This is a one-page review of the Australian Broadcasting Company’s show Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.

HANDBAGS AND HANDGUNS: THE LADY IS A VAMPwritten by Lauren Richardson

Phryne is without a doubt one of the smokiest femme fatale detectives currently heating up screens across the planet. Her enormous eyes, whether glowering seductively or gazing sardonically at the next canary she’s about to swallow are enough to draw in the blind. I can say with certainty that even if the internet police caught up with me regarding tricking Netflix into thinking I’m from the States to watch the show, any punishment for my crimes would be bearable: I’ve fallen in love.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Our independently wealthy lady detective sashays from illustrious nightclub to seedy pool hall to cruise ship as though she’s been between these places all her life, oh-so comfortable in her own skin in every possible environment depicted of 1920s Melbourne. She is most at home in the darkened world of the night, frequently clad in exotic plumage and dresses enough to make Erte weep. Phryne is a stunning pleasure to watch, devoid of flaws, if one doesn’t consider her independence and ravenous sexual appetite for variety troublesome -- which I certainly do not.

The first season opens up with Phryne returning from an extended jaunt around the globe. When her best friend’s husband turns up murdered, one clue leads to another as precisely as clockwork until the conclusion of the show, at which point Phryne decides to set up a mystery solving business. If this sounds pat to you, it is. This is not a show to watch if you crave the brutality of Hannibal, or the criminal intrigue of Breaking Bad. This is a show to watch as you float on a cloud of pillows doing your best impression of a starfish, or as you soak in your candlelit tub eating chilled cherries by the handful and sipping a cold white wine mixed with peach juice over ice.

Miss Fisher is 100% pleasure.

The home network of the show, ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) is no doubt thrilled that the multigenerational audience displays as much enthusiasm for the program as we do: after a break following the second season, the third season commenced production when a fiery social media campaign commanded it be so. Between the extremely likeable protagonist, glamorous settings, clever plots, tidy endings, and phenomenal production design, there is little not to like. As long as the show runners can continue to develop new mysteries for Phryne to solve, I predict there will be many, many years of mysteries for Miss Fisher to come.