A Rowland Sinclair Mystery
Short-listed for Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book
Sulari Gentill – Winner of Davitt Award for Best Adult Crime Fiction 2012
In 1930s Australia, the Sinclair name is respectable and influential, yet the youngest son Rowland – an artist – has a talent for scandal. Even with the unemployed lining the streets, Rowland lives in a sheltered world... of wealth, culture and impeccable tailoring with the family fortune indulging his artistic passions and friends... a poet, a painter and a brazen sculptress. Mounting political tensions fuelled by the Great Depression take Australia to the brink of revolution.
While Rowland is an uncommon man, his name is not. He shares it with an uncle, an aging playboy. When the elder man is murdered, Rowland is stricken with grief and plagued by question. Foremost: why would anyone want to kill the old man?
The stakes are high, as Rowland and his friends go undercover in the New Guard, a dangerous political group intent on wrestling control of the country from its current leadership. As danger looms and Rowland and his friends become targets of the fascist legion, will they be able to solve the mystery of his uncle's murder? Will they be able to protect the country from political upheaval?
Gentill skilfully weaves her narratives around real historical events and figures with razor-sharp humour and incredible imagination. Her debut novel delights the reader and excites them with richly drawn characters and impeccable timing.
