Episode 12 - Murder in the Dark

From the preview on the ABC-TV website, this week's episode bears only a glancing resemblance to the novel.

In Murder in the Dark, Phryne attends a country house soiree held by wealthy, beautiful and decadent siblings, Isabelle and Gerald Templar, whose acolytes have gathered for the Last Best Party of 1928. Over four days the party-goers enjoy a version of Tantric sex, hash smoking, polo and deer hunting. 

Phryne wasn't sure she wanted to go, but anonymous notes warning her off changed her mind. And then Isabelle and Gerald's adopted orphans are separately abducted and someone is out to kill Gerald. There's also the matter of Lin Chung's cousin being chucked in the river to avenge. Dot, too good a girl to stay, visits every day or two to refresh Phryne's wardrobe.

The food, however, is excellent, and the cook has a new American refrigerator for her sherberts and ice-creams.

In honour of the deer that escapes the hounds and Phryne's dislike of beetroot, unless in aspic, this week's menu features smoked trout salad and roast venison in a classic French sauce with potatoes and red cabbage. The dessert may be some sort of ice-cream.

I admit that part of the reason for this is that I've just returned from a weekend that included dinner at Lolli Redini in Orange, in NSW's Central West, where the menu ran to beetroot-cured trout and venison in a rich red sauce with potatoes and red cabbage. Unfortunately, I'm not up to the dessert of honey and truffle bavarois with sable biscuits, fig leaf ice-cream and caramelised fig.