One of BCF’s highly recommended authors Kerry Greenwood, the Australian author of the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Corinna Chapman Mysteries, has passed away at age 70. Her Phryne Fisher series became a worldwide hit and has been adapted into a popular TV series. She said that she imagined her fictional heroine/amateur sleuth as a cross between James Bond and Emma Peel and writing, “Phryne is a hero, just like James Bond or the Saint, but with fewer product endorsements and a better class of lovers.”
What many readers might not know about her was that she was a fierce champion for justice and wanted to be a lawyer from a young age to help those unable to afford legal help. She was a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria. She also worked as a criminal defence lawyer for Victoria Legal Aid and volunteered her time and legal advice.
Allen & Unwin, Kerry’s publisher since 1997, wrote in a statement that she “had two burning ambitions in life: to be a legal aid solicitor and defend the poor and voiceless; and to be a famous author.
“As a duty solicitor she was outrageously successful. As an author, even more so. Some of her earnings were spent on riotous living, but Kerry gave a lot of it away without fanfare to those who really needed it: fellow authors down on their luck, impecunious neighbours and, above all, to charities.
“Kerry was a costumier, a cook, an embroiderer and a seamstress who made most of her own clothes, as well as a chorister and a very wise and exceptionally kind woman. Passionate about history, literature, cats and Egypt – indeed, curious about almost everything – Kerry will be sincerely missed by her family, friends, colleagues and readers.”
You can find all her books and series on our site here:
And here is an obituary published by the Guardian.
Rest in Peace, Kerry.
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