A Decline in Prophets

by Sulari Gentill

Overview

“I thoroughly enjoyed the glamour of the ocean voyage . . . yet all the time, simmering beneath the surface, was . . . savage violence” —Anne Perry, New York Times–bestselling author of the Daniel Pitt series
 
Winner of the Davitt Award for Best Adult Novel

Travel back in time to 1932 and book a first-class suite on the passenger liner RMS Aquitania, but take care, for among your fellow passengers is a ruthless killer. . . .

Direct threats from Australia’s warring Right and the Left having quieted, so wealthy Rowland Sinclair and his group of bohemian friends are their way home to Sydney via New York after a lengthy stay in Europe. The wealthy Sinclair scion has treated his artist friends to first-class accommodations on the Cunard ship, the luxury liner of the day. Also on board are some members of the Theosophical Society (a spiritualism movement), as well as an aggressively conservative Irish Catholic Bishop and his cohorts. Their clash ups the tensions in first class and presents the liner’s captain with a tricky situation when bodies start to drop.

It is Sinclair’s bad luck that he becomes a suspect in the first death, that of the Bishop’s beautiful young niece. But before the ship docks, he is cleared and the investigation, and further crimes, are taken ashore to the Australian capital and into some of its grand country houses—and of course, Rowly and his amateur sleuth friends follow.

“[Rowland Sinclair] is a little like a male Phryne Fisher . . . Gentill has a lot of fun with a hero who is always getting paint on his immaculate tailoring.” —The Sydney Morning Herald
 
“A delightful period piece.” ―Kirkus Reviews
 
“Gentill’s lively second mystery featuring dashing Australian millionaire Rowland ‘Rowly’ Sinclair . . . The witty and insightful glimpses of the Australian bourgeoisie of this period keep this mystery afloat.” —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464206849
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	04/02/2024
Series:	Rowland Sinclair WWII Mysteries , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	333
Sales rank:	7,583
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

After setting out to study astrophysics, graduating in law and then abandoning her legal career to write books, SULARI GENTILL now grows French black truffles on her farm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains of Australia.

Gentill’s Rowland Sinclair mysteries have won and/or been shortlisted for the Davitt Award and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and her stand-alone metafiction thriller, After She Wrote Him won the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel in 2018. Her tenth Sinclair novel, A Testament of Character, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Best Crime Novel in 2021.

Editorial Reviews

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.)

Publishers Weekly

"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

From the Publisher

"...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

"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."

Suspense Magazine - Mary Lignor

"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 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 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 - Eileen Hall

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.

NetGalley - Melissa McDaniel

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 best-selling author - Anne Perry

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.

Kirkus Reviews