History YMMV / PhryneFisher

* ValuesDissonance: Oh, ''boy''. Given that this is set in the 1920's, there's truckloads of dissonance. Casual sexism and racism, blatant homophobia... Phryne thinks more like a modern reader than a normal woman of the 20's, but she's the exception, not the rule.
** In ''Death Over Wicket'', Phryne runs into several cases. Clarence Ottery says that he's a black sheep because his uni course is Arts, not Medicine, and Phryne's reaction is basically to wonder if he's serious. In another, Joss basically says that whores are cheap and worthless, and Phryne has to resist the urge to hit him because she's investigating the disappearance and possible death of Dot's sister, [[spoiler: an ex-whore.]]

* WhatAnIdiot: Ms Prout in ''Away With The Fairies'' [[spoiler: decides to answer the really dangerous letters sent to the magazine she works for. This sounds harmless, except that she has absolutely no knowledge about any of the things she's talking about. Combine this with her pompous morals, and her letter-answering career ends up nearly destroying a marriage, getting a woman with a very sick child sacked and indirectly leading to the suicide of a woman suffering from post-natal depression- and those are just the ones we hear about.]]

* CompleteMonster: In ''Murder in the Dark'', "The Joker," a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] [[ProfessionalKiller killer]] for [[PsychoForHire hire]], is a MasterOfDisguise who sent a coral snake to warn someone to stay away from the scene of his next job, then [[WouldHurtAChild locked a little girl]] into a disused outbuilding to die slowly of starvation.

* CompleteMonster: ''Murder in the Dark'': "The Joker," a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] [[ProfessionalKiller killer]] for [[PsychoForHire hire]], is a MasterOfDisguise who sent a coral snake to warn someone to stay away from the scene of his next job, then [[WouldHurtAChild locked a little girl]] into a disused outbuilding to die slowly of starvation.

* CompleteMonster:
** ''Murder on the Ballarat Train'': The worst member of the child slavery gang is the man who [[WouldHurtAChild rapes the kids]] to help break them, considering it all part of his compensation for leaving his previous legitimate job.
** ''Murder in the Dark'': "The Joker," a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] [[ProfessionalKiller killer]] for [[PsychoForHire hire]], is a MasterOfDisguise who sent a coral snake to warn someone to stay away from the scene of his next job, then [[WouldHurtAChild locked a little girl]] into a disused outbuilding to die slowly of starvation.

* {{Badass}}: Dr [=MacMillan=], who in the first book manages to defeat a thug who intends to torture and possibly rape her by [[CrowningMomentOfFunny hitting him on the head with a washbasin as he's about to climb through the window.]]

* CanonSue: Arguably, Phryne herself for every description of her that points out how beautiful she is...
** Plus, she's always right, she gets away with everything, and she's incredibly superior. She does make up for it by being quite a decent person, though.
*** It should be noted, however, that the 'offending' traits are shared with a certain [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes other detective]]..

* HilariousInHindsight: Music/BadLipReading made a spoof of Gotye's song 'Somebody I Used To Know' which has the line 'Miss Fisher don't think I'm pretty'. Phryne probably would, actually.

* FridgeHorror: As of the latest books, it's 1929. The Great Depression is on the way, and after it is World War Two: Tinker would be old enough to have fought, and Jane, who wants to be a doctor, might well have ended up as a field surgeon, the way Doctor [=MacMillan=] did.

** Lin Chung being kidnapped by pirates.

** In ''Death Over Wicket'', Phryne runs into several cases. Clarence Ottery says that he's a black sheep because his uni course is Arts, not Medicine, and Phryne thinks 'Seriously?' In another, Joss basically says that whores are cheap and worthless, and Phryne has to resist the urge to hit him because she's investigating the disappearance and possible death of Dot's sister, [[spoiler: an ex-whore.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: Music/BadLipReading made a spoof of Gotye's song 'Somebody I Used To Know' which has the line 'Miss Fisher won't think I'm pretty'. Phryne probably would, actually.

** ''Murder and Mendelssohn'' has a very ordinary-sounding title, until you realise that it's a clue: not only are there murders involving a choir singing Mendelssohn, but [[spoiler: the murders were ''because of'' Mendelssohn's music- specifically, the murderer was a Mendelssohn purist who disliked the way the victims butchered the music.]]

** Jane's story. She was hypnotised, she saw her grandmother commit suicide, and she was sent to a brothel- and then she saw a woman hanged on the way. Thank God Phryne rescued her.

** The beginning of ''Blood and Circuses'': A man is stabbed, and the blood ends up dripping through the damaged ceiling... and landing in his landlady's cup of tea. She only realises this after she finished it.

* WhatAnIdiot: Ms Prout in ''Away With The Fairies'' [[spoiler: decides to answer the really dangerous letters sent to the magazine she works for. This sounds harmless, except that she has absolutely no knowledge about any of the things she's talking about. Combine this with her pompous morals, and her letter-answering career ends up nearly destroying a marriage, getting a woman with a very sick child sacked and indirectly leading to the suicide of a woman suffering from post-natal depression- and those are just the ones we hear about.]]

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[spoiler: Phryne is possessed by Isis in ''Death By Wicket''. This has never come up again.]]

* CompleteMonster: Too many.

* CanonSue: Arguably, Phryne herself. If this troper had a dollar for every description of her that points out how beautiful she is...

** In ''Death Over Wicket'', Phryne runs into several cases. Clarence Ottery says that he's a black sheep because his uni course is Arts, not Medicine, and Phryne basically thinks 'Seriously?' In another, Joss basically says that whores are cheap and worthless, and Phryne has to resist the urge to hit him because she's investigating the disappearance and possible death of Dot's sister, [[spoiler: an ex-whore.]]

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: In ''Ruddy Gore'', a weight is dropped from a large height onto the stage it was hanging above, intended to hit Phryne or the lead actor. Instead, it hits [[spoiler: Prompt]], who is crushed. Thankfully, no description is given.

** In ''Death Over Wicket'', Phryne runs into several cases. Clarence Ottery says that he's a black sheep because his uni course is Arts, not Medicine, and Phryne basically thinks 'Seriously?' In another, Joss basically says that whores are cheap and worthless, and Phryne has to resist the urge to hit him because she's investigating the disappearance and possible death of Dot's sister, [[spoiler: an ex-whore.]]

* WhatAnIdiot: Ms Prout in ''Away With The Fairies'' [[spoiler: decides to answer the really dangerous letters sent to the magazine she works for. This sounds harmless, except that she has absolutely no knowledge about any of the things she's talking about. Combine this with her pompous morals, and her letter-answering career ends up nearly destroying a marriage, getting a woman with a very sick child sacked and indirectly leading to a woman suffering from post-natal depression's suicide.]]

** In ''Death Over Wicket'', Phryne runs into several cases. Clarence Ottery says that he's a black sheep because his uni course is Arts, not Medicine, and Phryne basically thinks 'Seriously?' In another, Joss basically says that whores are cheap and worthless, and Phryne has to resist the urge to hit him because she's investigating the disappearance and possible death of Dot's sister, an ex-whore.

* ValuesDissonance: Oh, ''boy''. Given that this is set in the 1920's, there's truckloads of dissonance. Casual sexism and racism, blatant homophobia... Phryne thinks more like a modern reader than a normal woman of the 20's, but she's the exception, not the rule.

* Badass: Dr [=MacMillan=], who in the first book manages to defeat a thug who intends to torture and possibly rape her by [[CrowningMomentOfFunny hitting him on the head with a washbasin as he's about to climb through the window.]]