Publishers Weekly
10/03/2016
Set in late 1932, Gentill’s lively second mystery featuring dashing Australian millionaire Rowland “Rowly” Sinclair (after A Few Right Thinking Men) takes place initially aboard the luxury cruise ship Aquitania, as it steams along toward Sydney. Members of the Theosophical Society, Roman Catholic priests and bishops, Indian mystics, casual Protestants, clairvoyants, and Freemasons mix and mingle as best they can with Rowly and his entourage of poets and artists, or as Rowly’s brother refers to them, “unemployed, subversive ne’er-do-wells!” When the honor of Rowly’s friend, the decidedly delectable sculptress and model Edna Higgins, is in danger, he steps in to defend her from her unwanted suitor. The latter’s subsequent murder has Rowly first cast as a suspect and then slipping into the role of detective. On the ship’s arrival in Sydney in time for the Christmas holidays, the murders continue, as do attempts on Rowly’s life. The witty and insightful glimpses of the Australian bourgeoisie of this period keep this mystery afloat. (Dec.)
From the Publisher
"I thoroughly enjoyed the glamour of the ocean voyage, the warmth and wit among the friends, and yet all the time, simmering beneath the surface, was the real and savage violence, waiting to erupt. The 1930s are a marvelous period. We know what lies ahead! This is beautifully drawn, with all its fragile hope and looming tragedy. I am delighted this is a series. I want them all." — Anne Perry, New York Times bestselling author
"Set in late 1932, Gentill's lively second mystery featuring dashing Australian millionaire Rowland 'Rowly' Sinclair takes place initially aboard the luxury cruise ship Aquitania, as it steams along toward Sydney ... The witty and insightful glimpses of the Australian bourgeoisie of this period keep this mystery afloat." — Publishers Weekly
"A delightful period piece." — Kirkus Reviews
"...the start of a promising new series set in 1930s Sydney about a character who is a little like a male Phryne Fisher. Rowland Sinclair is a gentleman artist who comes from a privileged background but whose sympathies are with bohemians, lefties and ratbags. It's a rich political and cultural era to explore and Gentill has a lot of fun with a hero who is always getting paint on his immaculate tailoring." — The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
"...the start of a promising new series set in 1930s Sydney about a character who is a little like a male Phryne Fisher. Rowland Sinclair is a gentleman artist who comes from a privileged background but whose sympathies are with bohemians, lefties and ratbags. It's a rich political and cultural era to explore and Gentill has a lot of fun with a hero who is always getting paint on his immaculate tailoring."
Suspense Magazine - Mary Lignor
"Author Sulari Gentill not only writes a fantastic mystery, but she offers up very interesting historical tidbits that readers will love to learn. It wouldn't be off the mark to say that if the great Agatha Christie read a Rowland Sinclair mystery, she would most definitely applaud."
New York Times best-selling author Anne Perry
"I thoroughly enjoyed the glamour of the ocean voyage, the warmth and wit among the friends, and yet all the time, simmering beneath the surface, was the real and savage violence, waiting to erupt. The 1930s are a marvelous period. We know what lies ahead! This is beautifully drawn, with all its fragile hope and looming tragedy. I am delighted this is a series. I want them all."
New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry
"I thoroughly enjoyed the glamour of the ocean voyage, the warmth and wit among the friends, and yet all the time, simmering beneath the surface, was the real and savage violence, waiting to erupt. The 1930s are a marvelous period. We know what lies ahead! This is beautifully drawn, with all its fragile hope and looming tragedy. I am delighted this is a series. I want them all."
NetGalley - Eileen Hall
I loved this book!~~~Set on the lovely Art Deco design RMS Aquitainia, of the Cunard Line, in 1932. This voyage from Europe via New York, finally to Sydney, Australia had various characters including a clairvoyant and an Indian guru amongst the guests.~~~Some time into the voyage the body of a Mr Urquhart is found in one of the lifeboats and so begins a who dunit that Agatha Christie would have been proud of!~~~Great fun and very highly recommended.
NetGalley - Melissa McDaniel
Sulari Gentill has written a fun vintage mystery. Rowland Sinclair and his rather quirky friends set sail on the RMS Aquitania. I particularly enjoyed the glimpse into the pre-war history of Australia, and her enlistment of a few American movie stars to interact with her characters.
New York Times best-selling author - Anne Perry
I thoroughly enjoyed the glamour of the ocean voyage, the warmth and wit among the friends, and yet all the time, simmering beneath the surface, was the real and savage violence, waiting to erupt. The 1930s are a marvelous period. We know what lies ahead! This is beautifully drawn, with all its fragile hope and looming tragedy. I am delighted this is a series. I want them all.
Kirkus Reviews
2016-09-21
A wealthy, bohemian Australian artist is forced to become an amateur sleuth. Rowland Sinclair and three of his close friends are on their way home from a protracted trip to Europe just as Hitler is coming to power. The companions at their table on the RMS Aquitania include Annie Besant, World President of the Theosophical movement; Jiddu Krishnamurti, whos just resigned as the movements messiah; and Englishman Orville Urquhart, whos perhaps a bit too attentive to Rowlys friend and beautiful sculptress and model Edna Higgins. Left-leaning poet Milton Isaacs and artist Clyde Watson Jones get along well with their outlandish new acquaintances. Not so militant Bishop Hanrahan, who refuses to dine anywhere near them, and his minders, Father Murphy and Father Bryan, who are traveling with the bishop and his beautiful but apparently shy niece, Isobel. When Urquhart presses unwanted advances upon Edna, Rowly breaks his nose. So the discovery of Urquharts body in a lifeboat, stabbed with Rowlys broken walking stick, makes him the obvious suspect even though the captain believes him innocent. After an interesting visit in New York, where a wealthy artist friend of Rowlys puts them up in the Warwick and Edna dates up-and-coming actor Archibald Leach, they reboard the Aquitania for the trip to Australia. When Isobel makes determined overtures toward Rowly, his artists eye notes that shes pregnant. Things look bleak for Rowly when Isobels pushed overboard in Sydneys harbor, but a friend he made on the police force during his first adventure (A Few Right Thinking Men, 2016) allows him to go home, where his stuffy older brother tries to make him into a proper gentleman. Further complications ensue before Rowly can uncover a determined murderer. A delightful period piece.
