With the upcoming release of Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby,” the Jazz Age is all the rage. If you can’t wait until Gatsby is released for your Roaring Twenties fix or simply love a costume mystery series, try “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.”
Phryne Fisher, glamorous lady detective, played by Essie Davis (“Australia,” “The Matrix Revolutions”), stakes out 1920’s Melbourne, Australia with her pearl-handled pistol and killer cheek bones.
A lady of means and independent spirit, she detects for high society as well as the common folk, much to the dismay of her Aunt Prudence played by Miriam Margolyes (“Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” “The Age of Innocence”).
Along with her maid Dot and salt of the earth taxi men, Bert and Cec, Phryne fearlessly faces danger, gets the bad guys, and aggravates the local Detective Inspector.
The costumes are delicious, and the setting of Jazz Age Melbourne gives a fresh twist on the traditional detective genre. Themes are adult-oriented with plot lines involving such topics as back alley abortions, opium dens and violent union disputes.
Phryne, being an unmarried modern woman, has overnight encounters with various gentlemen callers, much to her strictly Catholic maid’s dismay.
Online streaming is available on AcornTV until May 5, 2013, as well as On DVD
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