Death at Victoria Dock by Kelly Greenwood (1992)

Expecting and getting another light, fun mystery with Phryne Fisher, here she was solving another murder and finding a missing girl in Australia. But I was totally flabbergasted (I know not exactly the right word, but I want to use it here because a friend from Europe just said it was their favorite word in the English language) that the situation around the murder was Latvian anarchists in Australia in 1928! It didn't sound right, but what do I know and was going to look this up, when the author explained it all in an interview at the end of the audio reading. Her family came from dock workers or "wharfies" and she had researched the strike in 1928-29. She had learned to do primary research from a professor and focused on this to the detriment on all her other classes. Little did she know she was going to use what she learned in a novel later on.

Phryne is diving by the wharf at night when someone shoots out her windshield. She stops, sees a couple of guys running away, and finds a body of a young "toe-headed" man, who whispers "My mother is in Riga." Turns out, he is a Latvian named Jurka. He had done some boasting about an upcoming bank heist, which got him killed. So there is this group of Latvian anarchists in Melburne. I never did understand what they were doing there, as they seemed to still be planning a revolution, so I still have to do some research.

Phryne connects with Peter Smith (supposedly there was a historical Peter the Artist, who landed in Melburne), though a Latvian anarchist, he doesn't approve of the tactics of this new generation and helps Phryne. She does her usual daring and smart sleuthing. Dot, her maid, gets a boyfriend - one of the young detectives. Jane and I think Ruth are home from school and get to participate with some of their own tricks.

There is always a subplot, another detective task Phryne is asked to do, so in this book it is a missing girl. Of course it is family issues, but there is an interesting twist as the girl is very religious and wants to join a convent, but not a Catholic one, I think it was Anglican. This unusual convent and its building was based on historical facts too. Cool.