Initially I found it a bit wordy, with many names to absorb, so I applied Nancy Pearl's 'Rule of 50', and it passed. By page 35 or so I was caught up in the adventure.
An Historical Fiction tale of political intrigue set in Australia in the 1930's.
With the people, places, events and things I looked up, it seemed historically accurate: the Chrysler Airflow car, the mystery pyjama girl murder, the writer Egon Kisch trying to visit Australia.
The characters are well developed, spoke as you might expect Australians in the 1930s, a natural use of jocular humour.
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A Dangerous Language - Gentill
4 stars

Although the previous books in this series all have some aspect of amateur detection, this one is more of a political thriller. The ongoing characters, Rowland Sinclair and friends, have more than the usual chance encounter with a famous historical figure. They are actually directly involved in a well publicized event. (Strange that they don’t appear in the history books.) Rowland volunteers to fly the dissident communist Egon Kisch to a peace conference. It is thought that secretly flying him in will circumvent the efforts of immigration authorities to keep him out.

Of course the flight never happens because in actual history, Kisch arrives by boat and makes a dramatic and dangerous entry into Australia, missing the peace conference, but generating a great deal of publicity for the cause. I’d never heard of Egon Kisch. His presence in this story reads like exaggerated fiction. The real story is just as fantastic. Gentill hardly needed to embellish. Kisch, his anti-fascist message, and Austrailia’s draconian immigration law, are a fascinating story. It overshadows the fictional murder investigation which eventually seems to resolve itself through the excessive violence of the perpetrators.

This book contained many of the plot elements of the other books. There were more suspenseful threats to the lives of Rowland, Milton, Clyde and Edna. There’s another woman taking advantage of Rowland’s chivalry and polite manners. Wilfred comes, reluctantly, to the rescue. Mrs. Sinclair continues to flirt with ‘Aubrey’s’ friend Milton. Despite the predictable elements of each book, there are always surprising twists in the plot. And, I always learn something new from 20th century history. ( )

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 the story contained too much politics which made the tale in quite a large part boring, and certainly not enough of any mystery. A pity as I do find the characters an interesting bunch.
A NetGalley Book ( )

1934, politics, political-intrigue, Australia, family-dynamics, friendship, murder, historical-figures, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research******

This is not an unbiased review. I absolutely love learning world history between the World Wars in Australia through the lives of Rowley Sinclair and friends via the pen of Sulari Gentill! Being a history geek, I snoop into (almost) all the references except the newspaper quotes at the beginning of chapters.
Egon Kisch was a Jewish Communist and anti-war activist who wrote in German (the dangerous language) at the time Hitler and his nazis were on the rise in Europe. Because of his politics, Australian government and some subversive factions attempted to ban him from visiting. That's history.
Rowley is a painter born into a wealthy family and he shares his estate with a number of artistic friends with whom he has gotten into difficulties before. The book begins with a missing young woman who has been set alight and is unrecognizable at the same time as Rowley's dearest friend has seemingly disappeared (his artist's eye knows it is not her) and then turns up due to miscommunication. Then there's the murder of a known communist with ties to one of Rowley's other friends who is subsequently seriously injured in an intentional motor vehicle accident.
Rowley is also a car and airplane nut so prepare yourself to learn some fascinating things about the Chrysler Airflow as well as the MacRobertson Air Race in a de Havilland Comet. The recurring characters certainly are, and all characters a clearly and engagingly drawn.
It is not NECESSARY to have read the previous books as everything vital is in here, but on the basis of curiousity...
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )