What an interesting book! More historical fiction than mystery, it's well written retelling of some historical facts of Australian history.
The cast of characters is really interesting and lively, the plot is entertaining and informative at the same time.
It starts a bit slow but once hooked you cannot put the book down.
Strongly recommendend, especially if you love history.
Many thanks to Pantera Press and Netgalley

This was a very interesting introduction to a series which I think I am going to like very much. Why only three stars then?

The three stars are for:-
* The characters, especially Rowland who has the makings of being a book hero. He is charming, rich, honest, thoughtful and smart. What more could you ask for? His friends and family are all interesting characters as well.
* The period setting 0f Australia during the Depression years. We get to visit the city and the outback and see the vast difference at that time between social classes.
* That beautiful, perfectly appropriate cover.

The loss of two stars is due to the fact that the author placed her fictional story into a big chunk of historical fact, which would have been great except that it was political fact. And I hate politics, current and past! So sadly I found a big chunk of the book boring.

The good thing is that I can look forward to more of the charming Rowland and (hopefully anyway) less of the political stuff in the next book!

Rowland Sinclair – Rowly to his friends – was dining with his elderly uncle, Rowland Sinclair and as usual, enjoying the lively banter between the two of them. But when Rowly was informed a day or two later by the police that his uncle had been murdered, he was shocked and saddened. With the police seemingly doing nothing to find his killer/s, Rowly vowed to find them himself.

With the country in the throes of tensions caused by the Depression, and agitators on both sides of Parliament firing things up, Rowly was setting himself up for trouble. His straight-laced and staid brother Wilfred, who had returned from the Great War, not entirely unaffected, was at his wit’s end with his younger brother. Wilfred had certain views and expected Rowly to follow his ideals. But Rowly was on the bench; he had no leanings either way.

For this artistic, peace-loving gentleman, it seemed scandal was about to hit in a big way. Rowly was prepared to take risks – but would he take one too many?

A Few Right Thinking Men is the first in the Rowland Sinclair series by Aussie author Sulari Gentill, and is one I thoroughly enjoyed. Mystery made more interesting by it being set in Sydney in the 1930s when the Great War is over, and the Depression is in full swing. The character of Rowland Sinclair is an excellent one – a gentle man who has no hesitation in using his considerable wealth to help those less fortunate, especially his dearest friends, Edna, Milton and Clyde. A new series for me to start, and I’m looking forward to the next! Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my digital copy to read and review.

Rowland Sinclair is a wealth artist from a well respected family in Australia. He has a few artist friends who live with him in the Sydney family home. He seems to not pay attention to what is going on around him but when his uncle he is named after dies due to a beating in his home Rowland feels the police are not doing enough. Rowland and his friends set up a scheme to find out who was behind the beating. It takes him in to the political world of the 1930s in Australia. There are many different factions trying to get control. Rowland has been to some of the communist meetings but isn't a member. Now through his art he hopes to get a look at the Fascist to see if they are behind the beating. Gives us an interesting look into the times.

1931 New South Wales and it has been reported that Rowland Sinclair has been killed. But it's the uncle that has died and the nephew Rowland Sinclair decides that the police are not doing anything to find the guilty party so he and his friends start to investigate.
Having read Books Two and Three I was interested in reading this, the first in the series, unfortunately there was too much 1930 Australian politics, not enough of a mystery, and Sinclair's friends were not that likeable. I did manage to finished the book though - but only just.

Originally published in 2010, this is a re-release by Pantera Press in paperback format. Written by Sulari Gentill and set in 1930s Australia, it's beautifully written and redolent of classic golden age detective fiction.

The series is written around real life history, with verifiable political and news stories of the time seamlessly interwoven into the narrative. I have been most impressed with Ms. Gentill's ability to place her characters peripheral to real history and really allow the reader to feel like they're there.

This is the first book in the series and introduces the dashing (and charmingly egalitarian) Rowland Sinclair and an ensemble cast of friends and associates along with a beautifully drawn depression-era Australia.

Having read the series (and looking forward to new installments), one thing that has impressed me very much is the author's facility with a really well planned and executed story arc. I can't imagine how many books ahead she had planned when writing the first book, but there are foreshadowings in this book which play out in book 8 in the series. In addition, each book is complete in itself. Honestly, I read them out of order when I could find them, and never felt lost or cheated. They're really well written enjoyable books. The dialogue is pitch perfect, the characters and setting are stellar, the writing is great, and the plot adheres to the 10 commandments of detective fiction (the reader gets all the info to 'solve' the crime, no hidden perpetrators, no 'evil twins' etc etc).

Other reviewers have done a good job of describing the plot, so I've concentrated on the books as a series. I did review book 8 on this blog here. I've seen this series compared to Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher books, but apart from the setting (depression era Australia), I don't see it. Both series are fun, but while Phryne's sort of a fantasy cozy, the Sinclair books have a lot more in common with Ngaio Marsh than Kerry Greenwood.

Well written, solid from this, the first, book, beautifully plotted. 323 pages, but I never found my interest flagging. Well worth a read.

Four solid stars

This description does not do this book any justice, none at all.

I have read this book a while ago. The reason I bought it was because (drum roll), I’ve met the author at Crime Fiction Conference at Woolongong University in NSW. Sulari mentioned than that her Rowland has been compared to Erast Fandorin (character from Boris Akunin’s novels – I was doing my MA on). I promised her then that I will read her books and let her know if I agree with comparison.

I do not. Rowland Sinclair is alive. He is breathing, eating, drinking, laughing, loving, hating and making mistakes human.

This is what I actually wrote to Sulari then:

Your Rowland is ALIVE))). He is a full blooded male who knows very well where he is from, his background, his social status/standing. He has enough pride and respect for all of it and his land, of course. Fandorin, however, is a paper-cut figure with no past, no family background, no pride, respect or support. Fandorin steers away from everything and anything that can create havoc in his personal space, including relationships and friendships.

The only similarity between those two I can think of – is the setting (historical). But even this is very vague similarity. Fandorin lives in 19th century. So, here it is. I hope I did not make you confused or wanting to read Fandorin’s adventures))).

Yeah, Rowland is alive and he is amazing. I read his adventures before I came across Kerry Greenwood and her Honourable Miss Fisher. I fell in love with Aussie-detectives while I followed Rowland on his quest.

8176796I still have many more books to read in these series. I will get to them eventually. What I can tell you here is, A Few Right Thinking Men is an interesting trip down the Australian history lane. Read the book if you know the history, read it if you do not.

Besides murder mystery and bad guys versus good guys, you would get a beautiful, colourful image of Australia metropolitan and rural as well, in all its glory.

A Few Right Thinking Men, be one of them…