A Decline in Prophets, no it is not a misspelling.

I just love the artwork on the cover of this book.  You may remember a post I did previously on A Few Right Thinking Men, well this is the second book from the same author and featuring Rowland Sinclair.

I think the quote at the bottom of the cover sums up why I like the book.  It is “appealingly Australian.”  There are so many aspects of the story that include snippets of Australia’s history, for example, Norman Lindsay, the artist makes an appearance in the novel.

From the cover:

In 1932, the RMS Aquitania embodies all that is gracious and refined, in a world gripped by crisis and doubt.

Returning home on the luxury liner after months abroad, Rowland Sinclair and his companions dine with a suffragette, a Bishop and a retired World Prophet.  The Church encounters  less orthodox religion in the Aquitania’s chandeliered ballroom, where men of God rub shoulders with mystics in dinner suits.

The elegant atmosphere on board is charged with tension, but civility prevails.. . . until people start to die,  Then things get a bit awkward. Rowland finds himself unwittingly in the centre of it all.

This book reminded me of two authors –  Kerrie Greenwood, her Phryne Fisher murder mysteries and Agatha Christie.

This is a “light” crime fiction novel set in a historical period with believable characters and some really eccentric ones. This is another one for my Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2014.  A good read.