Phryne witnesses a shooting at the docks in the middle of a strike. Consequently, she gets to learn a lot about Latvians, anarchs, and a missing girl.
- Accidental Kidnapping: The Anarchists nab Dot outside the Fisher home, mistaking her for Phryne.
- Bank Robbery: The Latvian Anarchists' smuggled machine gun is for stealing Russian gold to further their cause. The climax is Phryne and company stopping them.
- Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: A group of them are raising trouble in Melbourne.
- Diagnosis: Knowing Too Much: A convoluted example. When Lila discovered her brother and stepmother's affair, the stepmother gaslit her into thinking she had inherited her late mother's instability and bribed the convent (under her husband's name) not to let the girl join, which would leave Lila no choice but to check herself into a mental institution.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Madonna picture that used to belong to Lila’s mother plays an important part in solving her disappearance.
- Relative Error: Phryne assumes Peter Smith's connection to Nina is that he's an ex-boyfriend. Nina reveals they are estranged father and daughter.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran:
- Phryne, usually so composed, is left in shock and notably shaken by the death of the murder victim as she tries to save him, flashing back to her experiences as an ambulance driver in WWI.
- Jack also has shades of this, with the Browning automatic ammunition bringing back memories of his own service on the front, commenting in grim subdued fashion of its lethality.
- Taking the Veil: Lila was considering this as a way to escape her family, but the Mother Superior was hesitant.
