An Invitation to Murder

The Oldminster Mysteries #1

by Norman Russell

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?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Cozy, British Literature, Historical Mystery

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 24, 2019

About the author

Hello, reader! I hope that all's well with you. I am a graduate of Oxford and London universities, with the degrees of MA and PhD respectively. I served abroad in several regiments of the British Army before training as a teacher, and spending a very happy 26 years as Head of English in a comprehensive school in Liverpool UK. After accepting early retirement, I began a new career as an author, and to date I have had twenty novels published. My current publisher is the brilliant Joffe Books, who have just published the first of my Oldminster series of detective novels - more to follow!

My fiction leans towards the 'cosy' genre, though there are plenty of thrills and cunning plots to be found. I like to produce rounded characters who exist in their own right, rather than as just movers of the plot. My interests are mainly literary and academic, though I have plenty of time to observe the world as it is, and the countless wonderful people who inhabit it. If you like Agatha Christie, PD James and Catherine Moloney, then I think you'll like my work.

Reviews

[Linda Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

RECENTLY RE-PUBLISHED AS AN INVITATION TO MURDER

Originally published as Tongued with Fire.

Frank Renfield, the Baron of Renfield Hall, has fallen on tough times. He and his wife, Carole, will do anything to preserve their heritage ... including marrying off their daughter to a prominent .. read wealthy ... man.

Unfortunately for them, their daughter is in love with a very poor man, the nephew of a bookseller. The man her parents have chosen is wealthy, ambitious, and has hopes of being in charge of the manor ... after he marries the daughter.

The bookseller comes across an old book that throws a shadow over Renfield Hall. Are the Renfields that actual owners? Blackmail didn't seem to work, as he is found bludgeoned to death .... and the book is nowhere to be found.

He will not be the only body that falls.

Blackmail, crime. murder, revenge, obsession, deception, lies and secrets ... this one has it all. It's a modern day murder mystery, but it has the feel of something much older, more evil. Many suspects bear watching. Twists and turns lead to an unexpected conclusion.

Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / Books n All Promotions / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

[Rochelle Saldaña · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I wasn’t bored. I enjoyed the twists. Definitely not earth-shattering, but enjoyable.

[Karina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baron Renfield,the proud owner of Renfield Hall,has serious problems. He is bankrupt and both his wife and the Baron want to keep their estate and their way of living but there seems to be no straightforward solution unless...his rebellious daughter marries a very wealthy American. But the daughter has no such intentions because she is madly in love with Alan Lavender,the nephew of Guy Lavender, a mean book antiquarian. Guy discovers some hidden secrets in the Renfield family their historical past and attempts a spot of blackmail. When Guy is found murdered suspicion falls on Baron Renfield. But it is not the only enigma. There is the story of an incident in Renfield's past when he was an officer, there is a ghost somewhere and there is another murder and a suicide...so there is really a lot going on. But it works. The characters are well developed and the storyline is, albeit not always straightforward, easy to follow and keeps one's interest. And although it takes place in the present,there is a bit of an interbellum atmosphere. If you are not looking for a psychological thriller with gory details and really depraved characters but for a good mystery with a certain charm,then this is definitely a very good choice.

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of An Invitation to Murder, the first novel in the Oldminster series, set in the South of England.

Guy Lavender tried to blackmail Lord Renfield and was later found murdered in his home. Nothing to do with Lord Renfield obviously, but when a man is murdered at Lady Renfield’s birthday party questions are asked.

I quite enjoyed An Invitation to Murder, which has a convoluted plot with several strands and some interesting twists. It is slow to start with a long build up to the first murder, told from various points of view, then it starts motoring.

This is a very busy novel with all sorts of grudges being aired and so many strands to keep up with, at one point there are three separate investigations going on. The police, in the form of DI French and DS Edwards, are investigating the murder and associated crimes. PI Noel Greenspan and his assistant, Chloe, are investigating historical allegations against the Renfield family and an American PI is pursuing other enquiries. I liked the murder investigation and what the American was doing, but the historical thing made no sense to me, not that I couldn’t follow it, more in the sense of why and what was the point?

As this novel is all about the plot, events and outcomes of certain behaviour and as it is jam packed with them it is not a particularly profound or realistic novel. This is not a deal breaker for me as I can appreciate the author’s imagination and ability to comprehensively plot it. What I didn’t like about it was the stereotypical characters, which, along with the constantly shifting point of view, don’t allow the reader to identify with any of them and get really invested in the novel.

An Invitation to Murder is a solid read.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twists, Turns and a Ghost

This is a different type of murder mystery. I would almost call it more of a drama.
It has the down on his luck Lord with a demanding wife and a daughter who needs to grow up and an American multimillionaire that has an obsession with British history.
It has the cold, calculating blackmailer and a private detective that lives with his own code of ethics but never crosses the legal line.
I have to admit that I found the characters intriguing.
In places though the story for me became a bit muddled and I had to go back and reread it so I could make sure I had the right characters in the correct places.
I suggest you take your time and enjoy this fascinating book. It doesn't lead you to the conclusions you may expect.

[alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keeps you guessing

I changed my mind a dozen times about " who done it ," what s great story! The characters were well depicted and believable. British aristocracy , servants,






A full cast of characters. I changed my mind a dozen times about " who done it '. The British aristocracy, servants,
Doctors, lawyers, and Americans all have secrets and motives. Twists and turns abound. I'm now ready for the next book in the series. Well done, very enjoyable.

[Casceil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tedious. Too many characters and way too many subplots. It all sort of came together in the end, but I did not feel like it had been worth my time to slog through it.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is Guy Lavender murdered because he is interfering into the life of Frank Renfield, Baron of Renfield Hall. Or because the daughter, Jessica Renfield, wants to marry his poor nephew. Will it stop at one death.
Entertaining mystery of a bunch of awful people.

[Cathy Geha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tongued With Fire by Norman Russell

Crime, murder, debt, revenge, family, image, obsession, past impacting the present...so many emotions and motivations in this book!

Lord Renfield is in debt and the only way he can see a solution to solve his money woes is to marry off his daughter to a wealthy man. He has a man in mind but his daughter is definitely not interested. The man Jessica IS interested in is…something else, indeed. Jessica’s mother projects the perfect image of a baroness but seems to have a dark side...and BOY is it dark! Renfield’s past as an officer comes into play and almost plays him. There is a LOT going on in this book with strings to follow and untangle with some leading to new clues that lead to other threads until the very end. It kept me on my toes from beginning to end and I enjoyed following the story, the characters and trying to figure out what would happen next and how the story would be wrapped up in the end. If there is anything I would like a bit more of it would be to know some of the characters and their back stories a little bit better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Matador-Troubador Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

[Misfits farm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lord Renfield is short of cash as ever but is determined to hang on to the family estate. His plan along with his domineering wife is to marry their daughter off to a wealthy American who is interested in the English aristocracy. An old book has been found by a villager relating to the house and village and the bookseller finds a letter within it which may cast a shadow on the Renfields' hold on their inheritance. When the bookseller is found dead, suspicion is cast but could this be a lucky break for the titled family?
A story of murder and doubt with lots of twists and turns. This reminded me of a “Miss Marple” type scenario where all the characters know one another in a small village type setting and there are lots of backstories and history adding to the suspense.
An entertaining read to keep the grey matter very active.

[Violet (Biblioteca di Violet) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Score: 3/5

The Baron of Renfield Hall, Frank Renfield, is nearly bankrupt. The only solution he has in mind is Jessica, his daughter, must marry an American billionaire. The problem is that Jessica’s heart is already captivated by Alan Lavender. Alan is a nephew of Guy, the greedy owner of the bookstore. One day, Guy accidentally discovers Frank’s juicy secret, so Guy wants to use this information to blackmail Frank. On the next day, Guy turns up dead in his bookstore. Frank is the number one suspect. Detectives French and Edwards are determined to solve the case, yet uncovering the actuality in a town shrouded with concealed truths proves to be a formidable task.

This book convinced me because, number one, the price is so low. I paid only A$0.99! Number two, I love supporting independent publishers. Joffe Books is a British independent publisher so I couldn’t resist. Number three, the reviews from Goodreads were over 4 out of 5. When combining everything, how can I refuse it?

After I finished reading, I had mixed feeling about it. I gonna start with the things I liked first. I love the writing style; very smooth and does not have a lot of fancy words. I found the writer used the word choice very well because it still had that luxury in the story without using big words. The murder scenes were light, so I could read the book before bed. There were some funny scenes. However, among the amusing moments, one particular scene stood out and delighted me. In this scene, Kenny expresses his disappointment, stating, "Trust girls not to keep a secret," to which DS Edwards humorously responds, "Girls have their own logic, Kenny." This conversation evoked such amusement that I couldn't help but giggle wholeheartedly.

There are several downsides to this book. Firstly, there were so many characters and multiple subplots that I couldn’t remember them all. My brain was confused by the swamp of all these. Secondly, the book failed to evoke a true sense of the 1800-1900 timeline, missing the distinctive essence that would have established its historical setting clearly. Thereby, I was confused about what timeline it was supposed to be. Lastly, the murderer's motivation fell short, lacking the necessary depth to portray their underlying issues convincingly. Hence, the book failed to evoke a genuine sense of believability.

An Invitation to Murder is the first book in the Oldminster Mysteries series. All of the books in the series are affordable on Kindle. I would recommend this book for foreigners who wanna start reading murder mystery books in English. Keep in mind that this review is my opinion. More than 600 people gave this book five stars, so try it yourself.

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[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lord Renfield is in trouble: although he is an aristocrat whose family has lived in Renfield Hall for 400 years, he has fallen into debt. If he wants to save his mansion and his good name, he badly needs his daughter Jessica to marry well, that is, somebody very rich. Jessica, however, is in love with a penniless artist and has no intention of following the commands of her parents. When the artist’s uncle discovers an ancient letter that calls into question the legitimacy of Lord Renfield’s title, he must act quickly to save his own liberty and perhaps his life…. This is the first of five novels dubbed the Complete Oldminster Mysteries and is a relatively entertaining, if predictable, cozy. I am not yet sure who is meant to be the main character or even if there is a recurrent character in all five books - so far, I’m guessing it’s the police, but I’ll need to read another entry to find out. I found this online as an e-book omnibus containing all five novels, which evidently were only published between 2019 and 2024 (as opposed to being a reissue of older novels), and decided to take a chance because the cost was very low. As such, I didn’t expect much, but actually the writing is not bad, there are some good if cliché characterizations of various classes of people and there are some entertaining twists and turns through the course of the novel. So, mildly recommended and I’ll read at least the next book in the cycle.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up

A good start to a historical mystery series set in the small English town of Oldminster. I like the detectives who I presume will be the main characters of the series. Some of the other characters are people I hope we never see again, while others could become interesting recurring characters.

There were several different investigations going on simultaneously in this book, not the least of which were multiple murders. The victims seemed kind of shady, and even though there were a fair number of potential suspects, one stood out to the police as the most likely culprit. Trying to follow all of the investigations and their principals got confusing at times, but it all came together in the end. I was not able to identify the culprit, but I had the motive almost right.

The next book in this series is available through the Audible+ catalog, and I hope to read it sometime this year.

[Karen Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Invitation to Murder is the first of three stories in The Oldminster Mysteries by Norman Russell. It starts when two farmers find an old book with their names in it, or rather names of their ancestors. They take the book to a local bookseller to see if there might be some money in it for them. But the bookseller finds an original old letter purporting to state that the current Lord of Renfield Hall is not entitled to the title or property. Then the story widens out to a passel of investigators, lawyers, officials, policemen and assorted villagers. Lord Frank Renfield is close to broke, and believes his only salvation is to marry his daughter Jess to a very rich American. But many things go awry, murders occur in the village, and even within Renfield Hall itself. The story is full of twists, ghosts, suicides and murders, and madness. It begins a little slow, but quickly spirals into fascinating, intertwined stories with a good conclusion. Recommend.

[Scilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank Renfield and his wife want their daughter to marry a rich American because they don't have enough money to support their estate and lives. However, she is in love with local man Alan Lavender. Then, Alan's uncle thinks he's found that the Renfields killed someone and someone else was supposed to get the title. With detectives trying to figure out what's happening, we soon have a couple of murdered men, and Frank Renfield is the prime suspect.

Meanwhile, another man is killed with Frank's gun, and at his wife's birthday party Alan Lavender is killed, and another man commits suicide.

There are some complicated things on in the book, but story is fun; the killer isn't as obvious as one thinks; and the book ends on a good note.

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many unanswered questions

The loose ends and lack of answers to too many plot lines left me feeling as though the Author either hit a brick wall and skidded out or the publisher now accepts unfinished manuscripts. Very disappointing. I cannot recommend investing the time in reading this only to come to the end and feel cheated and let down. Very disappointing. I expected higher standards from this publisher. I will not be reading any thing else by this Author. "Absolutely gripping?" Not true.

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with many books I have no idea how I stumbled upon this book. It is atypical mystery as there are two separate lines of investigation; one is the local police who are neither incompetent nor dense. The other is a private detective who is also competent and inquisitive. The PI has a larger budget and better friends.

We have a hall, a stubborn and penniless Lord, a scatterbrained daughter, a calculating wife, a devilish bookseller and a secret of a murder 100 years earlier.

It was very interesting and I didn't guess it at all.

[Lily Walling · Rating 1 out of 5]

* Spoilers for Book Club *

It felt like this was a first draft. It took me forever to figure out which decade this took place in; despite stating it was modern day, I continued to read it as the 19th century. There were many times were there was unnecessary details and overall way too many characters. The storylines barely connect to one another and don't make a lot of sense. No one dies until 80 pages in, and then the killer was obvious.

I'm shocked this is the first of a series because they should never have made more. It was confusing, boring, and predictable.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lord Renfield is almost bankrupt, but there is a solution named Karl, an American millionaire who wants to marry his lordship's daughter, Jessica. Now, if she will only copperate. Several corpses later, Lord Rensdale finds himself on the verge of losing his title, and on trial for murder. I liked this mystery with some twists and provocative characters. Looking forward to the next in the series.

[Linda Joan Booth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly odd

I did enjoy this but found the sense of when it was happening didn't work for me. The main motivation, the impoverished aristocrat trying to survive, feels like a plot more from the 50's or 60's. The way people talk to each other and behave, particularly around gay men and AIDS, feels more like the late 80's. I was left with the sense of a story from and earlier age given some modern trappings like Costa. The plotting and twists work fine though.

[Kirsty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok, I can lack perseverance, but I confess to only making it through the 1st three chapters. Nobody was even vaguely nice (I lie, as far as I got Matthew Grace, his wife and his friend John were ok, but even they will probably turn out as horrid as the rest), and no one was murdered yet. It feels like an interminable time setting thing up and I got so bored....so I cut to the chase and consigned it to the metaphorical bin.

[Julie Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this was a good murder mystery with an old-fashioned vibe.

The lord of the manor is broke and intends to use his daughter as collateral, while her mother threatens her to comply...

The characters suited the tangled plots but I found the basis to be distasteful regarding what people will do to keep their power and think it's the right thing to do.

Convoluted in parts but a fairly good story.

[Frances Vivienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A VERY ENJOYABLE READ.

"An Invitation To Murder ", by Norman Russell was a very enjoyable read.
The storyline held your attention, it was an interesting story thoughtout and ,easy to follow, with plenty of action happening to the end.
The characters, good and bad, were well placed.
It was my first book from Norman Russell, and I will be happy to read more.
A recommended read. Frances

[michele thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Old Fashioned Country House Mystery!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more his mysteries!

It was a hard book to put down as it really captured my interest. His attention to detail and characterizations were wonderful. It felt as though you really got a good feel for the people and their surroundings.

I highly recommend!

[Norma Jolliffe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rushed

Goodish story spoiled by both inattention, some lack of research and event timelines pushed passed credibility. Seriously? From murder to arrest to trial (a murder trial lasting a single day with...surprise!...a surprise witness!) in about two weeks. Doesn't happen. Character poorly developed and often cartoonishly off the rack. Other books will not be in my house.

[Barb M]

DNF. If you're going to use real names and exact years, you ought to do your homework. There was no Duke of Fife in 1886, and the first Duke and Duchess of Fife were hardly a royal couple, seeing that she was royal, but he wasn't. Maybe it's just me, but mistakes like that on page 2 make me wonder how much effort went into the book.

[gillian a gillard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rural shenanigans

I'm not sure what to make of this book, it's set in modern times but everything about it is very oldfashioned. Not much is made of forensics or police procedure which is maybe a bit refreshing. One thing, prison staff are not called warders nowadays. I'm not convinced by the timescales either. Bit of a weird one.

[Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quaint, action filled murder mystery

What a fantastic book. No waffling - straight into the story. Just how I like books to be. It was so full of surprises and action and a much, much better read than I had thought it might be. This is the first Norman Russell I have come across. It will be interesting to see what else he writes. Definitely a good read.

[kay adey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected twists.

Your sympathies move from one character to another as the book progesses, as the characters are well drawn and engaging.
The surprise 's along the way kept me turning the pages long after I should have been asleep.
It was difficult at times,to pin down an era, as in places, it felt as if you were in the twenties.
A wonderful read.

[Carlin]

Great mystery

I was pleasantly surprised at the caliber of writing in this first of a new mystery series. It was a striking difference from the usual mystery. The characters were well realized and the plot was intriguing. I am looking forward to reading the next two books in this series.