Sulari Gentill has authored a number of books in an historical mystery series set in 1930s Australia.  It is a time when there is much unrest; on the one side is the New Guard, a Fascist group, while, on the other, there are the Communists, among others.  Historically, WWII is coming and tensions are high. 

Ms. Gentill uses this time period to good effect in her mysteries which feature a mix of fictional and historical characters. In this one, the historical figures include a number of politicians and readers spend time at the new Parliament building. One does not have to stretch very far to find some parallels with our own uncertain times. There is a quote that relates to the story's title and those (and our) times.  It is "The dangerous language you speak of is the truth." 

The series in general and this novel feature family dynamics, political intricacies, murder, chases, romance and suspense.  Readers familiar with the series will be delighted to spend time with main characters Rowly (a kind of Lord Peter Wimsey if Wimsey were more on the left), poet Milton, painter Clyde and the female sculptor, Ed.  There is a new character as well, a woman with whom Rowly had been in love as a teen;  will she take Edna's place in his affections? Readers will also find that Wilf, Rowly's brother, makes an appearance and the two seem as fractious as ever.


A lot happens in this novel.  A communist is killed on the steps of Parliament.  Egon Kisch, an anti-Fascist (a true historical figure) who wants to speak in Australia may not be allowed in the country; how will he and Rowly intersect?  There is an unidentifiable young woman who is found murdered early in the novel; who is she?  There is a famous air race and more.  The novel is busy but it works.


Each chapter opens with a fictitious newspaper account.   These add a sense of veracity to the book and parallel some of what happens.  series. 


I enjoy Sulari Gentill's novels more each time that I read them.  I highly recommend this one.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

I am very subjective when it comes to Rowland Sinclair.
I am not sure what I am going to do with myself when I run out of Sulari's books. I guess, I will have to wait till TV or movie adaptation comes out... I hope it is soon.
A Dangerous Language is 8th adventure of Australian aristocrat Rowland Sinclair, younger brother in the very prominent and influential Australian family. He has everything and more. He has the looks, the education, the money. He has very unusual set of friends and he has a nose for disaster. Rowly made a lot of enemies on his adventures.
This adventure is not an exception. My dear friend will be beaten again and again. He will be involved in solving murders and committing political crimes all in good spirit and in high honour of loyalty and friendship.
Set in the 1930x in Australia, Rowland Sinclair' adventures are fun, informative and cozy enough to fall in love and to feel like you are part of their world.
Being 8th novel, A Dangerous Language is getting more rough, serious and closer to the World War 2. The world is on the precipice. How is right? Who is wrong? Who is friend? Who is the enemies. All the boundaries and loayalties will be tested.
The reader will not be able to remain impartial.

“A Dangerous Language” starts with a gruesome murder near Albury, where a partly burned body of a young women is found. The body is clad in pyjamas and unrecognisable, so the police has problems with confirming the victim’s identity. One thing is clear, there is a murderer at large, who murders women and burns them. So, the novel starts with a bang, but the criminal investigation once again fades into the background. The book isn’t about a pursue of a killer, but it concentrates mainly on political affairs and social tensions in the New South Wales. Again we meet an adorable bunch of misfits: Rowley, Ed, Milt and Clyde, who fights for the people’s right to hear the truth about the fascism and its dangers. A new character Jemima Fairweather is a breath of fresh air and she turns Rowley’s life upside down. She is his old flame and is more than willing to rekindle the affection they once felt for each other. I won’t give away anything (no spoilers), but I found Jemima funny and charming, a typical flapper with some surprises down her sleeve. In the novel more mysterious murders follow and then a crusade to safely transport a man called Egon Kisch to the New South Wales. It is not an easy mission, because some old enemies of Rowley are determined to keep this man away from the Australian soil or even kill him. Overall, the novel is very well-written and enjoyable. The characters are wonderful and the information about politics and history insightful. I recommend it for readers interested in Australian history and politics before the Second World War.

I would like to thank the author and the publisher for providing me with the advance reader copy of the book.

I love Rowland Sinclair Mysteries and this was as good as the other books in this series. As the other ones it's wonderfully written, well researched and with a great cast of characters.
The historical background is an important part of the plot and it's always full of details and very accurate.
Strongly recommended!
Many thanks to Pantera Press and Netgalley for this ARC

Rowland Sinclair, the younger son of a wealthy Australian family, has a reputation for causing scandal. Wilfred, Rowland’s older brother, presides over the family fortune and is influential in the conservative Australian government of the 1930s, while Rowland associates with bohemians and communists. Thinking that it will give him a chance to purchase a new airplane, Rowland agrees to secretly fly communist Egon Kirsch into the country to be a speaker at the All-Australian Congress Against War and Fascism. However, the government has barred Egon from entering the country. When a communist party member is found stabbed on the steps of Parliament House by Rowland’s friend Milton, whom the party member was on his way to meet, Rowland and his friends find themselves involved in several dangerous situations.

A Dangerous Language is Sulari Gentill’s 8th book in the Rowland Sinclair series. I had not read any of the previous books, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Each chapter of the book has as an epigraph a portion of a newspaper article. After reading the book, I believe that many of these articles may be real historical accounts from the newspaper, but I am not certain about all of them. I felt that the book meandered in several different directions as the author tried to insert historical events into the book. For example, at the start of the book, a woman’s body was found, which was initially thought to be Rowland’s friend Edna. However, Edna is soon found, and we learn nothing more about the body until the Epilogue. Gentill has attempted to write the book around Egon Kirsch’s actual trip to Australia in 1934, but there are just too many plot points to make the book come together well. I think had she stuck to one or two of these instead of the six or seven that I can think of, I would have enjoyed the story more.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and PanteraPress in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting detective story TD king place in New South Wales, part of a much more extensive series.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Set against the glamorous backdrop of the 1930s in Australia and overseas, A Dangerous Language is the latest in the much loved, award winning Rowland Sinclair Mysteries.
When a Communist agent is murdered on the steps of Parliament House, Rowland Sinclair finds himself drawn into a dangerous world of politics and assassination.
A disgraced minister, an unidentified corpse and an old flame all bring their own special bedlam. Once again Rowland Sinclair stands against the unthinkable, with an artist, a poet and a brazen sculptress by his side.

This is book 8 of the Rowland Sinclair mystery series. I have read a couple previously - which I recommend. There is a lot of backstory and character quirks that have made their way into the story that reading the earlier books is almost a must.

Another Rowland Sinclair novel, another few days lost in between the pages of this excellent story. Set against the backdrop of Australian politics of the 1930's, this book (like many of the previous ones) is a mixture of mystery, adventure and history. And that is a wonderful combination in this authors hands.

What's to like about this book? There's a number of things, but most importantly it is the mystery at the heart of this book. Ultimately, there is a murder to be solved and the plotting and pacing of that issue were done so very well, by the time I had gotten to the end, I was nodding my head in appreciation!

What else? Well, the time period has been done flawlessly - it is a little bit of a cliché but I am going to say it anyway: I feel like I was transported back to the '30s. I enjoyed all the little sidebars of info along the way, just adding a little more depth to the story without dragging out the story itself. I love the characters - after reading a few of these, it feels like re-visiting friends you haven't seen for a while.

The one letdown for me was the seemingly over-reliance on the political story to push the story along. I am certainly not against politics being a motivator for a novel, but this one did seem to get bogged down with the machinations of Canberra - sometimes, it actually worked against the plot by slowing the story down and it felt like the battle of Communists and the Fascists overtook the mystery and kinda took the story sideways, instead of forwards.

Overall, another wonderful addition to the series and one I would have no trouble recommending!


Paul
ARH

"A Dangerous Language" is the 8th installment of the Rowland Sinclair series.

Another engrossing read about Rowland Sinclair's pre-WWII political adventure. With the help of his Bohemian friends, Rowland risks his live to escort a Czechoslovakian journalist to land the Australia soil to speak against war and Fascism. With brutal attacks aiming Rowland and his friends and a murder case of a communist, not only Rowland has to watch out for his live as well his friends', he also utilizes his experiences as a sleuth trying to pin down who/what is behind all the commotions. But Rowland's primary concern is to bring the Czech journalist safely to Australia. There are known reasons, in the eyes of the Aussie, that the journalist is a "dangerous" person and his visit is not at all welcome. Is it simply just a political scheme or some radical groups that want to eradicate Rowland, his friends and the journalist? Who exactly desires to prevent the journalist's admission to the Commonwealth of Australia at all cost?

The series, though, is about Australia which I have very limited knowledge in regarding its history but my ignorance does not affect the overall reading enjoyment. There are definitely few exciting and memorable moments with intense actions. The characters are extremely well developed. What I love about the series is that the plots follow closely with historical facts and real people. By weaving fictional details and characters with history makes the series highly entertaining. I have learned a few things here and there about the pre-war Australia which is a bonus to me.

An Excellent series! The war-related subjects discuss in the series are serious and depressing yet Rowland and his fun Boho friends help to lighten the subject matters tremendously. Historical fictions readers who devours suspenseful elements would find the series desirable.

Thanks Netgallery and Pantera Press for the preview copy for my opinion.

If someone had told me that A Dangerous Language was an authentic heretofore unknown classic golden age mystery, I would have no trouble believing it. It's beautifully plotted, taut, and meticulously researched. With most modern period mysteries, there's a polite suspension of disbelief which allows the reader to enter the story in whichever time period whilst reading a modern feeling narrative. This book (and the others in the series) absolutely resonate with the spirit of the 1930s. I was transported. Terribly trite, but the settings and story really came alive for me.

There is something very quintessentially Australian about this book. Many (most?) of the wealthy social upper class in Australia still had close ties to England, and that's the case with Rowland. He's on the outs with his ultra traditional (stuffy!) brother, Wilfred, who disapproves heartily of Rowland's bohemian friends, and feels that Rowland's escapades are willfully designed to embarrass.

Sinclair is affluent, self-deprecating and genuinely likeable. He's loyal to his friends and dashing and not above a bit of derring-do and can be relied upon in a tight spot. With fascists and anti-communist thugs as well as disapproving family members and an old flame trying to make life difficult, Rowly and company have their work cut out for them.

Such a fun read. The dialogue is wonderfully written and pitch perfect. There are sidebar news bits providing current (1934) headlines and backstory history along with an epilogue at the end of the book with real-life backstory, with which I was previously unfamiliar. The historical sidebars and chapter intros make up roughly 10% of the page content and are cleverly interwoven into the plot seamlessly.

Five stars, brilliantly written, flawlessly executed. I want to go re-read the series now.

As an aside. I do think the book could be read as a standalone, but definitely benefits from being read as part of the series.

A Dangerous Language is a profoundly affecting historical mystery.  The amount of time Sulari Gentill spent researching shows.  This is one impeccably plotted mystery.  Politics, particularly the conflict between communism and fascism, play an important role in this complex story.  

Rowland Sinclair has experienced firsthand the threat of fascism and seen the rise of the Nazis in Germany.  His experiences have led him to support many of the communist ideals and he is friends with communists, although he is not a party member himself.  There are two distinct but merging plotlines.  A communist agent is murdered on the steps of Parliament House moments before meeting with a friend of Rowland’s.  The murder is clearly politically motivated, but anticommunist sentiment makes justice unlikely to occur.  Rowland, has also taken it upon himself to arrange transport of a journalist targeted by the Nazi regime - but even if he is allowed in the country, he may not survive to speak.

Glamor, bohemianism, artistry and political activism all play a role in this wonderful novel.  A Dangerous Language is a novel to read when you want to reflect on ideals in addition to enjoying an action packed plot.  The characters are vibrant, complicated individuals - people you want to watch.  Together it’s an explosive combination.

5 / 5

I received a copy of A Dangerous Language from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

Leaping into the eighth book in a series without having read the others is a risk. I have to admit the main reason I picked this ARC up on NetGalley was because I had seen Sulari Gentill host a panel at the recent Canberra Writer’s Festival and was interested to sample her writing. I think I probably would have been a bit more engaged had I been familiar with the core cast of characters from books one through seven, but this book was enjoyable nonetheless.

In 1930s Australia, Rowland Sinclair finds himself caught up in intrigues between the government, and Fascist and Communist factions when he agrees to help a notorious anti-Fascist speaker get into Australia before the government can ban him. The journey takes him across Australia and nearly gets him killed on more than one occasion.

I enjoyed the characters in this far more than the mystery or the political machinations, really. The core cast are a really fun bunch, and hopeless romantic that I am, I also really enjoyed watching Rowly wrestle with romantic feelings and other related entanglements. I did enjoy the way Gentill wove actual historical events into the story, though at the same time, I am never quite sure how to feel about actual historical figures as characters in novels.

There were two murders featured in the story, though they felt like window dressing for the political machinations, which seemed to be more of the focus. For a significant portion of the book, there was no focus on either death. One of them was solved towards the end, but the other one was just concluded via a note in the epilogue, and I think was mostly there to create some tension at the beginning of the story, when Rowland and his friends thought the victim might have been their friend and colleague, Edna. Once it was established that Edna was safe, there was no real reason for the main characters to give the death any more than a passing interest.

That sort of peripheral focus on the murders is something I am not sure isn’t a feature of the series. I have no idea what form the mysteries take in the other books and so I don’t know if it is just that I wasn’t used to it, being a newbie. Ditto the excerpts from newspapers and other publications of the time at the beginning of each chapter. I have no idea if this is a stylistic feature present in all the books; if it is, I would probably bear with it a bit more, though as it was, I felt they weren’t always necessary and at times, I even skipped them.

Still, I can definitely see why this is a popular series, especially with those who are big readers of historical fiction.

‘The 1934 Melbourne International Motor Show was in its final day.’

Rowland Sinclair, Clyde Watson Jones and Milton Isaacs are at the show. Edna Higgins, who prefers not to see ‘grown men reduced to simpering lovesick boys by shiny machines’ has not accompanied them to Melbourne. Rowly has purchased a new car: a Chrysler Airflow. The plan is to pick up Edna at Albury on their way to a house party in Yackandandah. What could possibly go wrong?

Ms Gentill weaves her fiction around facts, and quite a lot was happening in Australia and in Europe in 1934. A visit by Egon Kisch, an internationally renowned peace advocate is planned. It is possible that the government might refuse him entry, or delay his entry so that he cannot speak at the All Australian Congress of the Movement Against War and Fascism to be held at the Port Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne between the 10th and 12th of November 1934. Rowly volunteers to fly to Perth to bring Kisch to Melbourne. Additionally, Rowly Sinclair is approached by the Communist Party of Australia, which was quite active then, to observe proceedings at the Australian Parliament in Canberra. Rowly refuses: he may be broadly in sympathy with the party, but he’s not a member. Milton Isaacs is, though, and the four friends decide to travel together to Canberra.

Against a backdrop of the struggle between Australian fascists and communists, the MacRobertson Air Race (part of Melbourne’s centenary celebrations), the mystery of the ‘Pyjama Girl ‘ murder, life for Rowly Sinclair and his friends becomes complicated.

There’s a murder in Canberra, on the steps of Parliament House. There’s a woman from Rowly’s past, and a trip to Perth to try to get Egon Kisch into Melbourne before he is banned.

It would be possible to read this novel without reading the earlier books, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Ms Gentill has developed such richly three-dimensional characters that knowledge of their backstories is important as is immersion in the history of the 1930s. At this distance, it may be difficult to understand the struggle between the communists and the fascists within Australia before World War II. And, if you’ve never heard of Egon Kisch and the infamous dictation test, then you might be interested in looking up the Immigration Restriction Act 1901.

‘A Dangerous Language’ is the eighth novel in Ms Gentill’s award winning Rowland Sinclair mystery series, and is set in Australia in 1934. I’d recommend these novels to anyone interested in a mystery series set in the 1930s which uses historical fact as its background.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Pantera Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

One of the things I look for in a book is a clear sense of time and place. And, this book definitely offered that, but as Book #8 in a series, I found myself somewhat lost because I was not familiar with the happenings in Books one through seven. In some series, this is irrelevant--at least for this reader, it was definitely a problem reading this novel.

The author has developed an interesting (and intrepid) group of friends who work and live together and seem willing to drop everything in pursuit of the challenge of the day. That took a bit of "suspension of disbelief" to accept, but the reader just needs to roll with the flow like the characters do.

The major issue I had with the book was mine, not the book's---I am not familiar with Australian history or politics and this story was dependent on some understanding of both. It didn't fill in any blanks (or inform the reader) --- but, it charged on with its period plot which centered around the strong anti-communist feeling that was apparently prevalent in Australia during the early 1930's.
I was somewhat bored and bogged down by the pontificating---and, that is not something you look for in a light mystery.

NetGalley provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this eighth of the series Rowland is approached by a member of the Communist Party to observe the Federal parliament in Canberra and replace the current man, Kelly. Although refusing, his friend the communist Milton Isaacs does not, and all four friends journey to Canberra where Kelly is found murdered.
For me too much politics which made the story is quite a large part boring, and certainly not enough of any mystery. A pity as I do find the characters an interesting bunch.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Pantera Press for an advance copy of A Dangerous Language, the 8th novel in the Rowland Sinclair series set in 1930s Sydney.

Rowlie is enjoying life and his new car when he is approached by the communist party and asked to observe proceedings at the Federal parliament in Canberra on their behalf. He declines as he is not a member of the party but his friend Milton Isaacs who is accepts. All 4 of the friends decide to go to Canberra with Milton to pass the time before Rowlie flies to Freemantle to bring famous communist writer Egon Kisch back to Melbourne before he is barred from entering the country as a subversive. They have hardly arrived in Canberra when the man Milt is to replace is murdered.

I thoroughly enjoyed A Dangerous Language. It is an exciting adventure which blends fiction with historical fact. It is tense in parts when Rowland & co seem to have no way out of dangerous situations but something always happens to save them and it makes for a rip roaring read. I like the mixture of fact and fiction as it gives the novel context and this is enhanced by pertinent excerpts from contemporary newspaper articles which give the reader a real feel for the era.

I must admit that the struggle between Australian fascists and communists, while deadly serious at the time, seems laughable nowadays and this theme didn't really hold my attention. It is interesting to see the polarity between the two positions at the time but not to the extent it occupies in the novel. What I find more interesting is the ruling elite's refusal to believe what Rowlie saw in Germany as true and to shun his paintings of it as left wing propaganda.

I like Rowlie and his friends. They are very "modern" in their left wing politics, disregard for social conventions (unless it upsets Rowlie's straight laced older brother Wilfred) and egalitarianism. They have a real friendship and are like a family in their mutual support. Not one of them lacks courage in doing what they perceive to be the right thing. Unfortunately Wilfred doesn't always view their actions in the same light.

A Dangerous Language is another fine addition to the series which I have no hesitation in recommending as a good read.

Unable to review this book because the pdf format is not working on my ereader. I am giving the book a four star review because all the other books I have read by the author are either 4 or 5 star reviews. I will get a print copy and review it when the book is published. Sorry.