The Marlow Murder Club

 

What did I expect from a book featuring murder and an elderly woman who likes to swim nude in the Thames and set crossword puzzles for her local paper? Well … fun, of course! That’s exactly what I got.  Meet the Marlow Murder Club: seventy-seven-year-old force of nature Judith Potts, mild-mannered vicar’s wife, Becks, and salty but lovable dogwalker, Suzie. These three may not look like much of a threat, but criminals beware: there’s more to these ladies than meets the eye!

Judith Potts lives alone in a mansion inherited from her aunt.  While out for one of her naked swims, she hears her neighbor Stefan cry out and then a gunshot.  Reporting it to the police and getting an unsatisfactory follow-up from them, she takes it upon herself to look into things, beginning a series of events that starts with finding his body and follows with two more victims. Realizing the police don’t have the manpower or resources to do the job alone, Judith pulls Becks and Suzie into her sleuthing, much to DS Tanika Malik’s initial dismay.

Who killed Stefan Dunwoody? Furthermore, a well-liked cab driver, Iqbal Kassam, and rowing club owner, Liz Curtis, have each been killed in the same manner, and all three were left with similar engraved gold medallions attached to their bodies. Judith has her ideas about who’s guilty, and for her these crimes are just one more puzzle to solve.  After all, as someone who creates crossword puzzles for a living, she’s spent a lifetime working with clues.

What worked?

The Characters. Judith, Becks and Suzie are so lovable - each in their own way.  I like that they have such different personalities and their ages are spread out a bit, keeping them from the inevitable comparison to The Thursday Murder Club gang. Yes, they both involve at least one elderly woman amateur sleuthing a crime, and Judith has a similar spitfire personality as Elizabeth in the TMC, but I think all the characters stand alone in the two series.

The Writing.  Thorogood brings his own clever voice and writing to this story, and for the most part I really enjoyed the mystery and how things unfolded. The ending felt like a Murder She Wrote episode, but instead of Jessica Fletcher, Judith spelled out how the crime was solved.  Fans of that show should enjoy this.

The Narration. Nicolette McKenzie knocked it out of the park. Every voice was perfect and the gender voicing was spot on. She captured the personalities so well!

What could’ve been better?

The Plotting.  I admire the creative spin Thorogood was going for, but the ambitious attempt to do something different with the “whodunnit” made the culprit reveal a little more convoluted than I would’ve preferred.

The Ending. Things went a wee bit silly in the end with a series of events that were meant to heighten the suspense and sense of peril, but it didn’t quite work for me. 

My grievances were very minor in comparison to my enjoyment, and I’m so glad I have the next installment Death Comes to Marlow to look forward to!

★★★★