Gentlemen Formerly Dressed

April 1, 2018
A wealthy Australian artist with leftist leanings runs up against the old boy network while hunting a murderer in 1933 England.When Rowland Sinclair went to Germany at the behest of his elder brother, Wilfred, along with his best friends--fellow artist Clyde Watson Jones, Jewish poet Elias "Milton" Isaacs, and stunning sculptress Edna Higgins--they barely escaped with their lives (Paving the New Road, 2018). Rowland's arm was broken and a swastika burned into his chest. Ensconced in the penthouse at Claridge's, Rowland is surprised to learn that his brother is back in London, too. Although Wilfred is furious with both Rowland, who's wanted in Germany for murder, and himself for sending his younger brother into danger, he agrees to find someone important to listen to Rowland's accounts of Nazi horrors. A meeting Wilfred sets up with Lord Pierrepont turns into a disaster when they find the peer at his club with Allie Dawe, a hysterically screaming young woman covered in blood. Pierrepont is dressed in a woman's nightgown, heavily made up, and clutching the sword that's killed him. Allie, Pierrepont's niece and secretary, is arrested for his murder. With Wilfred off in London for a conference and everyone around him eager to hush up the truth about Pierrepont's murder, Rowland refuses to see Allie convicted. His friends panic when Rowland is kidnapped off the street until they learn that his abductor is his second cousin, Rear Adm. Sinclair, aka "Quex," who thinks Rowland is wasting his life. As they mix with members of every class, Rowland and his friends are threatened by British Blackshirts in their attempt to free Allie and convince the aristocrats, who are often sympathetic to the Nazi cause, to wake up to the approaching danger.Rowland's determined attempts to open British eyes to the gathering storm combine mystery, rousing adventure, and chance meetings with eminent figures from Churchill to Evelyn Waugh.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 16, 2018
Set in 1933, Gentill’s entertaining fifth mystery featuring wealthy Australian artist Rowland Sinclair finds Rowland in London, ensconced in a penthouse suite at Claridge’s, after being left for dead by Nazi thugs in his previous outing, Paving the New Road. Rowland’s straitlaced brother, Wilfred, is in town to attend the London Economic Conference. Keen to tell someone in the British government about the atrocities Rowland has seen in Germany, the brothers set off to an exclusive gentlemen’s club to speak with Viscount Pierrepont, an influential Tory. They arrive at his suite to find Pierrepont dead, dressed in a baby-doll nightie and impaled in his bed by a sword. Rowland and his pals decide to investigate. They do so by picking up gossip at swanky parties and motoring down to country houses. The pleasure of this novel lies not in the detection but rather in observing Rowland at dinner with Evelyn Waugh, trading insights with H.G. Wells, and setting Winston Churchill straight on the evils of nationalism. Fans of upper-class sleuths will be in their element.

May 1, 2018
The fifth installment of Gentill's historical mystery series, set in 1930s Europe and Britain, continues the gathering storm motif as Hitler power-mongers his way to war. The story also dabbles in a Lord Peter Wimsey-like case involving an English viscount found dead in exceedingly embarrassing circumstances. The hero of the series, a somewhat effete displaced Australian bohemian named Rowland Sinclair, has fled in 1933?with his two male and one adored female companions?to London from Germany after being captured and tortured for what the Reich considered degenerate art. Contrast that with the apparent degeneracy of Viscount Pierrepont's murder at an exclusive London club?the body, impaled by a sword, is found in a woman's negligee, wearing makeup. The murder case, however, is just an entr�e into what Gentill does so well: serve up intensely realized period details and reminders of the intersections of crime, art, society, and politics. Each chapter starts with an excerpt from a different newspaper, sometimes focusing on fashion, sometimes on politics. This helps new readers orient themselves, while adding to series fans' enjoyment of the setting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)