Murder on a Midsummer Night (Phryne Fisher #17) by Kerry Greenwood ...Our Favorite 1929 Sleuth !

Murder on a Midsummer Night (Phryne Fisher #17) by Kerry Greenwood begins with Phryne thinking about her twenty-ninth birthday. She is making plans for a party. In this book, we read more about Phryne’s sister, Eliza. She comes to Phryne with a case she thinks will be of interest. Mrs. Manifold’s adult son has drowned and the coroner has ruled it a death by misadventure.  Mrs. Manifold is sure this is very wrong, her son would never have drunk whiskey excessively and he was a skilled swimmer. I enjoyed the discussion of her son's collectibles and especially the William Morris tapestries that Mrs. MTanifold had helped to create.  Phyrne decides to look into the case for Eliza and Mrs. Manifold.
There is also a request for Phryne to help find a missing person in the settlement of the estate of  Mrs. Mario Bonnetti. It seems she had a love affair with a young actor named Patrick at about the age of seventeen and shortly thereafter had been sent away from home for about a year.  Then at age twenty, she is married to a much older man of wealth. She had a good life and other children, but she left instructions for all of her children to share in her inheritance at her death. So a mystery for Phryne to research and locate the youthful lover and maybe learn the fate of the love child. As we get further into this mystery I felt so sad for the young Kathleen waiting for her Patrick to come and take her away from her shame and troubles.
I just adore the very modern Phryne Fisher as she lives her life by her rules and does good for others. In this book, I was glad to read more of Lin Chung’s involvement in helping Phryne with the séance and his magician’s tricks. Enjoy!