Reviews for Urn Burial (Phryne Fisher Series #8)

The average rating for Urn Burial (Phryne Fisher Series #8) based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-10-24 00:00:00 Michael Foster This story was out of Phyrne's normal geographic area and was missing most of the usual characters which was a problem. It takes place at a houseparty and the people at the party seemed too numerous and not clearly drawn enough to keep track of easily. This is the weakest of the PF novels I have read.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-07-24 00:00:00 Oscar Enriquez Moreno I know I'm in trouble when a mystery novel has a) a map of the area where the crime took place or b)a list of characters at the beginning. It means that there would feasibly be confusion on the part of the reader as to what took place where, or who did what, or even who is who(m). God help us if I ever find a mystery that has both--I don't think I'll bother with it if I do. The quotes that begin each chapter were annoying, poorly chosen and had nothing to do with the action in each chapter. Yes, I know it was a convention of many novels until the 1940s, but it's not one that Greenwood handles well. The Phryne Fisher series is turning out to be rather uneven; there are some cracking good reads in there, but there are also some that are less entertaining. This is one of the latter. Sorry, pals, but the narration drags until halfway through, the reveal is ridiculous, the windup scene more so. And the sex scenes...well, there they are, needed or not. (I'm no prude, but the whole boathouse thing was just...gross. Phryne has it away, gets turned on by watching another (unaware) couple having sex, and has it away again? Ugh. Like some stupid porn film.) The main elements of this tale are drawn from a short story Greenwood wrote, but they deserved a better development than I found this to be. The whole business with the mixed-up "decor" was unnecessary and played little part in the fabric of the text. As house-party mysteries go, this one fell flat, right down to the Miss Marple/Miss Silver wannabe. Li Pen and Lin Chung have rather a lot to do in this novel, which was refreshing, if laboured in its presentation. I'm sorry to find this novel so disappointing but that's the breaks when an author confines herself to a series; it gets a bit samey. Same characters, same motivations, in her case the same year--all of these novels supposedly take place in 1928. She would have been wiser to spread them out a bit. After all Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin detected from 1934 to the mid 1970s and never aged a day. I can recommend the series, just not this particular instalment. What's missing is the fun, the lightheartedness that I enjoy in this author's work. Her obsession with women's issues has its place but makes this novel extremely heavyhanded. None of the Non-Phyrne-Menage characters is remotely sympathetic. ETA: More bearable as an audiobook, but still disappointing.