VALE KERRY GREENWOOD

Just heard that Kerry Greenwood passed away on 26 March 2025. She was 70 years old. Her funeral was today, 7 April 2025.

Best known for her Phryne Fisher stories, Kerry was a veteran of the Australian crime writing scene. Her first Phryne book appeared in 1989 during that first renaissance of Australian crime writing that occurred in the 1980s on the back of breakthrough books by Peter Corris, Marele Day, Robert Wallace and others who are now forgotten.

Kerry brought real energy, humour and charm to the local crime writing scene and her books proved to be very popular in Australia and overseas.

I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Kerry on a number of occasions, and launched one of her books in Canberra. She was always a treasure to meet. Two of the things that always struck me about Kerry was her knowledge of the crime genre, Phryne was actually based on Simon Templar’s female companion from the early Saint novels Patricia Holm, and her great enthusiasm for the research she did for each book. I can still vividly remember her regaling me about the menu for a St Kilda mayoral banquet that she had found from the 1920s and how she had woven it into one of her novels.

Regardless of your tastes in crime fiction, you have to admire her love for the genre and her efforts in promoting Australian crime fiction.

She will be missed.

Here is a link to a review I did back in 2021 of the revised short story collection that she released that year, The Lady With The Gun Asks The Questions: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/the-lady-with-the-gun-asks-the-questions-by-kerry-greenwood-allen-unwin-april-2021/