- Exclusive to Amazon and Available to Borrow with Kindle Unlimited
Cover Design: Reese Dante
Length: 50,000 words approx.
Blurb
They have eyes for each other. But someone is eyeing them for murder. An erotic gay romance mystery.
In the Junior students’ dormitory at Oakschott Hall, a heavy gaslight falls from the ceiling, crushing the head of a student sleeping beneath it. Was it simply a tragic accident? To avoid publicity, the Headmaster asks Colin Revell, a young Oxford University graduate and former Oakschott student, to quietly investigate.
While interviewing the faculty and staff, Colin meets Max Lambourne, a handsome don who was wounded and gassed in WWI. When Colin tries to help Max overcome his trauma and depression, the two men fall in love and begin an erotic affair.
But when another student dies—diving at night into an empty swimming pool—murder is suspected. Students and faculty all come under suspicion, and rumors proliferate when Scotland Yard intervenes. Meanwhile, during all this confusion and wild theories, the murderer sees Colin and Max as threats. Unbeknownst to the two lovers, their lives are now in danger.
Review
Murder
at Oakschott Hall is a so-called mash-up novel. This means that it is a work of
fiction combining a pre-existing literary text, in this case Murder at School by James Hilton, with
another genre into a single narrative with new plot twists added. Before I
write this review, I should probably state that I’m unfamiliar with the James
Hilton book. So you won’t hear anything from me about Murder
at Oakschott Hall compares to Murder
at School. My review is purely about this book, as I found it.
And I
found it surprisingly good. When I say ‘surprisingly’ I don’t mean that the
book was better than I expected. I went in with little to no expectations since
Jim Austen was a new to me author. I was surprised by how much I ended up
liking this book because I wasn’t convinced from the start. In fact there were
numerous moments when I found myself thinking ‘oh please don’t let this turn
into the sort of story where…’. More than once that was exactly what appeared
to be happening only for a twist to occur and the story to go in a different
direction.
Which is
my reason for not going into how the plot develops, except to say that it
managed to take me completely by surprise more than once. Since I wish you the
same wonderful surprises, I won’t go into what they were.
I liked
the main characters, although they weren’t always entirely likeable. In fact, I
thoroughly enjoyed the whole cast in this story. Every single person I was
introduced to was clearly defined, unique, and intriguing in one way or
another.
It was
nice that while the mystery was a large part of the plot, it wasn’t the only plot in this story. There’s a
lot more going on with each of the characters and this book allowed those individual
stories to feature too. And that’s before I even mention the fascinating
developing relationship between Colin and Max.
While I’m
in general not a big fan of mis-direction, I have to admit that I did enjoy
every single moment when my fears were proved unfounded. Having said that, no
amount of misdirection could stop me from picking the culprit early on. But I
can’t say that diminished my enjoyment; it was both fun and scary watching the
main characters taking their time before coming to the same conclusion.
I loved
the surprises the author had in store for me toward the end of the story. Both
because they took me by surprise and because of what they were.
Overall, Murder
at Oakschott Hall was a thoroughly enjoyable and intriguing read and I’m
delighted I took a chance on an intriguing blurb and a new to me author.
Author Bio
Born in 1984, Jim Austen grew up in Murphy, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas-Austin with a degree in communications and journalism. He works as a news producer for a station in Rhode Island.
Jim lives south of Boston with his wife and two children. A bisexual husband, he ‘came out’ to his wife 10 years ago after the birth of their second child. “My marriage and my gay life,” he says, “have each given me moments of great joy. However, it is a myth to believe a bisexual husband has the best of both worlds.”
Murder at Oakschott Hall is his first M/M romance novel. Jim is currently working on a novel about a bisexual married man called The Unfinished Husband.
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