Miles Off Course by Sulari Gentill

I commenced the 2012 Australian Women Writers Challenge with the Australian crime fiction novel, Miles Off Course.  It is the third in a series featuring the main character, Rowland Sinclair, written by Sulari Gentill.

Summary

This story, set in 1933 Australia, begins when a long-time Aboriginal employee, Harry Simpson, is sent to oversee a cattle lease in the New South Wale’s High Country, and goes missing without a trace.  Rowland is asked by his elder brother to hunt for Harry and bring him home.

Leaving behind his privileged lifestyle in Sydney, Rowland and his companions, Clyde, Milton and the beautiful, Edna, head into the rugged country-side.  Initial clues indicate Harry has simply gone walk-about, but as the story unfolds, they learn it is far more sinister and dangerous.

Meeting many eclectic Australian’s on the way, from a snake-handler to a feminist author, to stockmen and gangsters, they use their combined wits and strengths to out-manoeuvre the ruthless players of a much deeper political conspiracy.

My thoughts

I am no prolific crime fiction reader to be honest, so I felt reading this book was a great opportunity to take me out of my comfort zone.  And quite frankly, it did, but in a good way.  I found Miles Off Course a gentle avenue into Australian crime fiction. It is a novel written by a woman, for women, and is done so in a very delicate, yet clever way.

The book moves at a gradual pace, unfurling the story-line and clues slowly, but when combined with the short chapters,  offering a healthy dose of cliff-hanger ends, some more suspenseful than others, it makes for a page-turner, particularly in the last quarter of the book.

What I found most appealing with this novel is how it weaves Australian history – real newspaper clippings and articles from that era at the beginning of each chapter – with the story line.  The utterly clever way this is done, does not reveal itself until the very end when every plot-line and character clicks and ties into place snugly.

The main character, Rowland Sinclair (Rowly), is not your typical hardened ex-police officer turned private investigator, but rather this super-sleuth is an artist and a gentleman.  His companions are also fairly out the box, Clyde – a fellow artist, Milton – a poet, and the sultry Edna – a sculptress.  This style of character certainly added a feminine edge to the story and I often found myself laughing when reading of the eccentric outfits worn by Milton in the most rugged parts of the countryside.

I immediately felt affinity for the lead character, Rowly, especially as his strength, courage and integrity, even in the toughest circumstances, was presented.  Edna, as a character though, somewhat confused me and she felt a little misplaced at times, except perhaps to incorporate a subtle sexual-tension between she and Rowly.  On occasions she was presented as a courageous and clever, contemporary woman and at others, a damsel who only seemed to add weight to their plights. Wil Sinclair, Rowly’s eldest brother, oozed power and intelligence and despite his stoic demeanour, he and Rowly’s touchy relationship was portrayed in a very sympathetic manner and in the end, I felt a lot of empathy for their circumstances and history.

Milton and Clyde seemed a tad underdeveloped and I felt by the end of the book I didn’t really know them as much as I would have liked to.  However, these points didn’t detract from the wonderful story-line and may only mean I need to read the prior two books in the series.  The side-characters, however, I felt were supremely formed and life-like, especially Sarah Brent, the author, and Harry Simpson, the missing employee.

Overall I loved the historical charm of the setting, language and characters in this book which were superbly portrayed from start to finish.  I appreciated the clean, no-nonsense writing style of Sulari Gentill, not bogging the story down with extraneous words and detail.  And I respected the gentlemanly approach to the story, not overwhelming the reader with gore or profanity, yet still providing an intelligent, twisting tale of crime and conspiracy.

This book certainly educated and entertained concurrently and I only wish now that I had have read the first two books in the series first.

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Tags: AWW 2012