An Invitation to Murder

The Oldminster Series, Book 1

By: Norman Russell

Narrated by: Antony Ferguson

Welcome to Oldminster, a quaint little town where there’s always a mystery to be solved.

Frank Renfield, Baron of Renfield Hall, will stop at nothing to save himself from ruin. Even if that means marrying his daughter off to a rich American. Unfortunately for him, she is already in love with a penniless nobody named Alan Lavender—to the glee of Alan’s greedy uncle Guy. He’s been nosing into the Renfields’ murky past, and he says he’s uncovered a secret. Something so shocking it casts a shadow over Frank’s entire legacy.

Tensions run high at the hall, until Guy Lavender turns up dead. A convenient coincidence for Frank? Detectives French and Edwards are on the case. But in a town full of secrets, the truth can be hard to find. And Guy’s won’t be the only body to fall before their work is done … Who will be next to die under the Renfields’ roof?

©2021 Norman Russell (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Complicated, engaging plot

This was a rather complicated plot due to the many characters involved. It took me awhile to remember all of them when they were being introduced one by one. The story was good and kept me listening and guessing. The final reveal of whodunit was a bit abrupt and lacked the ‘tadah’ or ‘omg it’s you!’ element though.

I have listened to the narrator Anthony Ferguson on another series and enjoyed his reading then, hence I was surprised to read that other reviewers had issues with his reading. Personally, I find his accent and voice clear and pleasant. I have to admit that doing female voices wasn’t his best skill, as the ladies all sounded similar, with too upper class snobbish way of talking. Given the many characters involved in this book, the male voices were limited too and sometimes can be difficult to differentiate. The trick is to focus on the scene you are listening to at the point, so it will confusing.

Great Mystery

The narrator did a great job, very easy to follow along. First book I’ve ever run across by this author, I’m looking forward to finding more!

Interesting enough story but terrible reader

The story was interesting enough but the reader made it unbearable to listen to and I ultimately ended up reading it myself in the end. The reader made everyone sound the same and very stuffy. There was no variation at all and frankly I just couldn’t sort out when a different character was meant to be speaking. Really disappointing. I hope it’s a different reader for the second book.

Imaginative and contemporary story but with classic elements of an English mystery.

Refreshing to have a mystery only! No main character wasting time in a romantic entanglement. All the characters were center stage in turn and were interesting and well developed. A contemporary view of the classic Great House and Titled Family story. No boring little village and no trite Grand Reveal. Instead, an interesting solution.

Complex characters, interesting plotting

The author introduces morally ambiguous characters and circumstances. So that it wasn’t immediately easy to identify with a hero. But this complexity made the characters more intriguing.

The multiple threads, plots, and sub plots require close attention. In fact, it was only in listening to it twice that I felt I got all of them.

A smattering of literary allusions increased the book’s interest for me.