What I enjoy the most about Sulari Gentill's mystery series is that she really puts the time in when setting up the time and place for the reader. I don't think she'd let an anachronistic bit of dialogue or item sidle its way into the books. What I enjoy least is some of the characterization; these artists and they're behaviors start to feel cartoonish, if that's the word I'm looking for, and I'm beginning to find them irritating. Anyhoo, the mystery is fine and the setting is pretty well-described; I just want a little more development for Rowly and his friends.

3.75 stars

The latest entry in The Rowland Sinclair series is an entertaining diversion. Sinclair is a wealthy man from an upper crust family and he appreciates but doesn't take too seriously the trappings of wealth. He has filled the family manse with his penniless Bohemian friends and takes on business commitments only when his brother Wilfred insists.

The setting is marvelous - Australia in the 1930s, and various newspaper articles leading off each chapter are always of interest.

Rowly is being stalked. Is it criminals intent on kidnapping and ransom? Political enemies of his conservative brother? The same brother who has asked Rowly to discover what happened to their aboriginal foreman, who disappeared from a work camp.

The background material concerning Australia's political and cultural climate is terrific. Rowly and his friends and family are well drawn and multidimensional.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing a copy in return for my honest review

1933 and Rowland Sinclair and his friends are enjoying the delights of the The Hydro Majestic Hotel. After foiling a kidnap attempt on him he agree to do twojobs for his brother Wilfred.
The first is to attend an upcoming board meeting and the second to go and find their missing family stockman - Harry Simpson.
Another interesting mystery, and although this can be read as a stand-alone reading the previous books does show the development of the characters.

Set in Australia, this book makes a nice fist of a story, set in the "30s incorporating people, place and history - mountain cattle grazing, communists, mad Englishmen and plots.
This book made me smile - I like it very much - haven't had so much fun for a long time.

An enjoyable light read, perfect for a vacation or those times when your mind needs a diversion.

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press. Thank you.

Australian author Sulari Gentill has now written at least three novels in her Rowland Sinclair series set in the 1930s. This one is 1933 and takes place in New South Wales and the Snowy Mountains. It is quite an interesting mix of the outback cattle ranching and wealthy amateur sleuth themes. Her main character is an artist specializing in the "female form" and his group of friends include a poet (who doesn't write, just quotes from other poets), a watercolorist/sometime vagabond and a sculptor. The three friends are very fortunate in having Rowly for a friend because he is very wealthy so it would seem to take a lot of pressure off the other three to make a living from their art. I got a little confused sometimes and had to stop and ask myself who Ed was until I would remember that was what the others called Edna. There has been a spate of sons of wealthy society families kidnapped and held for ransom. When three men break into the suite Rowland is sharing with his friends and try to abduct him, the natural assumption of the group is that it was a kidnap for ransom attempt. Rowly's older brother wants him to undertake a job of finding out what has happened to the foreman of the cattle moving crew in the Snowy Mountains so this seems like a good time for Rowly and his friends to decamp and evade any further kidnap attempts.

I always enjoy reading mystery novels set in locations other than the United States because I tend to learn very interesting history of the places I'm visiting in the book. This novel was certainly no exception to the learning experience and the Australian slang and word phrasing put me right in the country. Political events were of immense importance at this time in Australia and the author really was able to show the Communist and Fascist influences by weaving in true historical people and events which would lead up to World War II and the stance the Australian government took. The beginning of each chapter has an excerpt or reproduction of printed material in newspapers of the day (or slightly more modern) which I feel confident were real and which cast insight on the content of that chapter. Altogether a very interesting reading experience and it is very nice to know there are already two previous novels I can read in the series.

Someone is trying to kill Rowland Sinclair or, at least, kidnap him. Whether he is being targeted for personal reasons or merely because he happens to be very wealthy is yet to be determined. The consensus among his friends and family is that he should get out of town until the miscreants are discovered and caught. And a very good reason to do just that presents itself.

The Sinclair family has a significant cattle business Something suspicious is going on because the overseer, a personal friend of the family, has disappeared without a word to the Sinclairs. The explanation from the employees and the police is that Harry Simpson, an Aboriginal man, just went walkabout and would return in his own good time. Rowley and his older brother Wilfred aren’t buying it. They know Harry wouldn’t just leave his position without giving some kind of notice. Wilfred suggests that Rowly use his detecting skill to find out what’s going on. He can solve a mystery and put himself out of harm’s way at the same time.

So Rowley and his buddies Edna, Milton, and Clyde saddle up and head for the mountains, an area much like the American Wild West. They run into treasure hunters and cattle rustlers, participate in a rodeo, and solve the mystery of Harry’s disappearance. But someone is on their trail and still trying to harm Rowly.

Back in the city, the plot shifts to shady dealings on the political scene. It’s 1933 and the tension between conservatives and liberals is at a boiling point. As in the rest of the world, the communists are demanding more rights for the working class and the wealthy businessmen are resisting. Could the violence against influential men of business be a communist plot? Or could it be a ploy to discredit the agitators? Rowly finds himself in the thick of the problem and must find the answer before he and those he cares for are harmed.

This seems to be two novellas stuck together to produce one novel. The first part about the disappearance of Harry is pure adventure and the part I really enjoyed. The later political aspect slowed down the novel for me and I had to push through to the end. Still, catching up with Rowly and company is always a good thing and I look forward to the next installment.

I don't like excess profanity. Too much sexual content for me. Just not my kind of book . Sorry.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advance copy of Miles Off Course, the third novel to feature rich painter Rowland Sinclair and his artistic friends in early 1930s Australia.

Rowly as he is known is beholden to his brother Wilfred for the wealth that supports his lifestyle. Wilfred takes care of business and makes little claim on Rowly except making him take a directorship at Dangars and now going to find Henry Simpson, a friend and employee, who has disappeared while managing some cattle herding. It's all go as Rowly deals with these responsibilities and a couple of kidnap attempts, aided by his three friends, painter Clyde Watson Jones, poet Milton Isaacs and sculptor Edna Higgins.

Having read and enjoyed the first novel in the series, A Few Right Thinking Men, I was keen to read Miles Off Course. I am pleased to report that it doesn't disappoint and is an excellent read. The plot is a grand adventure with plenty of twists, turns and tight spots which held me glued to the pages throughout. It is more than just an adventure, however, as it as some interesting and in places real historical detail. Each chapter has an excerpt from contemporary articles at the start to highlight what will take place in it and it makes for fascinating reading. The novel is also peppered with real historical figures although this is lost on me as I know know nothing of the setting, fortunately the epilogue ties up much of this detail.

I was equally fascinated by the way the politics of 1930s Europe play out in Australia with the communists doing their best to destabilise the government and the fascists never far away. This is mirrored in the characterisation with the conservative, extremely right leaning Wilfred disapproving strongly and at times vociferously of Rowley and his communist friends. And yet family is family so on the whole they support each other, until they don't. It makes for some powerful scenes.

It may seem from my comments so far that Miles Off Course is a serious, heavyweight novel but this is far from the truth. As I said it is an adventure but above all else it is a story of friendship. The close bond between Rowly and his friends shines through with their banter, petty squabbles and unthinking support of each other. It is a joy to read.

Miles Off Course is an excellent read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

It was OK, but a little simplistic. Not a series I will continue.