Quite entertaining, but I wouldn't call it high literature. There were some theses I can't agree with and I doubt I'd continue reading these books if I hadn't watched the show first and become attached to these characters.

In 1920s Melbourne, a glamorous woman moonlights as a detective.

Here in the Washington, DC area the second season of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries starts tonight on PBS! It's a fun show, based on a series of books I keep meaning to read, and it has clothes so gorgeous even I notice.  

Here's a link for a YouTube trailer posted when it was showing in some other part of the world: YouTube 

It was a pretty good reading month, all told.  The only book I genuinely disliked was The Windsor Faction; I gave Archduke Franz Ferdinand Lives! only  2.5 stars, but at least it was interesting, despite my not agreeing with many of its arguments.

Best book: Wings of Fire, by Charles Todd.  A sequel to a historical mystery I enjoyed, which was even better.
Worst book: The Windsor Faction, by D.J. Taylor.  Literary fiction about a wet mess, sold as an alternative history thriller.

I downloaded this book a few days ago, because it was free and someone highly recommended it. I've only read a couple of chapters, but I'm still as intrigued as I was by this first paragraph. I love when a story starts out with a shatter, a scream and a shriek. Très bon!

"The glass in the French window shattered. The guests screamed. Over the general exclamation could be heard the shrill shriek of Madame St Clair, wife of the ambassador, ‘Ciel! Mes bijoux!’"

This is the first volume in a series of historical mysteries (now going on 20 volumes, I think), set in the 1920s, about the Hon. Phryne Fisher, a Bright Young Thing who really is quite bright, and has the utmost confidence in herself, who decides becoming a detective would be fun.

She gets her first case from one of London society's worried fathers, concerned that his daughter may be being poisoned by her fortune-seeking husband, so that he can inherit her money.  Miss Fisher takes the case, which involves a move from London to Melbourne, Australia.

Miss Fisher has the best wardrobe in town (possibly in all of Australia), diamante garters, birth control, and a discreet little gun, as well as her wits.  But what do cocaine smuggling, an illegal abortionist, a  nouveau riche couple with more money than sense, and Russian dancers have to do with the case?

This book is as light and bubbly as a glass of vintage champagne.  The mystery plot itself is not the greatest, but the cast of characters and the setup for the series I found charming.  (I believe Australian TV have made a series out of these books, as well.  That sounds fun, too.)