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"Danger, excitement and love - this is how the glamorous Phryne Fisher is determined to live her life in her second enticing adventure. Walking the wings of a Tiger Moth plane in full flight ought to be enough excitement for most people, but not Phryne Fisher, amateur detective, woman of mystery, as delectable as the finest chocolate and as sharp as razor blades. In this, the second Phryne Fisher mystery, the 1920s' most talented and glamorous detective...

Phryne goes out for a night of dancing at Melbourne's top club, but the fun comes to an end after one of the patrons is stabbed to death. When a friend becomes the chief suspect, Phryne not only has to prove he didn't do it-she has to prove who did.

Two deaths onstage at a Gilbert and Sullivan show are followed by an attempt on Phryne's life and, eventually, a new romance in Chinatown. At first Phryne thinks the killings are connected with the modern-day opium trade, but soon she turns her attentions to explanations from the past.

A leisurely walk along the beach leads to Phryne's newest case after the body of a young woman washes ashore. Meanwhile, an unexpected visitor shows up at her house-the supposedly dead mother of one of Phryne's wards.

The shooting death of a Latvian anarchist sets Phryne off in pursuit of the dead man's fiancée. In the process, she enters a dangerous underworld and puts not just herself in danger but her maid, Dot, as well.

With a madman on the run, Phryne throws caution to the wind in order to find answers she has been seeking since childhood. However, she may have to put herself in the clutches of her nemesis in order to finally lay her ghosts to rest.

Phryne investigates a murder in Melbourne's Jewish community, where the motives are masked by politics, romance, and religion. Though the police make a quick arrest, Phryne believes the key to the case lies in an ancient Hebrew text.

Phryne begins looking into a burglary at the home of an establishment family fallen on hard times-but ends up investigating three murders. Although a local ring of smugglers seems implicated in the crimes, Phryne finds the family has more than a few secrets that it's desperate to keep hidden.

The police try to channel an outbreak of gang warfare into the boxing ring, but when someone stabs a gang member to death, Phryne and Jack get embroiled in the dangerous world of fight-rigging and illegal betting. Constable Collins goes a step further, pulling on a pair of gloves and stepping into the ring himself.

A vineyard owner hires Phryne to look into a suspicious death, but by the time she gets to the remote town, he's dead, too. The locals are hostile to her inquiries, especially the town's police sergeant, and Phryne calls a certain detective inspector from Melbourne for help.