Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Murder at Oakschott Hall 
AUTHOR: Jim Austen
PUBLISHER: Flying Heron Press
LENGTH: 204 Pages
RELEASE DATE: February 19, 2019
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:
The demise of a student at his old school and Colin’s proclivity for mysteries prompts the headmaster of Oakschott Hall to invite Colin to, informally, look into the death. During his inquiries, he meets Max and is immediately attracted to the man. Finding nothing suspicious of the pupils’ death, Colin returns home. A few months later the Marshall boys’ older brother also dies, prompting his return, upon which he falls into bed with Max.
Set in 1927, this is a tale where the old-school-boy network comes into force, preferring to keep the good reputation of the school instead of scandal. While reading, the wording and sentence formation allowed me to imagine an upper-crust, plumb-in-the-mouth accent. Unless familiar with the diction of the time, one may need a thesaurus, word synonyms, or google to ascertain the meaning of some language. Positively, it sets the scene for the era. I admit to a little giggle when I saw the line ‘The head is expecting you, sir’, my lewd sense of humor took over going in a different direction to the actual meaning.
Murder At Oakschott Hall is written in the third person. There are 29 chapters, which on the one hand is a lot for a 50k book. On the other hand, it is easy to read an extra few pages before bedtime. There is one technical aspect which history purists will frown upon, and that is towards the end of the story, the term, wanker, is used. As already said, this story was set in 1927. According to the etymology dictionary, wanker was first used around 1940 as slang for masturbating and the 1970s as an alternative to ‘contemptible person’.
The story is billed as being erotic, and it certainly meets that criteria. For me though, erotic outweighed story. Early in the book, the murder of two boys appeared secondary to sex. Only in later chapters did intense flurries of investigation take priority. Sex is part of the reputation of a boys’ school, but even on the train to Oakschott Hall erotic situations could be found. It seemed that all it took was one conversation, a memory, a wink and a nod, or a case of PTSD and cocks were liberated, and love declared.
Colin does a lot of wandering about, gathering information and creating speculation without having much evidence. Spurred on, mainly by Max and the headmaster; the inhabitants of Oakschott Hall keep their secrets. As such, it allows for misdirection and the presence of incompetence – of which there most certainly is some. Having grown up as a fan of detective series from, Quincy, Murder She Wrote, Holmes, Morse, CSI and Criminal Minds; I had the murderer pegged not long after the second death, which made the ineptitude of some of the proceedings, frustrating over exciting. The appearance of Guthrie, from Scotland Yard, refocuses events, which take on a more serious vibe, than sexual one – though secrets and sex are never far away.
Though much of this story is erotic, that part didn’t try my patience – the investigation did. A saving grace was the ending which I liked. Nevertheless, it didn’t diminish my earlier exasperation. So, as with most things in life, preference reigns. If your reading penchants include, lots of misdirection, and sex with a historical backdrop – you will want this book for your shelf. If you are an experienced hand at detective dramas, written or small screen, I suspect you will find this story one where you have several WTF moments alongside wanting to slap a few people.
RATING: 
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