With the assistance of her companion Dot, and Bert and Cec (who are wharfies, taxi drivers and "red raggers" [Australian slang of that period meaning communists]), she solves all manner of crimes.
[6] In Cocaine Blues, she tells her maidservant and secretary Dot that during her youth, she "starved like Billy-o" and that her sister died of diphtheria and starvation.
[7] Following her time in France, Phryne travelled widely and has disclosed that she has, amongst other places, visited Florence and spent a night in a Turkish prison (for unknown reasons).
[7] Phryne Fisher's career as a detective is described in Cocaine Blues as having had its origins in an incident that took place at her family's estate in England.
Phryne's motivation to take up private detection as a career is rooted, at least initially, in boredom with the activities of high society in England.
"[6] In Flying Too High, Phryne Fisher decides to settle down in Melbourne, buying a house at 221B, The Esplanade, and moving in there with Dot Williams, her maid.
Phryne confesses to her friend Bunji Ross that she bought the house because it was numbered 221 and that she added 'B' in an obvious reference to the home of Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street.
[7] Through the course of the books, Phryne collects a personal maid, Dot; two adoptive daughters, Ruth and Jane (whom she rescued from slavery); a cat, Ember; a dog, Molly; and two loyal servants, the Butlers.
[8] Phryne is described in Cocaine Blues as having a 'short black cap of hair' which is very straight, and cut to leave the nape of her neck and most of her forehead uncovered.
In Flying Too High, she is described by an acquaintance as being 'small, thin, with black hair cut in what I am told is a bob, disconcerting grey-green eyes and porcelain skin.
[6] She rarely cries, noting in Cocaine Blues that the last time she had done so was over a book of poetry by Wilfred Owen, after being sickened by the deaths in World War I.
[6] Despite her numerous relationships and conduct that some parts of society might find shocking, Phryne describes herself as being immune to blackmail, showing no alarm, for instance, when Bobby Matthews, a thief she had once caught, threatens to tell all of Melbourne that she had once visited an expensive gigolo in Paris.
She also declines an unstated offer from a woman attending to her at the Turkish Baths in Melbourne, and notes that she had visited several bars frequented by lesbian and bisexual women in the company of her friend and gigolo, Georges Santin, in Paris.
[6] On her arrival in Melbourne, she is initially embarrassed to discover that her father had left a number of unpaid debts of honour there, including one to the local MP, Mr.
Dot, possessed of a knife, had been trying to find and kill her former employer's son, who had repeatedly harassed and molested her and had her fired when she resisted his advances.
[6] Cec, in particular, is a gifted navigator with a keen memory for the streets of Melbourne, and is also described as having a soft spot for any animal or person in trouble.
In Flying Too High, they are known by the names 'Ted' and 'Else'[7] Dr. Elizabeth Macmillan is a Scottish surgeon who works at the Queen Victoria hospital for women in Melbourne, Australia.
Dr. Macmillan is described as being of around forty-five years of age, with a broad, strong physique, rough and calloused hands, and a weatherbeaten complexion.
She frequently represents clients referred to her by Phryne, and has inherited her practice from her father, who was partner in a firm called Henderson, Jones, and Mayhew.
He is described in Murder on the Ballarat Train as being a "private man with a doting family, who grew grevilleas and rare native orchids in his yard.
[7] Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is a television costume drama series based on the novels, starring Essie Davis in the title role.
[15] A new series called Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries featuring a niece named Peregrine, in a somewhat later time period, is being trailed on the UK Drama channel.
[17] Miss Fisher and the Deathly Maze, a detective game in the visual novel style, was released in two parts for iOS and Android devices in 2017.
[20] A stand-alone action-adventure feature film, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears will pick up the story from the end of the third series.
[25] On 15 December 2017, an additional ongoing crowdfunding campaign was begun through IndieGoGo in order to allow fans to continue supporting the effort.