This murder happens in the first sentence of the book - a marathon dancer falls at Phryne Fisher's feet. Phyrne's dance partner Charles seems to get ill, but then disappears. So as usual, there are a bunch of intertwined stories besides the murder. Charles' mother asks Phryne to find Charles, and if possible, also her son Victor, who came back from the war shell shocked and moved away to the mountains, but hasn't been heard from in years. The winning couple of the dance marathon wants to win the car to fulfill their own drams and Phryne helps them achieve those. The jazz band is comprised of interesting characters and one, of course, catches Phryne's eye. There are various gay couples keeping under the radar, and then Phryne's interesting flight out into the bush and the mountains. I like that she is real enough to be able to fit in with all classes, find respect even among bush folks and can seduce a hermit.
When books are written as a series, I often like to space out reading them, but these I want to keep reading quickly, so I don't forget the various characters, as the books subtly build on each other. I can't say that all the previous books are referred to here, but she gets letters from two or three former lovers, the girls she has adopted and who are away at boarding school are mentioned, she gets to fly her plane that she learned to do in another book, and her maid/assistant Dot is progressing in her romance with policeman Hugh.
Lots packed into a fairly short book. I like the writing - interesting metaphors and phrases I keep meaning to write down, but don't with the audio format. This audio book also had a short interview about the real historic and geographic aspects reflected in the book.
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