Oh my days! This is apparently the tenth Rowland Sinclair mystery but it is my first. Given how much I’ve enjoyed this one, it won’t be my last. I can’t believe how I’ve missed this series up till now. With a cover that reminded me of the British Library’s Crime Classics series I dived in this story and was immediately struck by its ‘classic crime’ feel. It’s historic crime. This story is set in 1930’s USA but Rowland and his friends are Australian. Their camaraderie was delightful. It kinda reminded me of the Famous Five or Secret Seven but for grown ups.
In spite of the fact that this is the tenth in a series it didn’t matter that I hadn’t read any of the others. If there were references to previous stories there was no impact on the enjoyment of this one. But it has made me keen to know more about Rowly, Milton, Clyde and Edna. I guess the previous books are probably set in other places as the quartet hail from the Antipodes. Rowland is a worthy hero. He’s fearless and quite the gentleman with a knack for some analytical thinking that gets mysteries solved. He’s loyal to his friends and seemed unerringly polite to his enemies!!
‘In fear for his life, American millionaire Daniel Cartwright changes his will, appointing his old friend Rowland Sinclair as his executor.
Soon murder proves that fear well founded.
When Rowland receives word of Cartwright's death, he sets out immediately for Boston, Massachusetts, to bury his friend and honour his last wishes. He is met with the outrage and anguish of Cartwright's family, who have been spurned in favour of a man they claim does not exist.
Artists and gangsters, movie stars and tycoons all gather to the fray as elite society closes in to protect its own, and family secrets haunt the living. Rowland Sinclair must confront a world in which insanity is relative, greed is understood, and love is dictated; where the only people he can truly trust are an artist, a poet and a passionate sculptress.’
The novel moves along at a cracking pace such that it could be easy to disregard the wealth of research and detail that has gone into the creation of an authentic 1930’s Boston and New York. Not to mention a spider’s web of a plot that has you suspecting the innocent and ignoring the guilty! Or was that just me? ;-)
Lots of action but also some emotion, maybe a little moral philosophy. And I loved the inclusion of real people and the part they played in the story. Scott Fitzgerald for example and Randolph Hearst. It’s a deceptive book for it was very easy to read yet there is nothing frivolous or superficial about it. I enjoyed the structure with each chapter being prefaced with an item of news relevant in some way to the action within that chapter. Again easy to forget the research that went into that.
Reading this has been an entertaining and absorbing experience which I am keen to repeat with some further Rowland Sinclair mysteries.
My thanks to the Crime and Mystery Club for my gifted copy.
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