User:Inzannatea/sandbox/Murder on the Ballarat Train (Novel)

Murder on the Ballarat is a crime novel by Australian author Kerry Greenwood, and was published in Poisoned Pen Press. It is the third novel by Kerry Greenwood that features the fictional detective Miss Phryne Fisher.

Introduction
When the 1920s' most glamorous lady detective, the Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher, arranges to go to Ballarat for the week, she eschews the excitement of her red Hispano-Suiza racing car for the sedate safety of the train. The last thing she expects is to have to use her trusty Beretta .32 to save the passengers' lives. As they sleep, they are poisoned with chloroform.

Phryne is left to piece together the clues after this restful country sojourn turns into the stuff of nightmares with a young girl who can't remember anything, rumors of white slavery and black magic, and the body of an old woman missing her emerald rings. Then there is the rowing team and the choristers, all deliciously engaging young men. At first they seem like a pleasant diversion...

Characters
Recurring Characters Other Characters
 * The Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher: a wealthy private detective
 * Dorothy 'Dot' Williams: Phryne's maidservant and social secretary
 * Bert (Albert Johnson) and Cec (Cecil Yates): cab drivers in Melbourne who occasionally act as investigative assistants to Phryne
 * Mr and Mrs. Butler: Phryne's butler and housekeeper, respectively
 * Dr. Elizabeth McMillan: a Scottish doctor and Phryne Fisher's friend. A strong minded woman with pepper and salt hair.
 * Detective-Inspector Jack Robinson: Phryne Fisher's favorite policeman. He is utterly forgettable with middle-brown hair, and middle-brown eyes.
 * Jane Graham: Young girl with amnesia who is found on the train platform
 * Eunice Henderson: Daughter of the victim and secret romance novelist.
 * Alastair Thompson: Fiance of Eunice Henderson, medical student, and rower at the university.
 * Lindsay Herbert: Friend of Alastair, law student, and rower at the university.
 * Ruth Collins: Jane's best friend and soon to be sister
 * Mr. Burton aka The Great Hypno: A con man and human trafficker
 * Miss Gay: Runs the boarding house that works the girls and is actually married to Mr. Burton

Adaptations
Cocaine Blues, as well as other novels featuring Phryne Fisher, were adapted into the Australian television series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Murder on the Ballarat Train was one of the novels adapted for the series.