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Kerry Greenwood

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Kerry Greenwood

OAM
Kerry Greenwood
Greenwood signing books at the launch of Forbidden Fruit
BornKerry Isabelle Greenwood
(1954-06-17)17 June 1954
Footscray, Victoria, Australia
Died26 March 2025(2025-03-26) (aged 70)
OccupationWriter, locum solicitor
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAustralian
EducationBA, LL.B
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
GenreCrime, historical, science-fiction
Notable worksPhryne Fisher series
PartnerDavid Greagg

Kerry Isabelle Greenwood OAM (17 June 1954 – 26 March 2025) was an Australian author and lawyer. She wrote many plays and books, most notably a string of historical detective novels centred on the character of Phryne Fisher, which was adapted as the popular television series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. She wrote mysteries, science-fiction, historical fiction, children's stories, and plays. Greenwood earned the Australian women's crime fiction Davitt Award in 2002 for her young adult novel The Three-Pronged Dagger.

Early life and education

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Greenwood was born on 17 June 1954.[1] She grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, and lived most of her life in the Inner West. She attended Geelong Road State School (now Footscray Primary School), Maribyrnong College and the University of Melbourne, where she graduated with Bachelor of Arts (English) and Bachelor of Laws degrees in 1979. Whilst at university, Greenwood worked at a women's refuge.

Career

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In 1982, Greenwood was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and worked full-time as a criminal defence lawyer for Victoria Legal Aid until becoming a professional writer. Since that time, she remained a locum duty solicitor for Legal Aid, practising in the Sunshine Magistrates' Court.[2]

She began writing books at sixteen, but remained unpublished. In 1988 she entered one of her eight novels for the Vogel prize; although not successful, one of the judges offered her a contract for two detective novels.[2]

In the 2020 Australia Day Honours Greenwood was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).[3]

Personal life and death

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Greenwood lived with a "wizard" [4][5][6] the mathematician and author David Greagg.[7]

Greenwood died on 26 March 2025, at the age of 70.[8][9][10]

Books

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Phryne Fisher historical mysteries

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  1. Cocaine Blues (1989) aka Death by Misadventure[11]
  2. Flying Too High (1990)
  3. Murder on the Ballarat Train (1991)[12]
  4. Death at Victoria Dock (1992)[13]
  5. The Green Mill Murder (1993)
  6. Blood and Circuses (1994)[14]
  7. Ruddy Gore (1995)[15]
  8. Urn Burial (1996)
  9. Raisins and Almonds (1997)
  10. Death Before Wicket (1999)
  11. Away with the Fairies (2001)
  12. Murder in Montparnasse (2002)
  13. The Castlemaine Murders (2003)
  14. Queen of the Flowers (2004)
  15. Death by Water (2005)[16]
  16. Murder in the Dark (2006)
  17. Murder on a Midsummer Night (2008)
  18. Dead Man's Chest (2010)
  19. Unnatural Habits (2012)
  20. Murder and Mendelssohn (2013)[17]
  21. Death in Daylesford (2020)[18]
  22. Murder in Williamstown (2022)
  • The Phryne Fisher Mysteries: Cocaine Blues / Flying Too High (omnibus) (2004)
  • A Question of Death (short story collection) (2008)
  • The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions (short story collection) (2021)[19]

Corinna Chapman mysteries

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  1. Earthly Delights (2004)
  2. Heavenly Pleasures (2005)
  3. Devil's Food (2006)
  4. Trick or Treat (2007)
  5. Forbidden Fruit (2009)
  6. Cooking the Books (2011)
  7. The Spotted Dog (2018)[20]

Delphic Women

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  • Cassandra (1995)[21]
  • Electra (1996)
  • Medea (1997)

Spinouts (with Michael Pryor and Catherine Randle)

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  • The Bold and The Brave (2000)

Stormbringer

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The Broken Wheel, Whaleroad, Cave Rats and Feral are prequels to the Stormbringer trilogy. Characters in Stormbringer refer to events in those books, but are otherwise independent.

  • The Rat and the Raven (2005)
  • Lightning Nest (2006)
  • Ravens Rising (2006)

Novels

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  • The Wandering Icon (1992)
  • The Childstone Cycle (1994)[22]
  • Quest (1996)
  • The Broken Wheel (1996)
  • Whaleroad (1996)
  • Cave Rats (1997)
  • Feral (1998)
  • Whaleroad, Cave Rats and Feral published in one volume in 2002
  • Alien Invasions (2000) (with Shannah Jay and Lucy Sussex, edited by Paul Collins and Meredith Costain)
  • A Different Sort of Real: The Diary of Charlotte McKenzie, Melbourne 1918-1919 (2001), also titled The Deadly Flu as printed in 2012, and Contagion: My Australian Story, Scholastic Australia, 2020[23]
  • The Three-Pronged Dagger (2002)
  • Danger Do Not Enter (2003)
  • The Long Walk (2004)
  • Journey to Eureka (2005)
  • Out of the Black Land (2010)

Collections

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  • Recipes for Crime (1995) (with Jenny Pausacker)[24]

Anthologies edited

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  • Bad to the Bones (2002)

Short fiction

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Non-fiction

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  • On Murder: True Crime Writing in Australia (2000)
  • On Murder 2: True Crime Writing in Australia (2002)
  • Tamam Shud: The Somerton Man Mystery (2012)

Television and film

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The Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries television series was filmed in and around Melbourne in 2011 and premiered on ABC1 on 24 February 2012. A second series was commissioned in August 2012 and filming began in February 2013 and aired starting 6 September 2013.[25] A third series was commissioned in June 2014 and began airing on 8 May 2015.

A film that continues the story started in the television series was released in 2022: Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears.

The TV series was redone by HBO Asia in 2020 as Miss S, set in Shanghai in the 1930s instead of Melbourne in the 1920s.[26] The show was filmed in Mandarin, Miss Phryne Fisher was renamed as Su Wenli, Inspector Robinson was renamed as Luo Qiuheng, and Dorothy 'Dot' Williams was renamed as Xiao Tao Zi.[27]

Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries (also stylised as Ms Fisher's MODern Murder Mysteries) is an Australian television drama series which began screening on the Seven Network on 21 February 2019. A spin-off of the original series, [28] it is set in mid-1960s Melbourne, and revolves around the personal and professional life of Peregrine, daughter of Phryne’s half sister Annabelle. The premise is that Peregrine inherits a fortune when the famous aunt she never knew goes missing over the highlands of New Guinea, and she sets out to become a private detective in her own right, guided by the exceptional women in The Adventuresses' Club, of which her aunt was also a member.

Awards and nominations

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  • Aurealis Award for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction, Young Adult Division, Best Novel, 1996: joint winner for The Broken Wheel[29]
  • Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award, Book of the Year: Younger Readers, 2002: honour book for A Different Sort of Real : The Diary of Charlotte McKenzie, Melbourne 1918–1919[30]
  • Davitt Award, Best Young Fiction Book, 2002: winner for The Three-Pronged Dagger[31]
  • Davitt Award, Best Young Fiction Book, 2003: nominated for The Wandering Icon[32]
  • Davitt Award, Best Adult Novel, 2003: nominated for Murder in Montparnasse : A Phryne Fisher Mystery[33]
  • Ned Kelly Award for Crime Writing, Lifetime Contribution, 2003[34]
  • Ned Kelly Award for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2005: shortlisted for Heavenly Pleasures : A Corinna Chapman Novel[35]
  • Ned Kelly Award for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2005: shortlisted for Queen of the Flowers : A Phryne Fisher Mystery[36]
  • New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Books, 2006: shortlisted for Journey to Eureka[37]
  • Davitt Award, Readers' Choice Award, 2006: joint winner for Heavenly Pleasures : A Corinna Chapman Novel[38]
  • Davitt Award, Readers' Choice Award, 2007: joint winner for Devil's Food[39]
  • Ned Kelly Award for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2008: nominated for Trick or Treat[40]
  • Awarded Sisters in Crime Lifetime Achievement Award 2013 AU[41]

References

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  1. ^ Writers Write
  2. ^ a b Schmidt, Lucinda (25 June 2008). "Profile: Kerry Greenwood". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Kerry Isabelle Greenwood". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Kerry Greenwood". Phryne Fisher. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  5. ^ Money, Lawrence (1 April 2012). "Fearless Phryne takes on the small screen". The Age. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  6. ^ Gatt, Charlene (13 October 2009). "Off to see the wizard". Star Community. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  7. ^ Money, Lawrence (1 April 2012). "Fearless Phryne takes on the small screen". The Age. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  8. ^ Flux, Elizabeth (7 April 2025). "Kerry Greenwood, author behind Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, dies at 70". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 7 April 2025. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  9. ^ "Vale Kerry Greenwood". Books+Publishing. 7 April 2025. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  10. ^ "Funeral Notice for Kerry Greenwood". funeral.info. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  11. ^ Kerry Greenwood at Fantastic Fiction
  12. ^ Popple, Jeff (19 January 1992). "Unabated flood of serial killers". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  13. ^ Barney, Stan (24 May 1992). "Compulsive reading in an outback adventure". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  14. ^ Popple, Jeff (14 January 1995). "A mixed bag of crime an espionage thrillers". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  15. ^ Price, Jenna (10 December 1995). "The Body in the Stocking". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Death by Water". The Age. 26 June 2005. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  17. ^ Turnbull, Sue (9 November 2013). "Literary Miss Fisher always gets her man". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  18. ^ "Death in Daylesford - Kerry Greenwood". Allen & Unwin. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  19. ^ "The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions - Kerry Greenwood". Allen & Unwin. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  20. ^ Goldsworthy, Kerryn (15 November 2018). "The Spotted Dog review: Kerry Greenwood bakes a serving of criminal delights". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  21. ^ Matthews, Stephen (23 July 1995). "Browsing a Book fair". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  22. ^ "Prose does no Justice to subjects sensuality". The Canberra Times. 14 January 1995. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  23. ^ "A Different Sort of Real by Kerry Greenwood". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
  24. ^ Salins, Christine (6 September 1995). "Provence from Melbourne's French Kitchen". Canberra Times. p. 30. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  25. ^ Every Cloud website Archived 15 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  26. ^ Catalano, Madeline (15 August 2022). "Miss S: How the HBO Max Show Puts a Chinese Spin on Murder Mysteries". MovieWeb. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  27. ^ "Miss S (TV Series 2000– )". IMDb. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  28. ^ Groves, Don (26 July 2018). "Seven orders 'Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries' spin-off". IF.
  29. ^ ""Aurealis Awards 1997"". SFADB. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  30. ^ ""CBCA Book of the Year Awards 1946–"" (PDF). The Children's Book Council of Australia. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
  31. ^ ""LibraryThing: Davitt Awards 2002"". LibraryThing. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  32. ^ "The Wandering Icon by Kerry Greenwood – Awards". Austlit. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  33. ^ "Murder in Montparnasse by Kerry Greenwood – Awards". Austlit. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  34. ^ "2003 Ned Kelly Award Winners". Australian Crime Writers. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  35. ^ "Heavenly Pleasures by Kerry Greenwood – Awards". Austlit. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  36. ^ "Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood – Awards". Austlit. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  37. ^ "Murder in Montparnasse by Kerry Greenwood – Awards". Austlit. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  38. ^ ""LibraryThing: Davitt Awards 2006"". LibraryThing. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  39. ^ ""LibraryThing: Davitt Awards 2007"". LibraryThing. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  40. ^ "Trick or Treat by Kerry Greenwood – Awards". Austlit. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  41. ^ ""Vale Kerry Greenwood 17 June 1954 – 26 March 2025"". Sisters in Crime. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
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