What do you think?
Rate this book
Who Killed Richard Oland?: A real-life murder mystery
Richard Oland, once co-owner of Moosehead Breweries, was brutally murdered in his office in downtown Saint John, New Brunswick in the early evening of July 6th, 2011. His killer sprayed blood everywhere as he smashed Richard Oland’s head with dozens of blows. It had all the characteristics of an organized crime hit, designed to kill one and warn others.
His murder remains unsolved and unexplained. The Saint John city police have no suspects. Individuals who could explain the murder have disappeared, pleaded bad memories or gone silent.
Saint John, and the rest of Canada, were witnesses to two murder trials where Dennis Oland, Richard’s son, stood accused of the murder. In this book, Janice Middleton sets out the obvious and clear evidence that Dennis could not have been the murderer. Even so, Dennis was convicted by a jury in his first trial, likely because everyone in the city knew of a motive that was never mentioned in Richard had had an affair with his son's wife.
The Oland family got Dennis acquitted, but his acquittal left questions who killed Richard Oland? And why was he targeted?
Janice Middleton pieces together the tangled story of Saint John’s most dysfunctional citizens. She points to people who might have wanted Richard Oland dead, shadowy investors who arrived in Saint John to finance the re-opening of the local sugar refinery. The deal went sour, the investors lost millions, and they disappeared from sight.
This is a compelling account of how someone got away with murdering a rich, powerful, sleazy leading citizen of Saint John.
His murder remains unsolved and unexplained. The Saint John city police have no suspects. Individuals who could explain the murder have disappeared, pleaded bad memories or gone silent.
Saint John, and the rest of Canada, were witnesses to two murder trials where Dennis Oland, Richard’s son, stood accused of the murder. In this book, Janice Middleton sets out the obvious and clear evidence that Dennis could not have been the murderer. Even so, Dennis was convicted by a jury in his first trial, likely because everyone in the city knew of a motive that was never mentioned in Richard had had an affair with his son's wife.
The Oland family got Dennis acquitted, but his acquittal left questions who killed Richard Oland? And why was he targeted?
Janice Middleton pieces together the tangled story of Saint John’s most dysfunctional citizens. She points to people who might have wanted Richard Oland dead, shadowy investors who arrived in Saint John to finance the re-opening of the local sugar refinery. The deal went sour, the investors lost millions, and they disappeared from sight.
This is a compelling account of how someone got away with murdering a rich, powerful, sleazy leading citizen of Saint John.
- GenresCanada
330 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 29, 2023
4 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 3, 2023
WHO KILLED RICHARD OLAND? - A Real-life murder mystery by Janice Middleton. Published by Formac Publishing.
I have read and reviewed. books of this type before. I often feel as if the author is trying to sway me to believe one side of a case over another. Janice Middleton writes with no hidden agenda. She writes the facts - just the facts - and does so well and with no bias. Based on her research though I am drawn to the obvious conclusion that Dennis Oland, the victim’s son and accused killer, is not guilty of the crime.
Like everyone else in Canada I want to believe that “justice will prevail” even when the victim is known to be a philandering, unpleasant and often hard nosed man. Whether rich or poor every citizen deserves the protection of the law. Justice was not served to Richard Oland. His murder remains unsolved.
Journalist Janice Middleton writes succinctly. She tells the story of the murder, his son’s arrest and trial and delves deeply into policing and and provides her readers with her findings through years of investigation and interviews conducted with key players, including the victim’s son who was accused and tried for his father’s murder. He was acquitted. Based on her findings, it is obvious there was grievious mishandling of this case by police who ignored key evidence. Evidence that undeniably supports the truth that Dennis Oland could not have killed his father and in fact supports the case as an organized crime act.
There is an extensive list of Middleton’s sources listed at the back of the book. Anyone wishing to gain further insight can easily follow her research by checking into those sources.
I have read and reviewed. books of this type before. I often feel as if the author is trying to sway me to believe one side of a case over another. Janice Middleton writes with no hidden agenda. She writes the facts - just the facts - and does so well and with no bias. Based on her research though I am drawn to the obvious conclusion that Dennis Oland, the victim’s son and accused killer, is not guilty of the crime.
Like everyone else in Canada I want to believe that “justice will prevail” even when the victim is known to be a philandering, unpleasant and often hard nosed man. Whether rich or poor every citizen deserves the protection of the law. Justice was not served to Richard Oland. His murder remains unsolved.
Journalist Janice Middleton writes succinctly. She tells the story of the murder, his son’s arrest and trial and delves deeply into policing and and provides her readers with her findings through years of investigation and interviews conducted with key players, including the victim’s son who was accused and tried for his father’s murder. He was acquitted. Based on her findings, it is obvious there was grievious mishandling of this case by police who ignored key evidence. Evidence that undeniably supports the truth that Dennis Oland could not have killed his father and in fact supports the case as an organized crime act.
There is an extensive list of Middleton’s sources listed at the back of the book. Anyone wishing to gain further insight can easily follow her research by checking into those sources.
August 6, 2024
This book, while interesting, was a bit “all over the place” and repetitive. It also left out a lot of details that would have been good to include, such as the Defence’s hiring of a forensic telecommunications specialist from the US who disproved the Crown’s theory about Dennis Oland taking his father’s phone with him to Rothesay. That expert had worked on the Casey Anthony case in Florida and it would have made for a great chapter in the book.
I also think it’s obvious the author had a bias in believing in Dennis’ innocence and could have explained the Crown’s theory a bit more. Having hailed from Saint John, NB, I know the city is split on whether or not he did it and half a city can’t feel that way for no reason
I also think it’s obvious the author had a bias in believing in Dennis’ innocence and could have explained the Crown’s theory a bit more. Having hailed from Saint John, NB, I know the city is split on whether or not he did it and half a city can’t feel that way for no reason
December 21, 2024
Very well written. I did not know of this case and really appreciated all the details and background information.
March 6, 2024
Emily's review:
Read my latest 5/5 star review 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (full review posted on the @digitally_lit website!! Caption is too long 🙄)
“Who Killed Richard Oland” has been on the minds of Saint John residents for many years.
But only some of them. A lot of people believe that Dennis Oland killed his father, but as this book gets right off the bat to saying, he had a set in stone alibi. So who really did it? This book presents many sides to this unsolved case. And Janice Middleton does an excellent job portraying all of them.
Though I’ve read a book written on this topic before, and it was a really great book too, I actually think of them as quite different when compared side by side. And what I found striking about this book was the fact that there were still details I had yet to hear or read that were revealed in this book. The fact that Richard Oland had been having an affair I knew from the previous book. But 3 affair partners? I had no clue. This book also has an email interview that the author did herself with Dennis Oland, which I find adds so much to the story, having whole paragraphs that Dennis wrote in his own words really takes this book to the next level.
My one last note is the fact that I like how unbiased the author is. Lots of facts, lots of proposals, but the author doesn’t point fingers. Many people believe Dennis killed his father, but as the author points out, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest he did not. And the author strays away from saying everything but “guilty” in regards to Dennis.
This is an absolute recommendation from me. I loved this book, and it’s published by @formacbooks if anyone’s looking.
Thank you once again to @digitally_lit for providing me this free book for being an Our Stories Matter Youth Ambassador.
Ariela's review:
Who Killed Richard Oland is the story of one of the bloodiest murders in Canada’s history.
Telling a true story, this book retells every single detail. An insane amount of research and care went into this book, and it’s all clear from the writing. I can tell that Janice Middleton truly cared about this book, and it’s that next-level attention to detail that tells us that. This book could very well be a novel. I feel like if it were a novel it would be just a bit more entertaining to read. Nonetheless, the author does a great job at establishing the people in this story as if they were characters. At times the lines between character and person are blurred, and it truly feels like you are reading a true crime novel.
I wouldn’t recommend going into to this expecting a novel because there is a lot of exposition as well, but I would have loved it even more if it was a novel. Thankfully I didn’t have any lulls while reading, it was pretty consistent in presenting new information, but it was still a little bit hard for me to get through because it was non-fiction. I wouldn’t quite say that it was “boring”, just that it was hard for me to get through. I don’t usually read non-fiction, and the fact that it took time to establish settings that I was already familiar with. I will say that this went further in depth than worldbuilding in a fantasy book, though. This was really good for setting the story.
I would say this book was “clever”. Especially in it’s title. It made me feel smart when reading it, and I liked that.
I think that one drawback when reading this book was that it really wasn’t targeted for me and my age range. Well then, you might be saying, “WeLL ArIeLA, tHeN wHy DiD yOu gEt tHis bOOK?” Actually, I didn’t. My dad originally bought it for himself and brought it over to Thailand, so I was like “Well, I like physical copies better, and there’s one right here.” I decided to pick it up and read it. I think it was pretty good for the most part. I really enjoyed it, and I also learned a lot, like how legal stuff and crime works. I was reading one night before bed and then I was left with the question “what happens to dead people blood when someone dies”, so then I searched it up and I learned that they either put it in a fridge or throw it way. Nothing too fun, but that’s just what we got.
Welp, this is my book review for Who Killed Richard Oland. I thought that this book deserved no less than 5 stars. I hope you consider checking it out!
Read my latest 5/5 star review 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (full review posted on the @digitally_lit website!! Caption is too long 🙄)
“Who Killed Richard Oland” has been on the minds of Saint John residents for many years.
But only some of them. A lot of people believe that Dennis Oland killed his father, but as this book gets right off the bat to saying, he had a set in stone alibi. So who really did it? This book presents many sides to this unsolved case. And Janice Middleton does an excellent job portraying all of them.
Though I’ve read a book written on this topic before, and it was a really great book too, I actually think of them as quite different when compared side by side. And what I found striking about this book was the fact that there were still details I had yet to hear or read that were revealed in this book. The fact that Richard Oland had been having an affair I knew from the previous book. But 3 affair partners? I had no clue. This book also has an email interview that the author did herself with Dennis Oland, which I find adds so much to the story, having whole paragraphs that Dennis wrote in his own words really takes this book to the next level.
My one last note is the fact that I like how unbiased the author is. Lots of facts, lots of proposals, but the author doesn’t point fingers. Many people believe Dennis killed his father, but as the author points out, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest he did not. And the author strays away from saying everything but “guilty” in regards to Dennis.
This is an absolute recommendation from me. I loved this book, and it’s published by @formacbooks if anyone’s looking.
Thank you once again to @digitally_lit for providing me this free book for being an Our Stories Matter Youth Ambassador.
Ariela's review:
Who Killed Richard Oland is the story of one of the bloodiest murders in Canada’s history.
Telling a true story, this book retells every single detail. An insane amount of research and care went into this book, and it’s all clear from the writing. I can tell that Janice Middleton truly cared about this book, and it’s that next-level attention to detail that tells us that. This book could very well be a novel. I feel like if it were a novel it would be just a bit more entertaining to read. Nonetheless, the author does a great job at establishing the people in this story as if they were characters. At times the lines between character and person are blurred, and it truly feels like you are reading a true crime novel.
I wouldn’t recommend going into to this expecting a novel because there is a lot of exposition as well, but I would have loved it even more if it was a novel. Thankfully I didn’t have any lulls while reading, it was pretty consistent in presenting new information, but it was still a little bit hard for me to get through because it was non-fiction. I wouldn’t quite say that it was “boring”, just that it was hard for me to get through. I don’t usually read non-fiction, and the fact that it took time to establish settings that I was already familiar with. I will say that this went further in depth than worldbuilding in a fantasy book, though. This was really good for setting the story.
I would say this book was “clever”. Especially in it’s title. It made me feel smart when reading it, and I liked that.
I think that one drawback when reading this book was that it really wasn’t targeted for me and my age range. Well then, you might be saying, “WeLL ArIeLA, tHeN wHy DiD yOu gEt tHis bOOK?” Actually, I didn’t. My dad originally bought it for himself and brought it over to Thailand, so I was like “Well, I like physical copies better, and there’s one right here.” I decided to pick it up and read it. I think it was pretty good for the most part. I really enjoyed it, and I also learned a lot, like how legal stuff and crime works. I was reading one night before bed and then I was left with the question “what happens to dead people blood when someone dies”, so then I searched it up and I learned that they either put it in a fridge or throw it way. Nothing too fun, but that’s just what we got.
Welp, this is my book review for Who Killed Richard Oland. I thought that this book deserved no less than 5 stars. I hope you consider checking it out!
February 24, 2025
Janice Middleton has done an excellent job recounting everything related to the murder mystery of “Who Killed Richard Oland?”. She hasn’t left any stones unturned in her research and detailed portrayal of what happened and all the characters involved in this, to date, still unsolved murder. Richard Oland was found bludgeoned to death on July 7, 2011 in his office in downtown Saint John, New Brunswick. Oland is a millionaire businessman who is both highly regarded for his contributions to make Saint John a better place but, in the process, he has made several enemies due to his direct, careless cruelty in both his business and personal dealings. He comes from a wealthy family who made their mark in New Brunswick history as the owners of Moosehead Breweries. Richard is married to Connie, a high school sweetheart and they have three children, two daughters and a son, Dennis Oland. Richard has many affairs throughout his marriage, one of which was with Dennis’ first wife. At the time of his death, he was in a seven year affair with Diana Sedlacek, who is married to Jiri Sedlacek, who claims he had not idea about this lengthy affair. Dennis Oland is targeted immediately by police as he is the last one to see his father alive. There is very little evidence that would lead anyone to believe he did it but a jury does find him guilty in on December 19, 2015 of second degree murder. He appeals and is acquitted on July 19, 2019 by Judge Terrence Morrison. Dennis’ subsequent second marriage to Lisa, breaks down, he suffers financial ruin and his life is forever changed. Lisa cites violence and domestic abuse caused by PTSD as the reason their marriage breaks up. The author is convinced of Dennis’ innocence; however, there are still many who believe that Dennis got away with murder. The murder remains unsolved and there is much speculation that the police botched the investigation from the beginning by focusing solely on Dennis. Others believe it was a mafia killing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 17, 2024
A much more comprehensive account than the previous two books that were rushed to print before the judicial proceeding were even over. Personally I think there should be at least a 10 year moratorium on publishing a book on any event in order to gain at least a modicum of objectivity on the subject but this book proves that even given time non-fiction does not necessarily equate with objectivity. The question of the guilt or innocence of Dennis Oland is still debated here in Southern New Brunswick and the author lets her views come thru loud and clear in this book, more so than the Greg Marquis book I read immediately after the first trial (the two authors apparently being on opposing sides in the guilt/innocence question). Perhaps I enjoyed this book more due to the completeness of the judicial proceedings prior to publication or perhaps it is because I agree 100% with her assessment of the entire fiasco. A completely inept police department and investigation, a case so lacking in evidence that it should never have made it past the preliminary stage, a verdict that proves that juries really are made up of 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty, lawyers so sure of a win they barely showed up for the defense, a family torn asunder, and one poor man whose life has been ruined. There is some great Oland family history with regards to Moosehead Brewing and the author also goes to great length in an effort to support her theory of the Russian Mafia, the part of the book I didn't enjoy so much. 31/2 stars for me.
Note: goodreads lists only an e-book edition of this book but it is definitely available in the trade paperback format that I read.
Note: goodreads lists only an e-book edition of this book but it is definitely available in the trade paperback format that I read.
January 4, 2024
Thought provoking. Raises more questions than it answers. Which is understandable. Right off the top in chapter one, she hypothesized that three perpetrators were involved: An older man known to the killer ( which is what I always thought) but then introduces the concept of a second younger man, hit-man style connected to organized crime who carries out the deed; and a third person outside who closes up and walks away. The rest of the book builds on this theory of organized crime and Can Sugar bankruptcy etc. but never really gets to the point in the first chapter of who this older man is, that Dick knew and possibly with whom he had a drink of whiskey.
May 9, 2024
This is a subject that I am previously, pretty well educated on, as I followed the investigation and trial as it happened. I read this book mostly for the alternative theories regarding who may have committed the crime. Gives some other suspects, but arguments rely on a lot of speculation.
I found that the author spent a significant portion of the book repeating details and facts, and worked in a lot of unnecessary history of the area, both of which had me losing interest. Will provide a good overview if you are brand new to the case, but if you have a solid background history, this was unnecessarily long and boring.
I found that the author spent a significant portion of the book repeating details and facts, and worked in a lot of unnecessary history of the area, both of which had me losing interest. Will provide a good overview if you are brand new to the case, but if you have a solid background history, this was unnecessarily long and boring.
Read
December 12, 2024Very informative, still think that Dennis Oland is innocent.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews