Murder on a Midsummer Night by Kerry Greenwood

Phryne is enjoying the hot summer in Australia when she is approached by a woman asking her to look into the death of her son, who has been found drowned in the bay. But the woman doesn't believe that her son comitted suicide- he was too successful, and had too much to live for.

Phryne questions the woman, and finds out that her son had inherited his father's junk business, but been very successful with finds and had turned the junk shop into a place where people saw old things washed and cleaned and made to look almost new. His business was amazingly successful, and he'd promised his mother a lovely new place in Toorai after he made another find, which was coming soon.

Not long afterwards, Phrynne is engaged by a lawyer to find a missing child. Long ago, the deceased mother of the family he works for got sent off to the country for a year and when she came back, was in disgrace until her father married her off to an older man, to whom she gave birth to more children. But when she died, they learned that her year in the country might have been to give birth to an illegitimate child- because she left her estate to all of her children, and now they need Phrynne to find out if there really was a child, and if it's still alive, where he or she could be found.

But the dead son was mixed up with some truly "out there" people, and the family of the missing child isn't much better. And it appears as if one of their servants is ripping the family off. Even if Phrynne doesn't like either set, she has murderers to discover and people to find. Can she track down the responsible parties with the help of Lin, her Chinese lover, and the rest of her family and servants? Or will the mighty Phrynne find these cases beyond her expertise?

I always love Phrynne, and this book is no exception. Phrynne is the woman we all wished we could be: sleek, sensual, beautiful and intelligent, and no matter how much she eats and drinks or how little she exercises, she never gains weight, looks frumpy or has "bad hair" days. And she lives in a sort of 20's "free love" heyday where she and Lin, her lover, are both free to dally with other men and women if they feel like it.

This series is great for more than just the detective heroine's attributes. I like how the series so convincingly evokes both Australia and the bygone 20's. But then, the writer lives in Australia, in a place called "Footscray". There is something a little magical about Australian place-names, often being names to conjure with like Toorai, Footscray, Beersheba and so on. You almost feel like you're there.

With an elegant heroine, wonderful mysteries and an Australia you feel like you inhabit along with Phrynne, this series pulls you in and draws you back every time a new one comes out. I recommend this highly.