No Choice but Murder

The Oldminster Mysteries #4

by Norman Russell

It’s a dark and stormy night in the quaint English town of Oldminister when the battered body of local gallery owner Louis Gillette is discovered in his office. The office safe lies open and empty, it would appear to be a burglary gone tragically wrong.

But all is not as it seems. Very soon, it comes to light that Gillette was murdered by poisoning. Someone then beat his unconscious body. Could both of these crimes have been committed by the same person? And more importantly, why?

Detectives French and Edwards soon discover that Gillette was an unpopular man, infamous for his greed and nastiness — they have many suspects to question.

Could it have been his beautiful but unfaithful wife Lydia? Or possibly Gillette’s best friend Jack, a thoroughly charming man who’s in possession of a dark secret . . . Rival businessman Manfred also stands to gain a great deal with Gillette out of the way. Even the victim’s millionaire father-in-law has his own reasons to detest Gillette.

French and Edwards are on the case. But with so many suspects to sort through, each of them hiding a dark secret, how will they ever reach the truth?

Genres: Mystery

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 18, 2022

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

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oldminster Gallery owner Louis Gillette has been discovered dead. Was it murder or suicide. Detectives French and Edwards investigate. Then another body is found. But that is not the end of them.
An enjoyable modern mystery.

[vince weldon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Advance release review


I'll make a confession - despite a love of crime fiction I've never warmed to Midsomer Murders...I watched a couple of the John Nettles originals back in the day but found them too far fetched and fanciful, much preferring Morse, Poirrot,
Gently et al.


I bring this up by way of explanation for my poor rating of the book...the story, apparently the fourth in a series of Oldminster Mysteries, stretched credulity very quickly, with not a single endearing character to believe in, or sympathise with...there's even a claim that Radio 4 would offer a profile of a recently disappeared person "following The Archers" - total hokum...The only changes to the schedule Radio 4 would make at that time would call for a death, and then for someone
off Broadway, Hollywood, a musical icon or a high ranking royal...I was not impressed by anything I came across as this turgid tale unfolded.


There's a conflict in the story telling between Christie like murder mystery and Clancyesque international intrigue but the dots just didn't join up for me... In the end we're told whodunnit in a mechanistic disengaging manner that left me feeling whocares. The cover blurb describes it as "an absolutely gripping murder mystery full of twists"...try as I might I couldn't find any.

Continual coincidence, convenient friends of friends to move the plot along and poorly described events / dialogue made this a hard read for me... If I'd not taken it onboard as a pre-release review I'd have given up halfway through
without any fear of missing out.


I doubt that I'll volunteer to review another of Norman Russell's offerings...I suspect that the publishers might not want me to 🫣

[Grace J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another series I'm coming to late but, with no spoilers, I suspect I will try and fit in the earlier ones when I can find a space!

When local gallery owner Louis Gillette fails to turn up at home, his body is found in the office of his business, with the safe lying open but nothing in it. Robbery seems the obvious motive and before long Detectives French and Edwards are on the case, discovering that Gillette wasn't the most popular of men, giving them a wide pool of suspects.

This one is right up my street! Lots of characters, all finely drawn, plenty of suspects and lots of twists and turns along the way. It's very cleverly crafted and kept me on my toes. As soon as I suspected someone, something would happen giving me doubts and I would be befuddled all over again. Beautifully living from an obviously talented author and a series I look forward to not only catching up with, but keeping my eyes open for further additions to the series. A terrific read, easily earning 4.5*.

My thanks to the publisher for my arc of this novel; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

[Alison C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Louis Gillette is a rather mediocre gallery owner whose wife Lydia is carrying on an affair with an old boyfriend, Jack Posser. One evening when Louis is late coming home, Lydia asks Jack to check on him at his gallery, but instead Jack finds Louis dead, with an overturned brandy glass and a strong odor of alcohol and peaches. The initial assumption is a sudden heart attack, but soon the police realize it was instead murder - and it is only the first of several, with the only constant being that strange combination of smells….This is the fourth (of five) Oldminster books and while it’s not as completely off the rails as the third one was, it’s still quite jumbled. Throw in money laundering, art theft, a professional hitman, a swindler and a parcel of much-younger and very beautiful wives to elderly men and, well, you’ve got a mess on your hands. The series characters, two police detectives, spend a lot of time investigating, but it’s really the private detectives who come up with the answers, once again. I feel obliged to finish the series as I bought all of the books as a single omnibus, and the best I can say is, whew, only one more to go.

[Mary Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this quite a gripping read. It's steady-paced but involves art forgeries, corrupt financiers and several murders using peach brandy. Quite a combination.

This is the second of this series that I've read and although DS Edwards and DI French seem a bit more to the fore in this one, they still seem more background characters than in other books in this genre that I've read. It seems to work though. The style is quite old-fashioned and I must admit, I enjoyed it and it's different from the typical police procedurals that I'm used to.

My thanks to Joffe Books for an advance copy of this and this is my honest review.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Louie Gillette, a local gallery owner, is found murdered in his gallery. His wife is a friend of local Private Investigator Chloe, who undertakes to look into what he was up to. The police have the murder to look into with the few leads going nowhere fast. However, Chloe, seems to be finding things out that look like Louie was looking to change his identity and it looks like he was using the money he had stolen from his father in law.
As the murders mount up and Chloe is attacked the PIs join forces with the police.
The case is eventually solved.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely Brilliant Writing

I love Mr. Russell's writing. The characters in his plots all have such depth. His plots themselves are intricate and engaging. His books never have been a disappointment. Wonderful series that yoh do 't have to read in order. It's helpful when they refer to one another in recollection of the cases they've worked together previously. I'm loving these books. Following the Author. And looking forward to the next crime that must be solved. If British crime/detective mysteries are your thing. You will enjoy this. The writing is brilliant.

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first book, in this series and of the author.
Although I did find I could read as a standalone, I enjoyed it enough to want to read the others.
It had me intrigued, from the start to finish, with a well written storyline and plot, involving plenty of twists, murder, mystery and much, much more.
Which kept me enthralled to the end.
My thanks to Joffe books for the copy, this is my honest unbiased review

[Bill Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing mystery centred around a mass murderer and an interesting method of killing the victims which gives the two detectives some interesting clues and puzzles to solve. The climax was a bit of a let down as although it closed the case and tied off the loose ends, but it felt rather unsatisfying. Still it was a good read!

[Sarah Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this multiple-murder mystery book, and am a newcomer to the Oldminster Mysteries. The well-written plot and interesting characters are pulling me into reading the first three books in this series. A strong and quite convoluted plot keeps you intrigued until the end.

[Sue Hayward · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cosy 'who did it murder' which keeps you guessing until the end. Well worth a read.

[Clyde jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining

A well written book with entertaining characters and interesting stories. This book will interest readers who like a good whodunnit. They won’t be disappointed.

[Margarita Rosado · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am now a regular reader of Russell's. His story's twists grab the reader. I enjoy police's gender and his novels don't let me down.