.

At that moment Phryne hears lots of shouting and Jack is dragging a man into the station. Phryne tells the man he is Joshua Clarke and a murderer. She finds out the man was attempting to escape to France with another woman and a chunk of his wife's estate that he had persuaded to sign over to her. She tells him he is guilty of attempted murder as he knew Stevie would hang for his murder just like the characters in the book The Camden Wonder. Mr Clarke is arrested and Stevie is freed.  

A Question of Death - Carnival

Phryne is on a date with Bobby Ferguson at the carnival. Bobby is in a fowl mood and has complained all night. Bobby realises that he still has his mothers pearl bracelet in his pocket that he meant to have fixed and worries about the number of thieves at the carnival. Phryne advises him to keep his voice down and move it to a different pocket.

Phryne rides the carousel picking a black stallion to ride and then goes in a tent to see the 'missing link. She then heads to the next tent which is the princess of the amazon. Here she meets Doreen 'the princess' and her snake Cleopatra and a mechanic at the carnival Allan Lee. Phryne promises to get rid of her date Bobby and return to the carnival on another night.

She catches up to Bobby who states he has been robbed of the pearl bracelet and shows her the empty jewellery box. He says he realised it was missing when he went to get his money out to pay for a turn on the shooting range. Phryne quiets him down but all Bobby's shouting has attracted the attention of a police officer who starts asking for details Phryne introduces herself as a detective and a friend of D.I Jack Robinson. Allan Lee tells Phryne that Samson the strongman normally sees off thieves.

Phryne realises that Bobby has staged the theft as no thief would steal a bracelet and leave the box. Phryne looks at the shooting range and notices the bracelet hanging among the prizes. Allan Lee tells Phryne that Anna the lady on the shooting range is no thief and Phryne tells him to distract the policeman and she will get the bracelet back. Phryne tells them to go and get the 'Wild Man' and Cleopatra the snake as she knows Bobby hates snakes. Allan and the Wild Man cause a fuss and while Bobby and the policeman are distracted Phryne grabs the bracelet.

Bobby corners Anna while the policeman is distracted and says that she has to either go with him or he will get the police. Anna tells him to get the police. Bobby states he has the pearls and Anna stole them but when they are investigated they are cheap imitations being offered as prizes. Phryne comes forward with the real pearls and tells the policeman Bobby dropped them near the carousel then he tells Bobby to tell the policeman what he has been up to but Allan Lee stops her and tells her they don't want trouble at the carnival so Samson just throws Bobby out.

Phryne spends the evening getting to know the carnival people and spends the night with Allan Lee.

A Question of Death - Death Shall Be Dead

Phryne and Jack are dining at the Cafe Royale. Jack tells Phryne that a man has told him someone is trying to murder him. Phryne asks if someone is trying to murder him and Jack says he doesn’t know but the man says he was shot at. He says the man is a cantankerous old man who lives alone and has no money so he doesn’t see why someone would want to kill him. The old man says someone is trying to buy his house and offered a lot of money but he won't sell.

Jack tells Phryne the mans name is Albie Jackson. Jack then tells Phryne he is studying poetry specifically Chaucer at night school and ask Phryne what she has been doing. Phryne says not much and tells Jack about a couple of cases. When they are leaving Phryne tells Jack to see who owned Albie Jackson's house before him.

The next day Phryne is relaxing at home when Jack rings and tells Phryne that Albie Johnson's place caught fire the night before and three people are dead despite the fact that the fire was put out fast. Jack tells Phryne one of the dead was a client of hers Thomas Mason. Phryne says Thomas Mason was a creep and his wife was her client as she wanted a divorce. Jack says the wife is also one of the dead people but no one can identify her so Phryne agrees to do the job. Phryne wonders who would want to kill Mrs Mason other than her bank robber husband.

Phryne arrives at the house and finds it burnt through. She notes it must have been a dump even before the fire. She makes her way to the kitchen and sees three bodies slumped around the kitchen table. Phryne identifies Mrs Mason and asks when her husband got out of jail. Jack said the day before and Mrs Mason's landlady said he collected her from the house and even though she was terrified she went with him. Jack tells her the other dead man is Foxy Harris another bank robber.

The doctor arrives and says the deaths were caused by cyanide poisoning and the deaths happened less than 12 hours before. Phryne asks where Albie Jackson is and the police say they have found him mutilated on the back porch of the house along with his dog. Albie had flat iron burns on his chest. The doctor says Albie has been tortured but was not poisoned and probably died of heart failure. Jack takes the dog with him and asks Phryne if she has any ideas about the case. Phryne says that if someone was trying to buy Albies house there must be something special about it. Jack says he will find out who owned the house before Albie and then they can search it properly.

A constable comes back with some food and water for the dog from a neighbour across the street. The neighbour says she needs to talk to Jack. The dog eats and they notice it has been hurt and Jack asks the constable to check the bodies for a dog bite.

The neighbour says the dog is called Anubis and tells Jack that Mr Jackson was a strange man that used to be a chemist but when his wife died he lost interest in things. Jack ask if she had heard anything and she says her daughter heard a car at 11 but it was noisy due to the storm. Phryne asks if the neighbour knew the old owners of the house and the neighbour says they were criminals and then man got arrested then the woman left.

After the ambulance men had taken the corpses away Phryne and Jack think about the murder whilst police search the house. Jack says the old owner was called Carr and was in Pentridge for theft and lots of other offences. Phryne and Jack surmise that the robbers thought Albie knew where Carr had hidden his money in the house so tied him up and tortured him but Albie had cyanide from his old chemist supplies and poured it in their drink but they didn’t drink it before he died from the torture. The fire would have started when Mason dying swept a kerosene lamp onto the floor.

Phryne realises where the money would have been hidden and goes back into the house. She asks where the dog slept. The constable points to some blankets. Phryne removes them and finds a trap door. She pulls up the floorboards to reveal the money. Phryne tells them that Anubis was the god of the dead but also the guardian of hidden treasure.

Jack is back home with his family and the dog when Phryne calls to ask him how his Chaucer is going and tells him to read the pardoners tale. Jack reads the pardoners tale and sees the correlation with the case.  

A Question of Death - The Hours of Juana the Mad Synopsis

Phryne is attending the academics cocktail party at Melbourne University with Jeoffrey Bisset who had promised to show her the departments treasure – the Book of Hours made for Mad Queen Juana of Spain. Phryne eavesdrops on a number of conversations all more gossip than anything academic. Bisset interrupts her and takes her to see the book but she is waylaid by Gerald Street the Angelo Saxon and Old Norse tutor. Phryne catches up with Bisset and they go to the library to see the book where they meet the librarian Katz. When Katz opens the safe the book is not there.

They call a meeting of the faculty and Phryne looks through the rest of the contents of the safe which contains papers and the Deans wife's pearls. She pulls out the Latin term papers and Bisset notices a leaf that should not be in the paper. It is a couplet from Carmina Burana from O Fortuna. Phryne asks what it means and Hoskins tells her it means “in this hour without delay touch the beat of the heart' or pluck the strings of the heart.

Phryne suspects the thief is distinguished as they left this clue as oppose to a common thief who would have taken the pearls. Phryne tells the faculty if they think someone has crept in and stolen the book they should call the police but the faculty members are opposed to the idea as they believe the thief must be among them. Phryne asks who has connection in America and needs money.

Gerald Street tell her that Bradbury is bankrupt after trying to play a system on the horses and Phryne says she will solve the theft and when she does she wants to dine at the high table. The Dean tells her no lady is allowed to dine at the high table and Phryne says she will.

Phryne goes out to the courtyard and notices a piece of parchment pinned to a tree. It says 'Tempora a lapsa volant fugitivis falimur horis' Phryne recognises horis as hours. Phryne write Quare? (why?) under the couplet and leaves the university.

That night at dinner Bisset translates the couplet for Phryne as 'Time that is fallen is flying, we are deceived by the passing hours'. Phryne asks Bisset what he does at the university and he says he is professor of English Lit and a tutor in the classics – Latin and Greek. He says it gives him time to work on his book translating the poems of Alcuin. Bisset asks Phryne if she would like to see his work and says he had seen some of the original manuscripts but not all as one family won't let him see one of the manuscripts. This makes Bisset angry as he says knowledge should be free. Phryne asks him who he thinks stole the book of hours and Bisset says he doesn’t think it was Bradbury.

Phryne returns to the tree in the courtyard of the university and notices another parchement which states 'Quis legem dat amantibus' (what law for lovers) Phryne write underneath Render unto me Monmouth and went into the faculty office to find Gerald Street berating his copy typists. Phryne asks him about his investigating and he tells her Bradbury denies it but was alone for a good few hours in the library so had the opportunity. He asks Phryne if she could open the safe easily and she shows him by easily removing the back of the safe.

Phryne goes back to the courtyard and sees another note on the tree which states Dolorous Gard. Phryne muses about the Arthurian legend and the two castles Dolorous Gard and Joyous Gard. Phryne replies to the note with 'usbis est libus' and leaves to bone up on her knowledge of Arthurian legends.

The next day Phryne returns to the courtyard and finds another note, this time Chaucer stating 'A knight there was, and that a wont thy man … he loved chivalry, truth and honour, freedom and curteseye'. Phryne is confused by this and scribbles on the paper give me back the book or else and sat on a nearby bench to watch for the culprit. Phryne notices the English building with the clocktower and the law quadrangle that looked like a Gothic castle and has an idea. She goes to find Professor Hoskins and drags him to show him along with Professor Street. She then finds Bisset and a ladder. Phryne talks the professors through the clues and says if the English building is Joyous Gard then the law cloisters would be Dolorous Gard she climbs the ladder in front of a knight carved into the stone and reaches into the battlements where she produces the book along with another note stating 'Ave, formosissima' (hail most powerful lady) an invocation to Venus.

Phryne looks through the stunning book and asks how they could leave it locked away in a safe. The professors agree to display it in a glass case. The Dean asks who stole the book and Phryne says she wont tell as she's doesn't know. She then asks Bisset to take her for a drink to Noughtons.

At Noughtons she asks Bisset why he stole the book and he said he wanted it to be displayed. He asks Phryne how she knew it was him and she says that it could only be one of three people. Katz, Gerald Street or him and he was the only tall one amongst them and the parchment was pinned high on the tree.  

A Question of Death - Overheard on the Balcony

Phryne and Dot head to the Queenscliff Hotel for a Christmas in June dinner hosted by Tom Adams.

Phryne and Dot sign in and then sit by the fire in the parlour. They are greated by a pale girl called Emmy Harbottle and her husband Genral Alex Harbottle and a buxom readhead named Lilith Johnson a writer of erotic novels. Also at the party was Zechariah Silk the cubist poet who was beating the genral at chess.

Emmy gets up to go for a lie down but her husband getting angry forces her to stay by pinching her a producing a letter from his pocket. Phryne intercepts and takes Emmy for a lie down. Dot says she will stay with Emmy and agrees to meet Phryne to dress her at seven thirty. Phryne spend the afternoon wandering the pier and riding the ferry.

Phryne goes down for dinner and is greeted by Tom who seems ill at ease. Phryne asks what possessed him to invite the general and Tom says he owed him a favour and that his wife was Toms cousin. They sit to dine and the general is his bolshy self. His wife tries to calm him but he threatens her with the letter and she balks. The General starts a fight with the poet by calling him a conchie and Tom Adams tries to calm him but the general says he knows Toms secret and calls Lilith a slut. This kills the conversation and the plum pudding is served. The General eats his and falls to the floor dead.

Whilst they await the doctor Phyrne and Dot sit with Emmy who is calm and seems more relieved than distressed. Phryne thinks about Tom being blackmailed and wonders what Liliths secret could be. The constable arrives as Phryne is about to take a walk and she asks him what killed the General . The policeman tells her it was an overdose of his heart pills.

After the police have finished with the guests they retire for bed. Phryne wonders when the Genral could have been poisoned as it could not be at dinner as the courses were shared. Phryne can't sleep so she goes for a walk and finds Tom Adam's as he can't sleep either. She asks Tom if he poisoned the General but Tom says no. Phryne asks what the General had on Tom and Tom tells her he was married in London but had been courting recently. Tom said he believes his wife is dead and has someone trying to find out for him. He says the General blackmailed him for invitations to society events. Phryne ask what the General had on Lilith and Tom tells her that Lilith has a blameless home life and her femme fatale personality is an act but if her readers found out she was a housewife her books would not sell. Phryne goes to get a cocktail.

The next morning the guests are told not to leave the hotel. The police say the General was poisoned with Digitalin and search the guests property but no one had any drugs. As they eat lunch Phryne struggles to recall something about the waiter that served plum pudding. She recalls something odd about the colour of his hands. She grabs Zecheriah who is behind her and pulls him onto the balcony where she tells him she knows he is a fraud. He asks how she knew and she says that his glasses did not magnify when he put them on the menu and his hair looked dead like a wig.

Then she asks why he murdered the general. Phryne says it was Silk that dressed as the waiter than served the pudding. Phryne asks why he did it and he says that he was a soldier and Alex was his General. Then he tells Phryne that Alex sent his battalion to their death except for him as he was imprisoned by Turks and kept for two years. Silk tells Phryne that he took on this persona to get his poems published and that he had been engaged to Emmy before the war. He said the letter the General has threatened her with was his letter to her.

Phryne asks how he poisoned the General and he says he had a knife smeared with the poisons so when he left the room he changed into the waiter outfit and brought the pudding back and cut it up. He asks how Phryne knew it was him and she said because of his poem about foxgloves whose poison is digitalin. Phryne asks what he will do now and he says he will got to Africa to treat people as he used to be a medical student. Phryne promises not to reveal him unless someone else gets blamed.

At that moment Emmy rushes out onto the balcony saying she heard the whole conversation. She kisses Silk and says she’s sorry and she only got married because she thought he was dead and she had no money. Silk says they can't be together now as this horrible secret would drive them apart. She asks why he didnt come back for her and Silk says because she was rich and well looked after and he had nothing to offer but they really can't be together after a murder.

Lilith then joins them on the balcony and gives them a note from the General saying he killed himself. Phryne asked Lilith how she got the note and she says that the General was pursuing her as he thought she was a fallen woman and pushed the note under her door.

Silk and Emmy retire to her room happy that Silk had not killed the General and Phryne asks Lilith for the rest of the story Lilith tells Phryne that the General was threatening to reveal an affair she had in a moment of weakness to her husband and said she would have to have a lifelong affair with him if she didn’t want him to reveal her secret. Lilith says she invited the general to her room and gave him a glass of wine with his heart pills dissolved in and then stole one of the suicidal notes he was prone to writing to make it look like suicide. Phryne promises not to reveal the truth.   

A Question of Death - The Miracle of St Mungo Synopsis

Phryne is having cocktails with Lucy, Lady Wessex who has asked for Phryne help as she is being blackmailed by a man who she had a fling with. The man is threatening to tell her husband and has a picture in a locket of Lucy and him together. She said James was unhappy as the locket was his wedding present to her that he had bought out from Glasgow. She says she can't raise the money as she has nothing to sell without raising suspicion.

Phryne asks about a paining in the hallway and Lucy says it is St Mungo the patron saint of Glasgow. St Mungo had helped a women whose husband had found out she had given her marriage ring to her lover. The Husband had killed the lover and threw the ring into the river and told the wife she must present herself wearing the ring at dinner that night or she too would be killed. St Mungo called up a salmon and took the ring out of its mouth and gave it back to the lady.

Phryne asks Lucy about her lover and she says he is a medical student named Percy and friend of her brother. They had been seeing each other for three months but he asked her to leave her husband and she said no. Then he started demanding money.

Phryne says she has an idea. They both dress for dinner and go downstairs. After dinner with a bunch of bright young things a young man asks Phryne to dance. Phryne refuses but says she will talk to the man for a while. He introduces himself as Gerald, Lucy's brother. He says he is at university studying art as their father is rich so he doesn’t need a profession. He says a lot of the young men at uni are not rich and need to work to make money like Percy and Tommy. Tommy is a bouncer at Montpellier a place the boys go to play cards. Phryne asks Gerald to take her there and he says he will the next night.

The next night they go to the Montpellier a place of squalor. The go to a side room where the card game is going on and Phryne notices a young man who she suspects is Percy. She introduces herself and it is Percy so she asks him to cut her in to the poker game. Phryne starts losing hand after hand until she has not money left. Then she offers her virtue for a piece of jewellery. Percy agrees and she tells the others to leave the room. Phryne asks to see the stake and Percy asks her why she is doing this she says a whim. Percy notices Phryne is a lot more composed and seems less drunk than earlier and that she had pulled to cards out of the deck that were not the ones he had stacked. Phryne puts her cards down, a royal flush and Percy accuses her of cheating. She admits he did but said he did too and only noticed her marked cards because her marks were in different places to his. Percy reaches to grab Phryne but she pulls her pistol on him. Phryne tells him to let her go and she wont tell his friends about his cheating or Gerald about Percy's relationship with his sister. Percy agrees and Phryne leaves.

The next morning Phryne asks Lucy about that mornings fish delivery. She then plants the locket in the fish without Lucy knowing. Later that morning a yell comes from the kitchen and Lucy goes to find out what is going on. The cook comes out with the fish with the locket gleaming from its belly. She says she recognised the locket as the one Lucy had lost overboard. Lucy's husband tells her to wash the locket and put it back on and she hugs him happily crying. He tells Phryne he too remembers the story of St Mungo and she raises her glass to him.  

A Question of Death - The Body in the Library Synopsis

Phryne and Jack are in the library of Robert Sanderson MP inspection a dead body of a young woman. The notice the girl is not wearing shoes but her feet are clean so wonder how she got there and where her shoes have got to. Phryne asks for the doctors report and Jack tells her the cause of death is indeterminate and there has been recent sexual activity.

Jack tells Phryne that Robert Sanderson was trying to pass a bill to legalise prostitution as he feel prostitutes are exploited by there pimps so he had made a lot of enemies. The worst one being Reverend Joshua Blackroot who called Robert Sanderson a whoremonger.

Phryne notices that the young woman's clothes do not match as some items are expensive and others cheap. They notice a card stuck to the young girls back that says for a good time call Alice. Phryne notices the girls hair is girtty so Phryne combs it onto a magazine and discovers coal dust in her hair. Phryne surmises that the chimney sweep must have brought the girl in his sack.

Jack goes to arrest the sweep and Phryne starts to read the magazine. She notices an article about Reverend Blackroot she reads it and notices a picture of the murdered girl who turns out to be Jane Trellis-Smythe a woman active in church work who helps the Reverend in his home for fallen women. Phryne surmises that she could be the Reverend lover doing church work while her husband is away. She wonders if the Reverends home for fallen women is a front for an illegal brothel and says perhaps Mrs Trellis-Smythe wondered what it would be like to be a fallen women so dressed up and perhaps was smothered when she threatened to uncover the brothel and then was dumped at Robert Sandersons house to cause a scandal and stop him putting through his bill that would put the Reverend's brothel out of business.

Phryne shows a card that she found on the hall stand to Jack it says chimneys swept and the second card stuck to the girls back says the Reverend Blackroot's home for fallen women for a good time call Alice.  

A Question of Death - Puttin' on the Ritz Synopsis

Phryne enters the Ritz with William Barlow they are greeted and seated by Antoine the Maitre D an Phryne orders the wine. She recalls Williams brother John who always talks about money and his father a boorish man who had been pursuing her.

Phryne asks William why he has brought her there and he tells her that his mother died ten years ago and since then his father has been 'misbehaving himself' and his father had lost his mothers pearls that had been left to William. William was a lawyer who worked with Phryne's friend Jilly and was planning on selling the pearls to set up a poor persons defence fund. Will asks Phryne to find the pearls and get them back. He says his father will be dining at the Ritz that night with his lover Mrs Priscilla Veale.

Mrs Veale arrives with Williams father. She is wearing the pearls. Will says that if his father has given away the pearls then he stands no chance of getting them back. Phryne asks him why he doesn't just get the money from his father instead but Will says he suspects there isn’t much money left as his father has been spending frivolously since his mother died. Phryne then suggests that Will simply ask for the pearls back but he says he can't.

They order main course and Phryne notices Wills father making a scene. She notices Mrs Veale orders boeuf en daube, a dish made with red wine and has an idea. Will goes to say hello to his father and Phryne goes to the ladies (following Mrs Veale) and then has a brief discussion with the Maitre D. They return to their table and Phryne orders dessert and champagne.

A shriek comes from the other table and it appears Mrs Veale has dropped her pearls in the dinner. It appears the pearls are dissolved by the red wine in the sauce. Mr Veale tells Williams father not to fuss as it was an accident and after everyone is settled down Phryne raises her glass to Mrs Veale who gives her a nod.

William asks what had happened and Phryne tells him the pearls dropped in the wine sauce and dissolved. William doesn't believe her so Phryne says she will tell him after his father had left as they were just leaving. Once they have left Phryne hands over the pearls. William asks how she got them and Phryne says she simply asked Mrs Veale while they were in the ladies room!  

A Question of Death - The Vanishing of Jock McHale's Hat Synopsis

Dot wakes Phryne alarmed as the archbishops secretary is on the phone and wants to arrange a meeting between the archbishop and Phryne to discuss a professional matter. Phryne calms Dot down and arranges the meeting and then goes to bath

The archbishop and a man he introduces as the coach of Collingwood football club Mr McHale (who regards Phryne with dislike). The archbishop tells Phryne that whilst at mass someone had stolen Mr McHale's hat. The hat had been with Mr McHale for years and was his lucky talisman.

Phryne agrees to take the case and says she will go to early mass the next day to check out the crime scene. Phryne visitors leave and she contacts Cec and Burt (who know more about football than her) Cec tells Phryne that Collingwood had won the premiership the year before and it looked like they would win again this year. Phryne asks why someone would take it in church and Burt says it is the only place that Mr McHale would have to take his hat off.

The next morning Phryne went to church Phryne checks out the church but finds nowhere for a hat thief to hide. After the service she greets the priest and asks him if he notices anything untoward on the day the hat was stolen. The priest said after the service Mr McHale was talking to the alter boys about football in the forecourt he didn’t have his hat then which means the hat was taken during the service.

Phryne asks about the service and where Mr McHale would have taken off his hat. The priest says that hats are removed at the door. Phryne asks if anyone passes up the aisle during service and the priest says the communicants and those taking the collection Phryne makes note of who had borne the plate to Mr McHale and notices a piece of paper sticking out of the hassock which says 'thou shalt have no other gods before me'

Phryne then goes to visit the plate bearer Mr Flynn but finds he is not home. His maids directs Phryne to his place of work John Payford and Sons Religious Publishers. Phryne calls home to see if there are any messages and is informed by Mr Butler that there were two one a threatening call and one from Cec and Burt who were in hospital but not much hurt and would call on Phryne in the afternoon. Phryne asks Mr Butler to report the threatening call to the archbishop's secretary.

Phryne then heads to speak to Mr Flynn at his work she acts as his niece and says she is taking him to lunch. When they get to the tea shop Phryne reveals who she really is and tells Mr Flynn she knows he has Mr McHale's hat and how he took it but Mr Flynn refuses to give it back as he says it is a false idol. Phryne ask him who is he to judge another man's sins and tells him that the archbishop himself has asked her to find it. Mr Flynn pulls the hat out of his pocket and returns it to Phryne.

Back at home Phryne meets with Cec and Burt who say they got into a fight whilst searching for the hat. Later Phryne returns the hat the the archbishop and Jock McHale.

A Question of Death - Marrying the Bookies Daughter Synopsis

Phryne is in bed with Lindsay when Lindsay suddenly proposes. Phryne asks why and Lindsay says it is time as they get on so well and he has good prospects. Phryne neither agrees or disagrees but says they will discuss it. The go downstairs for cocktails and discuss it some more and Phryne says she needs time to think but asks Lindsay to be her escort to the wedding of Amelia Sackville whose father is a racing pundit. Phryne says that according to Bert Mr Sackville made his fortune from doing down the working punter. Lindsay admires Bert and Phryne asks if she will be allowed to continue her friendship with the working classes if they are married. Lindsay says there will be no need to as she will no longer be detecting.

Lindsay asks who Amelia is marrying and Phryne says Tom Fletcher. Lindsay says he knew Tom from school and he was a ladies man. Lindsay's laughs that he is marrying the bookies daughter as he has the gambling bug. Phryne is contemplates the marriage proposal with Dot and Dot says that Lindsay would expect his wife to behave as he wished.

The next afternoon Mr Aloysius Fletcher comes to see Phryne with his secretary Smithy. He tells Phryne that the family heirloom jewels that were meant to be a gift to the bride were missing. They had been stolen from a safe in Smithy's room. Phryne agrees to try to find them and Mr Fletcher and Smithy leave.

Phryne goes to examine Smithy's room and then Mr Fletcher asks her to see his wife. In the room with Mrs Fletcher are Tom and Amelia. Amelia says she does not care about the jewels. Phryne says she will do her best and goes back to examine Smithy's room. She notices all Smithy's sketches and see she has talents. Phryne asks her if she left art school but Smithy says she never went as she couldn’t afford it. She went to work with the Fletcher's when she was 16 as her mother who was Mr Fletcher's cousin died.

By the next day Phryne had the solution to the missing jewels but was at a loss as to what to do about it. She took a walk to think about that and Lindsay's proposal. When Phryne returns home the hall is full of flowers from Lindsay. Dot asks if Phryne has made up her mind as the Butlers need to know in case they need to find a new job. Phryne tells Dot that she hasn't made her mind up yet but if she does she will still keep on the house and the Butlers.

It is the day of the wedding and Phryne dresses. While Dot is helping her dress Phryne mentions the fact that the glass was on the outside windowsill and no one would look for a 10x10 jewel case in a flat portfolio. She says she doesn't know what to do as she doesn't want a scandal at the wedding. Then she has an idea and gets Lindsay on the phone and asks him to give Tom a message to bring the jewels to the ceremony. Phryne wonders what Tom will do now she knows his secret.

Outside the church Phryne manoeuvres through the crowd to get to Smithy. She meets Lindsay who is holding the jewel case and asks what Tom said when her message was passed on. Lindsay says Tom said he was sorry but has to go through with it. As Amelia walks down the isle Smithy comes across faint. Phryne asks Smithy if it was like that at the registry office. Then she says Dot couldn't find a record of the marriage and Smithy hands her a marriage certificate from when she was 16. Phryne says that's what Tom was looking for when he staged the break in. Smithy says she loved Tom but did not sleep with him until they were married but he fell out of love with her. She says she was going to raise her objections to the marriage during the ceremony but Phryne says there is a smarter way to deal with the situation. She asks Smithy for Mr Fletcher's cheque book and leaving Lindsay to look after Smithy heads back inside.

Phryne sits next to Mr Fletcher and shows him the marriage certificate and asks for 5 thousand for Smithy to keep her quiet. Mr Fletcher is angry but begrudgingly agreed and Phryne gave the cheque to Smithy. The wedding continued without hitch.

Phryne sees Smithy settled into a nice boarding house and Smithy wonders what she will do with her life. She decides to by a house and a cat. Phryne returns to the wedding now realising that she cannot marry Lindsay and she will have to tell him and lose him. Phryne tells Lindsay but he says that seeing Smithy's plight had put him off marriage and he was happy for things to continue as they were.

A Question of Death - The Voice is Jacob's Voice Synopsis

Dr Mac arrives at Phryne house for her winter solstice party. She is greeted at the door by Lindsay Herbert in a Death costume. Dr Mac is dressed as Caeser and she greets Phryne who is dressed as Queen Elizabeth. Dr Mac is escorted inside for a drink and meets Miss Gately is dressed as a pirate and is complaining of the company especially Inspector Robinson and Klara a lady of the night and her two friends. Miss Gately also dislikes Jacob and Esau Tipping two brothers who hate each other due to their fathers strange will that stated he will leave his estate to the brother that had never drunk alcohol by the time he was 25 and they turn 25 at midnight tonight.

Jilly Henderson was telling Phryne the same story and said they needed her counsel as to whether Esau who is older by an hour would inherit first but she said this was not the case. She said the trustee Mr Crabbe had not caught either brother drinking. Phryne asks about the two women with the brother and finds out it is there wives Viola, Jacobs wife who is gushing and hard as nails and Tamar, Esau's wife who is cool and distant and also hard as nails.

Phryne dances over to the brothers with Lindsay to eavesdrop and hears them arguing about who is owed the estate. Phryne is just about to cut in to stop the argument when Mr Crabbe stops it and makes them withdraw their hurtful comments and they both toast to their birthdays. Mr Crabbe fills the brothers glasses and the brothers suspicious that each has spiked each others drinks change glasses. The brothers drink and both collapse on the floor. Dr Mac and Jack Robinson check the brothers over and announce them both dead. Mr Crabbe checks the glasses and sees the brothers have been poisoned.

Phyrne users her guests into the next room and shuts the door. She sits down the wives and checks the brothers pockets. Jilly comes in and Phryne questions her about the estate. The wives admit that each brother wanted to get the other drunk and Tamar goes to drink the punch but Phryne stops her and checks it noticing a bitter almond smell. Mr Crabbe tries to bolt from the room but Lindsay stops him.

It seems that Mr Crabbe had agreed to supply the alcohol to get each brother drunk but substituted it with pure alcohol killing the brothers as the money from the will would then go to a temperance league that he was the founder and sole member of! Phryne in a flash of inspiration questions Mr Crabbe and it turns out he has already spent the money from the estate. Mr Crabbe realising he has been caught grabs up one of the brothers glasses and drinks attempting to poison himself but the glass was Jack's so Mr Crabbe just got very drunk!

A Question of Death - Hotel Splendide Synopsis

Phryne is sitting in the lobby of a Paris hotel reading the newspaper when she hears a distressed Australian woman begging the hotel concierge for help. Phryne's partner Alain Descourt is concerned they will miss the Ring of Nibelungs but Phryne goes to see what the fuss is about. She asks the concierge Jean-Paul what is happening and she says the women had been there twice that night asking about her husband but there was no record of him in the register and they did not have their passports which is the law.

Phryne asks the woman Mrs Johnson what has happened and she says the hotel have stolen her husband. Phryne takes the woman into the drawing room of the hotel and orders coffee and cognac and once the woman has calmed down asks for the details. Mrs Johnson said they came of the Orient and took the train to Paris then took a taxi to the hotel and her husband Arthur signed in. The concierge took their passports and showed them to room 311A. Where they set down their things and bathed. Mrs Johnson said her husband said he felt sick so she asked the manager to phone a doctor and the doctor came and told her to get some medicine from a pharmacy but they didnt have the medicine so she went from pharmacy to pharmacy on foot as she had no money for a taxi. She had been gone two hours before returning to the hotel.

Phyrne asks her if she still had the prescription but Mrs Johnson said the second chemist kept it as he said he'd send the medicine on. Phryne checks that Mrs Johnson is back at the right Hotel Splendide as it is a common name but Mrs Johnson says she recognises the décor and the clerk but when she returned to the clerk he said he had never seen her before and there was no room 311A. Mrs Johnson says she asked to be shown and there was just a bare wall where the room once was. Mrs Johnson says the trip had been their honeymoon and they had been to Egypt, India and Ceylon.

Phryne leaves Mrs Johnson with Alain and goes to talk to the clerk. He offers to show her the register and Phryne notes it is new which is strange as she was sure there were many pages left in the old register when she signed in. The clerk also takes her up to show her there is no room 311A. Phryne bends down to inspect the wall drawing her glove across it.

Phryne returned to the withdrawing room and asks Mrs Johnson if she knows the name of the doctor. Mrs Johnson says it was Dupont which is a common surname. Phryne then hold her glove to the lady's face and asks what she can smell. Mrs Johnson says Jicky, rice powder and wallpaper paste. Phryne asks the woman to trust her and ask Alain to find the nearest doctor and bring him to the hotel. She then tells the concierge that she and Mrs Johnson are going to rest in her suite.

Mrs Johnson suppers with Phryne and bathes. Alain returns with his doctor friend Lestrange and Phryne tells him she is going to do something illegal and needs him to watch on. They inquire what illegal act she is going to do and she says she is going to set a fire in the hotel and to come when they smell smoke. The smell smoke and go with Mrs Johnson to Phryne. They find her attacking the wall with a poker and go to help. They find a door beneath the freshly wallpapered wall behind the door is the Johnson's room with Mr Johnson sick in the bed. Alain asks why they would do this and Phryne says the hotel would have been in fear of the plague from Bombay. But Mrs Johnson said they never stopped at Bombay. Phryne asks Dr Lestrange what is wrong with the patient and he says Mr Johnson has malaria.

John-Paul confront Phryne about what she has been doing and she says the found Mr Johnson sealed in his room and that he had malaria not the plague. John-Paul says he is sorry and takes Mr Johnson to the royal suite and then arranges the medicines Dr Lestrange requests.

Then Phryne takes Jean-Paul for an explanation. Jean-Paul says he was in India when the plague hit and it killed his brother. He feared Mr Johnson had it so he called his cousin the doctor and sent Mrs Johnson for medicine. Phryne asked if they were going to remove Mr Johnson or just wall him up alive and Jean-Paul says he was almost dead already. Phryne decides she will not report him provided he let the Johnsons stay free of charge until Mr Johnson is well and send a friend to show Mrs Johnson the sites of Paris including a complete spring costume from one of the fashion houses. Jean-Paul agrees and Phryne and Alain get to the opera just in time to see the last act.