When people start to die on a journey home on the Aquitania, Rowland Sinclair finds himself embroiled in scandals of murder, an illegitimate child, an unwed mother, and the tragedy of the Great Depression back home in Australia.

Rowland is caught in between the beliefs of the church and the Theosophist Society, an organisation that is focused on the occult and spiritualism, in direct conflict with the church.

As bodies start to fall, the race to find the killer on board the ship begins, leading our hero on a chase across two countries and over the sea.

From the Aquitania to New York and back on Australian soil, this novel has mystery at every turn, and just when you have been lulled into thinking everything will be okay, you are hit with another aspect of the case to complicate things. This is done very well, though, and the seamless transitions, the ebbs and flows of the novel, make it an enjoyable read.

I savoured this book, but at the same time couldn’t wait to know who the real killer from the Aquitania was and why they had committed the crimes. With Rowland and his friends, I took a journey back in time to a country straddled between two World Wars, in the grip of the Great Depression, something not forgotten by the characters.

As a historical crime novel, it works well for its genre and Sulari Gentill has done a great job. Even though I came to this book without having read its predecessor, I had no trouble in catching up with the characters. In fact, it has made me want to read the first and subsequent books even more.

Ashleigh Meikle is a budding writer, and currently studying Professional Writing online.