Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Miles Off Course
    Unavailable
    Miles Off Course
    Unavailable
    Miles Off Course
    Ebook391 pages5 hours

    Miles Off Course

    By Sulari Gentill

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    A fascinating historical mystery by Sulari Gentill, author of #1 LibraryReads pick The Woman in the Library

    "Set in Australia in 1933, Gentill's entertaining third mystery featuring portrait artist Rowland Sinclair will appeal to fans of Greenwood's Phryne Fisher." —Publishers Weekly

    "Norman Lindsay is a complete and utter bastard!"

    With this curse heaped upon the renowned real-life Australian artist and cartoonist, Miles Off Course gets underway. It is early in 1933, and wealthy bohemian Rowland Sinclair and his companions, a poet, a painter, and a sculptress who also models nude, are ensconced in the superlative luxury of The Hydro Majestic-Medlow Bath, where trouble seems distant, despite Australia's being roiled by the same political currents as are upending Europe.

    But Rowland, try as he might to lead the boho life in Sydney in the family mansion or in a luxury spa, can't dismiss the responsibilities of being a Sinclair. Most of them rest upon his conservative elder brother, Wilfred. And Wil now makes two claims on Rowly. One is to appear at an important upcoming board meeting of a firm where Rowly, pressured by Wil, serves as a director. And the other is to hustle up into the high country where a longtime family stockman appears to have gone missing—and find him.

    Harry Simpson is an aborigine. The easy answer is that Harry has gone walkabout, but neither Sinclair brother believes this to be true. Plus there are the Sinclair cattle to round up.

    Instead of saddling up, Rowly insists upon driving his beautiful if despised Mercedes-Benz and taking a posse in the persons of his three live-in friends along. And off they go into a rollicking Outback adventure, where the familiar elements of an American Western blend with gangsters, spies, murder—and a very belligerent writer. The plot dances inventively around actual historical events and a cameo appearance or two made by famous Australian historical figures. Which takes us back to Norman Lindsay....

    Brimming with larger-than-life characters and brain teasing crimes, this Rowland Sinclair WWII Mystery will appeal to fans of Rhys Bowen, Kerry Greenwood, and Jacqueline Winspear.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateJun 6, 2017
    ISBN9781464206887
    Author

    Sulari Gentill

    Sulari Gentill is the award-winning author of The Rowland Sinclair Mystery series, historical crime fiction novels set in the 1930s. She won the 2012 Davitt Award for Best Adult Crime Fiction and has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. After setting out to study astrophysics, graduating in law, and then abandoning her legal career to write books, she now grows French black truffles on her farm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales.

    Read more from Sulari Gentill

    Related to Miles Off Course

    Related ebooks

    Historical Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Highland FLING

      Nov 19, 2020

      Highland FLING
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Clues To ROMANCE

      May 4, 2021

      The Clues To ROMANCE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Running Away

      Feb 22, 2021

      Leaving London behind her, Millie drove faster, picturing thousands of crazed fans in pursuit, desperate for what – a lock of her hair? Or Julian; except after the last gig, somehow she knew he wouldn’t follow. She knew from bitter experience that di

      5 min read

    • Article

      Hearts AND HURTS

      Jun 3, 2020

      Hearts AND HURTS
      9 min read

    • Article

      Arundells

      Aug 3, 2023

      Arundells
      5 min read

    • Article

      Losing Battle

      Oct 30, 2020

      Losing Battle
      5 min read

    • Article

      Fred Gardner’s Sawmill

      Mar 4, 2022

      Fred Gardner’s Sawmill
      9 min read

    • Article

      When the HEART MELTS

      Feb 23, 2022

      When the HEART MELTS
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Little Trip

      Aug 2, 2021

      As the first morning light peeked through the gap in the curtains, Alice left her new husband in bed. She wrapped her silk kimono around her; a present from Jeremy, it reminded her yet again just how generous he’d been since their wedding. Even this

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Leap In THE DARK

      Feb 1, 2023

      A Leap In THE DARK
      6 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Jul 16, 2020

      Book Club
      4 min read

    • Article

      Mitford Revisited

      Oct 19, 2022

      Darling By India Knight Fig Tree £14.99 India Knight’s Darling is based on The Pursuit of Love (1945), Nancy Mitford’s most popular and cherished satirical novel about the aristocratic Radlett family during the interwar years. Knight’s updated versio

      3 min read

    • Article

      Decluttering

      Dec 9, 2020

      Decluttering
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Kevin Barry

      Dec 18, 2020

      Rattling around the house in the County Sligo hills, swinging from bouts of paranoia to moments of strange, demented hilarity, a 900-page doorstopper was just what I needed to stay grounded. The post A Year in Reading: Kevin Barry appeared first on T

      2 min read

    • Article

      Lady with A LUTE

      Aug 3, 2022

      Lady with A LUTE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Shadow In The Landscape

      Jan 29, 2020

      Shadow In The Landscape
      7 min read

    • Article

      At The Drop Of A Hat

      Jul 13, 2022

      At The Drop Of A Hat
      5 min read

    • Article

      Night Flying

      Aug 2, 2018

      Night Flying
      10 min read

    • Article

      A Place Of Steel And Stone

      Jan 6, 2021

      A Place Of Steel And Stone
      4 min read

    • Article

      Whilst Monty Sleeps

      Aug 4, 2022

      Whilst Monty Sleeps
      4 min read

    • Article

      Pearls before SWINE

      Feb 9, 2022

      Pearls before SWINE
      5 min read

    • Article

      Just good FRIENDS

      Nov 2, 2022

      Just good FRIENDS
      8 min read

    • Article

      Just good FRIENDS

      Nov 9, 2022

      Just good FRIENDS
      8 min read

    • Article

      10 Literary Diss Tracks

      Apr 9, 2018

      10 Literary Diss Tracks
      11 min read

    • Article

      Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

      Mar 13, 2020

      When The Times reviewed Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland only one line was needed to dismiss it completely: ‘(it) may best be described as an excellent piece of nonsense.’ On the other hand, the reviewer had only praise for John Tenni

      2 min read

    Reviews for Miles Off Course

    4/5

    28 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      The novel was sent to me by the publisher Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank youSomeone 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.
    • 3/5
      This is the third book in the Rowland Sinclair series, set in 1930's New South Wales
      Rowland and his friends go into the high country to look for a family employee who has gone missing in suspicious circumstances.
      In the meantime there are several attempts to kidnap Rowland, as well threats from the hard men he meets out on the Sinclair property.
      As usual his older brother Wilfred and his cronies suspect that Rowland and his disreputable friends are possibly traitorous.
      Rowland continues to be very naive and puts himself quite foolishly into danger, which is a bit annoying.
    • 5/5
      MILES OFF COURSE, set in New South Wales in 1933, follows a similar pattern to the earlier books in this series. Rowly is asked by his older brother Wilf to go to the high country, where Sinclairs have cattle runs, to investigate the disappearance of an aboriginal head man Harry Simpson.Newspaper extracts of the time keep up a running commentary about contemporary events and politics. At the same time it seems that someone may be targetting Rowly himself amid a wave of suspected abductions in Sydney.The novel is an interesting exploration not only of New South Wales politics but also of current attitudes to women and aborigines. The landed gentry like Rowly's brother Wilf are still very apprehensive about the rise of Communism and overseas Hitler is gaining strength in Germany. Wilf himself moves in social circles who focus on a way of life that has been lost.Amid this historical detail Sulari Gentill weaves a mystery and gives us more of the background of the Sinclair family.Most enjoyable reading. The setting feels authentic and the mystery is engaging.
    • 3/5
      Well what a mixed bag this is. Gentill evokes between the wars New South Wales and its gentrified classes with an authentic voice. Two generations ago my own family would have circulated as lesser wealthy in such circles. Her descriptions feel right.It's a detective story with the usual too-much depending on the main character, Rowland Sinclair, but that is normal for this kind of crime genre. The plot has a bunch of twists and turns that keep you going to the end. And the end has two nice little twists that you might see coming but are nonetheless satisfying. One of them appears right at the end of the endnotes. No looking!But a couple of things jar. First, each chapter begins with "newspaper reports" that unfortunately tend to reveal the plot development of the subsequent chapter. "Leave it to the reader," I wanted to say, and about half way through the book I tried to avoid them. Not easy when the headline is in 36 point bold.Also, one of the characters has a habit of quoting past masters to which Rowland provides the attribution. Since most of the quotes are familiar, this seems disrespectful to the reader and may have been improved if occasionally Rowland ignored his friend's pretentiousness or even got one wrong occasionally.The plot itself works its way to neat conclusions with a little deux machina (people die or suicide) although much of the villain's background motivation remains murky.Three stars.