This is the time of year when I start scouring the streaming services for shows to watch.  While I admittedly tend towards re-watching my old favorites, I do sometimes give those unknowns in my “Recommendations” section a chance.  I kept seeing Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries pop up and took it for one of those Miss Marple-type shows that Masterpiece Theater was putting out in the 80’s.  While the show is a Miss Marple-type show, it is decidedly more modern.  Even though it is set in the 1920’s.

The show is a recent hit out of Australia based on a series of mystery novels by Kerry Greenwood.  Both the novels and TV show follow “lady detective” Phyrne Fisher, played by Essie Davis on the show, as she works with, and sometimes against, the Melbourne police force on, you guessed it, murder mysteries. Phyrne is a forward-thinking, glamorous, wise-cracking woman who you could dislike for how cool she is and how many men fall at her feet, but she is just so dang likable and good to the people who are close to her.  My favorite among those people is her demure, ultra-Catholic maid who often helps Phyne in matters outside those of the domestic variety and begins a sweet romance with the equally guileless but Protestant (gasp) Constable Collins.  These two are just too adorable.  In contrast, the simmering sexual tension between Phyrne and Detective Jack Robinson is equally satisfying if not quite as actualized on the show.  The characters make the show for me more than the actual cases, but the mysteries are still dealing with a lot of issues, such as homosexuality, sexual politics, and drug use that you don’t get from some of those old Masterpiece mysteries.

I know that several of our readers, like me, enjoy a good period drama and are sure to enjoy this cheeky, period murder mystery and it really is perfect for some light summer viewing with a dash of intrigue.

– Ellen