Kerry Greenwood, author of the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries, dies aged 70

Kerry Greenwood, the writer who created the famous Miss Phryne Fisher, a female sleuth with a pearl-handled pistol, has died.

Kerry Greenwood at Footscray Library in 2018. Picture: Ellen Smith

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Australian author Kerry Greenwood, who created the famous Miss Phryne Fisher, the pearl-handled-pistol-toting star of the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries, has died at age 70.

Greenwood, who was born and lived in Melbourne’s western suburbs, was “sent off” at a wake over the weekend with her husband David Greagg saying her death on 26 March had been kept a bit of a secret because she didn’t like a fuss.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Mr Greagg said: “Apparently rumours have been flying about that Kerry has left this earth. I am afraid this is absolutely the case.

Greenwood and her husband David Greagg at the launch of series two of Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries in 2021. Picture: Fiona Byrne

“I have been grieving quietly as well as organising things,” he added. “Kerry was an extremely private person and had no wish to share her pain with anyone. I told everyone after the wake that they could now post anything they liked … I will stay silent no longer. Yes, she has gone. But she lives on in her books and in our hearts.”

Greenwood’s great literary triumph was the creation of the character she called Phryne (rhymes with Briny) Fisher, “she of the Cupid’s bow lips, diamante garters and pearl-handled pistol.”

Greenwood was sent off on the weekend. Picture: Josie Hayden

Phryne’s wild adventures as a 1920s super-sleuth were made in a popular TV series.

Fellow writer Katherine Kovacic, who some years ago began writing the 1960s spin-off series, featuring a character called Peregrine Fisher, who is the niece of the Phryne Fisher, said she was “deeply saddened. Kerry was a trailblazer for female crime writers in Australia, a champion of cozy crime and an incredibly warm and funny woman.

“When Kerry gave her approval for me to write the Ms Fisher book, Just Murdered, it felt like being granted a Royal Warrant.”

As recently as March, Greenwood told readers of the Phryne Fisher Facebook page that the latest book in Phryne series, Murder In The Cathedral, was in the process of being edited.

“This is a slow process, involving mysterious alchemy, scattering of rose petals, muttered incantations and the like, but it progresses,” she wrote.

The DVD cover of a Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries adaptation.

On her own website, Greenwood described herself as “a folk singer, factory hand, director, producer, translator, costume-maker, cook and solicitor” including on a volunteer basis for Victoria’s Legal Aid.

“She embroiders very well but cannot knit,” she wrote. “She has flown planes and leapt out of them (with a parachute) … She can detect second-hand bookshops from blocks away and is often found within them.”

She was said to own 7000 books.

She was a feisty feminist, who in 1991 became a founding member of Sisters in Crime, which champions female crime writers. Her long-time friend, and Sister in Crimes’ ambassador, Sue Turnbull, described her as a “rare talent. Her love of history, her fierce feminist politics, her acute observations of people and place were evident in everything she wrote, as well as her wicked sense of humour. She has given us so much, but she herself is irreplaceable. We will miss her enormously.”

In 2013, she became the first (and only) member to have been honoured by a Sisters in Crime Lifetime Achievement Award.

She was also awarded a Ned Kelly lifetime achievement award; and in 2020 was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to literature as a writer.

Her publisher Annette Barlow, from Allen & Unwin, said Greenwood was “a gifted writer, a generous spirit, and a fierce advocate for creativity, joy and justice. Since 1997, we’ve had the honour of publishing her work, with over 1.4 million copies sold globally. She lives on through her words, her wit, and the countless readers she entertained and inspired.”

Allen & Unwin confirmed the that the new Phryne Fisher novel, Murder in the Cathedral, will be published later this year.