Author: Robert Thorogood
Publisher: HQ
Pages: 347
Read On: Kindle
How Long It Took Me To Read: 2 days
Plot Summary: Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper.
One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don’t believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar.
Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.
When another body turns up, they realise they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape.
Things I Liked:
1. We are BIG BIG fans of the Death in Paradise series, both the TV show and the books. We enjoy those stories immensely and Robert Thorogood's writing as well. So when we found out that he had a new series of murder mysteries, we simply had to get ourselves a copy! What a good decision that was too! A new series of books with three intrepid crime solvers!
2. I liked the setting of this book almost as much I love the setting of the Death in Paradise series (which is a LOT!)! The little village of Marlow, set on the Thames, makes for a perfect backdrop for the three brutal murders that happen during the course of this book. The little shops, the fairly tight knit community and even the three women, who end up solving these crimes fit perfectly with the setting. A village where nothing of this sort happens is just the kind of place where secrets of all kinds are revealed when a brutal crime occurs- as we know from multiple Agatha Christie books!
3. The murders themselves are interesting in the sense that each of them seem very obviously connected to the other while the victims have no connection with each other. There are just enough clues to seem like reasonable leads, but those leads don't seem to go anywhere. So, there is enough intrigue and not an abundance of clues for our three amateur detectives to go on, still, they manage to uncover new leads before the police with the connection and ingenuity of people who have deep roots in the community.
4. The way in which the three woman- Judith, Becks and Suzie connect and get together to solve these murders is very organic and not at all contrived. I loved all these three characters, but Judith is easily my favourite! Judith is 77 and single (well, widowed) and she is living her best life as a crossword setter for major newspapers. It was Judith, who witnessed, or rather heard, the first murder taking place whilst she was swimming in the Thames on a hot summer afternoon. She felt personally compelled to solve the murder. Then, of course, two more murders happened and it is during the course of those that Judith bumps into Suzie and Becks.
5. The murder solving process in this book is engaging and quite fast-paced, but not at all contrived. Our three detectives use good, old-fashioned interviewing and looking up of old news archives to glean information that is not readily available and they join the dots to figure out the reason behind these murders and, ergo, the identity of the killer.
6. This book is a good, fast-paced read with great characters and an interesting set of crimes. Highly recommend it! Also, highly recommend the Death in Paradise book and TV series- all very good!
Rating: 5/5
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