Although The Marlow Murder Club has the elements of a good mystery, it falls flat but not completely on its face. Thorogood keeps the action moving along, and I feel certain that he could do justice to a better thought-through plot. As it is, the ending is rather obvious,; it even was suggested by one of the three amateur detectives well before it was revealed to the reader. Particularly annoying to this librarian was that the author sacrificed practicality to make the plot work. At least one of the three relatively intelligent protagonists should have known that it was unnecessary to spend hours looking through dusty old incomplete sets of newspapers to find the articles they needed. A trip to the local library would have brought them to the same conclusion much more quickly (and cleanly), even if it hadn't advanced a specific plot point. And one, or possibly, both of the attempts to reach the character being confronted near the end of the book stretch the imagination beyond believe. Still, The Marlow Murder Club shows a spark of potential. I hope Thorogood is able to realize that potential in his next book.

Readers who devoured Richard Osman’s two mysteries are pretty sure to enjoy The Marlow Murder Club. It has many similar good eccentricities while telling its own story.

As in Osman’s novels, our woman on the scene is a pensioner. Eccentric Judith Potts is in her seventies. She may be a little too fond of whisky. She sets crossword puzzles to earn money, lives in an inherited property and observes everything around her. She is also intrepid.

One night Judith hears a shot. Her neighbor Stefan is dead. It is quickly established that Stefan was murdered. His character is less clear; there are those who saw him as a good and kind man and others who did not. What was the nature of his association/relationship with an antiques business and Elliott, its proprietor? How, if at all, is Stefan’s death connected to another victim, a well-liked taxi driver named Iqbal? And, what about the people Judith gets to know along the way? There are a mysterious redhead, a dog walker and a vicar’s wife among others. It all crescendos in a satisfying story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

Actual Rating - 3.5

I'll be honest- what made me want to read The Marlow Murder Club as soon as I read the synopsis on NetGalley is
a) the inclusion of the word Club in the book title
b)the main protagonist is a female, seventy seven years old, living alone and working from home as a professional crossword compiler and
c)she is on a mission to find out who murdered her neighbor on a hot summer night while she was swimming nude in the Thames.

The plot sounds familiar to the Thursday Murder Club(which I love extremely) and it made me request for the book. Judith Potts is very happy with her single existence, living in her great aunt Betty's mansion, drinking whisky and going for a swim in the evening. But when her neighbor across the river is murdered, she is determined to decipher the clues, fit all the jumbled pieces of the puzzle and solve the mystery. But it isn't such an easy task, as Judith finds out herself. Along with Suzie, the undiplomatic but loyal dog walker and Becks, the local Vicar's wife and the reluctant detective with an OCD, they form the Marlow Murder Club. The three women have vastly differing personalities but together they form a formidable team.

When another dead body is discovered, the sleepy and picturesque town of Marlow becomes a dangerous place with talks of a serial-killer on a rampage. Are the victims connected and what could be the motive of the killer? Judith, Suzie and Becks are about to embark on a most exciting and dangerous adventure of their lives.

I loved the camaraderie shared between the three women despite the undercurrents flowing beneath the surface of their friendship. The mystery was a little slow for my liking and there were too many red herrings. I guess it was an enjoyable read but at this point of time I am not sure if I'll pick up a sequel to it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced copy of this book

Cute but very predictable from the start. The main characters were fun to read about. The story was limp, and the mystery obvious but all in all not a bad read.

Kind of liked the characters, but I lost interest about half way in. Police not very realistic. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Judy, Judy, Judy, that’s what I want more of!! She was such a great character, funny, enduring, persistent, and just great fun. Judith thinks she heard a gunshot from her neighbors yard. But when she gets over to his property( believe me not an easy thing to do) there is no body, gun or crime scene. This starts our story on the quest to find said neighbor dead or alive. She seems to pick up strays alone the way, meaning strangers, that fit into the story like a glove, A vicars wife, who really needs a life and a dog walker who are just plan fun. Thorogood has created such colorful, loving, quirky, characters which you hope you meet one day. That’s a great book that makes it different from others. You want to be friends and know these people. You want to hear more of their stories of why they became who they are. Judith is in her 70s and she isn’t backing down from the inept police who think she’s a crazy old lady. She has such vigor and pep and doesn’t back down from any challenges. Please let there be another book

In the spirit of The Thursday Murder club, senior Judith and her two new gal pals (with a little help from a female cop) endeavor to solve three murders. Highly entertaining and funny! Enjoyed trying to figure this out including some mystery about Judith's backstory. Hope there will be a sequel!

What a delightful surprise!

"But, in her book, anyone who could pick up a couple of coffee cups and a few short minutes later find herself hiding inside a cupboard was okay with her".
I knew I was going to like this book after this scene. I have noticed lately that I really enjoy books with older protagonists (Granny Reid Mysteries, The Thursday Murder Club, etc.) and this book was no exception. I found Judith a hoot and really liked Suzie's strength and Becks' metamorphosis.

Judith is a seventy seven year old woman, living life on her terms. When swimming in the Thames (in the all together) she hears a gun shot and races home to report it to the police. When she is not believed, she starts her own investigation into the murder. She first meets Becks...Becky...Rebecca.

Becks is adrift. "...she couldn't help noticing everything about her existence seemed to be defined by someone who wasn't her. She was the kids' mum, the vicar's wife, and the house's wife for that matter." It was lovely to see Becks/Becky/Rebecca at the beginning and BECKS at the end of the novel.

As murders continue, Suzie and Emma arrive (I am really loving dogs in my books lately). Suzie is a woman who knows her own mind.

The three investigate the Murders in Marlow and take us along on the ride.
A 4 star read for me!

(I also looked up the town of Marlow to see the places mentioned in the book and it looks like a delightful town!)
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for my advance copy.

A fun novel featuring amateur detectives. Truly enjoyed that our main protagonist was an older women and the women helping her were too. I immediately fell in love with this rag tag crew of women with all their quirks and flaws and puzzle solving skills.
Highly recommend if you are looking for a cozy murder mystery.
Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy

I love a cosy mystery! The Marlow Murder Club follows Judith Potts has she investigates the murder of her neighbour. As more bodies turn up, Judith teams up with dog walker, Suzie, the vicar's wife, Becks, and detective, Tanika. Together they form the Marlow Murder Club and solve this crime.

I loved the humour and characters in this story. That was really the biggest stand out for me. Unfortunately, I "solved" the mystery around the midpoint of the book., which took away from the who done it vibes. However, since I loved the reading experience so much I will be definitely picking up book 2 when it releases.

Read an eARC courtesy of Netgalley, the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, and the author, Robert Thorogood. Thank you for the opportunity.

Rating: 3 Stars

Judith Potts is an eccentric elderly woman living in an inherited mansion in the British town of Harlow. She spends her time writing cross word puzzles, swimming naked , and biking around town. One evening she hears a gunshot from her neighbor's house, and later discovers him dead. Thus begins her sleuthing, soon joined by local dog walker Susie and wife to the vicar - Becks. After another man is killed, the three women are determined to figure out what is happening in their little town.
Honestly, I didn't finish this one. I do enjoy a good British cozy mystery, but this one was just a little too silly and not especially clever. I didn't find any of the women that interesting and did not care at all about who was murdering people. I'm giving it 2 stars because I did enjoy the descriptions of the town and of Judith's house and property.

I DNFed this book at 15%. While I knew going in that it was probably a cozy mystery, it was just too slapstick and silly for me. I love the premise of a protagonist in her 70s solving murders, and hope to find more books in that theme. This particular book was just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this was a fun treat! Eccentric old women are kind of my jam, so when we meet our protagonist, a seventy-seven-year-old crossword puzzle writer who is taking her morning swim in the Thames in the backyard of her stately home, I was delighted. As she is swimming, she hears something that sounds like a gunshot and sees her neighbor fall. Dissatisfied by the police account of the event, she decides to puzzle out what happened for herself. She is self-contained and content to live her life by her own standards but soon finds herself meeting people in her community who know her because of her work and the allure of her home. Along the way, she collects quite a strange mix of woman willing and sometimes unwilling to help her put the pieces together to understand what happened to her neighbor.

I liked that it was light, with a soft undercurrent of pathos and humor throughout. I would read another if this becomes a series. Perfectly fun light romp.

A fabulous murder mystery. Great story line with great characters. Made me laugh plenty of times a brilliant easy read.

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood will likely appeal to readers who prefer to read books that spend more time crafting the characters and situations. There are three main characters lead by Judith, an 80+ year old widow who tends to approach any problem head-on, challenging situations and declaring information about what she thinks without fully considering the consequences. Judith meets and is joined by Betts, the obsessive compulsive vicar’s wife whose primary focus is on keeping everything, including herself, looking neat and orderly and Suzie, a dog-walker who was a friend of the third victim and has an unflappable approach to situations life throws at her.

Although Betts and Suzie decline the opportunity to work with Judith to discover the murderer, they are eventually drawn into Judith’s investigation. As the book progresses, all three women demonstrate depths and abilities that are not apparent at the beginning, particularly as they come together in a more organized way of solving the murders.This happens, in part, when Tanika, the inexperienced Detective Sergeant who becomes overwhelmed as she tries to stretch a limited team in order to solve this spate of murders, brings them in as civilian consultants.

The first murder happens when Judith is out for her nightly swim in the Thames. She hears a shout, then a gunshot. Although she reports it to the police she learns they are reluctant to classify the resulting death as murder. The second murder has some of the same traits such as a bullet to the center of the victim’s forehead and a medallion left at the scene, but Tanika is still reluctant to label it murder. When the third death occurs, again with the bullet to the forehead and planted medallion, she reluctantly agrees with Judith the deaths are murders. Because the police force is understaffed, the case falls to Tamika.

An ongoing theme in the book is the house Judith lives in, which some describe as a mansion on the river. Judith, however, appears to have limited resources, and the description of the interior is limited except for a locked door on the first floor. Several times Judith checks to make sure she still has the key around her neck and she appears reluctant to discuss this area with her new friends. Eventually access to the area is acquired and they learn Judith has a secret of her own.

The pace is somewhat uneven with the amateur’s investigations seeming at times to move lightning fast and others to take days to accomplish. This carries through to the last portion of the novel where the murderer is revealed. The reader will need to suspend their concept of time passing at points in order to concentrate on the women’s progress in investigating the murder.

I would like to thank Poisoned Pen Press for providing an advance copy of this novel for this review. The opinions stated here are entirely my own.

I loved this book, the first in (I hope!) a new series. As with every first book in a series, there's a bit of a lag to start while meeting the characters, the town, the premise, etc., but Judith Potts is so delightful, you are soon drawn into her crossword puzzle-creating world.

While Judith, a bit of a recluse, hears an altercation across the river where she's swimming one morning, it begins a murderous chain of events that eventually involve her, the vicar's wife and a local dog walker, all working together to figure out whodunnit. Shifty art dealers, a rowing club, and underhanded lawyers all figure in this cosy mystery set on the banks of the River Thames.

The author is the writer and creator of the Death in Paradise series (books & television), so the mystery was well done and very definitely cosy. Lots of red herrings and a satisfactory ending round out the book, and I am already keeping an eye out for the next one.

Just in case you think ageism has been abolished, think again. If you are a person of a certain age, over fifty for instance, you will have to launch a google keyword search of almost immeasurable scope to find books with narrators that aren’t in their thirties.

Thankfully I have some well-honed investigative book search skills. While putting them to good use, I stumbled across this charming gem of an amateur detective mystery.

Judith is a seventy-seven-year-old crossword creator who lives on her own in a small town. While out for her daily exercise she witnesses what she is sure is a murder. When the police don’t believe her story, she assembles a couple other unlikely older ladies to help in her quest to catch the killer.

I loved these women and their hilarious antics, and the author did an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing right until the ending. And as an added bonus the reader gets the inside scoop on how crossword puzzles are created.

I wonder if it’s too late to change my career path…

"Mrs. Judith Potts was seventy-seven years old and entirely happy with her life. She lived in an Arts and Crafts mansion on the River Thames, she had a job she loved that took up just enough of her time and no more, and best of all, she didn’t have to share her life with any man."

How we can not love her?! Judith is awesome, funny, smart and self-confident. Also, she is curious so when finds out the police didn’t believe Stefan had been killed, then she’d just have to investigate his murder for herself, wouldn’t she?

“We don’t know Mr. Dunwoody was murdered.”
“Are you saying the bullet hole appeared in his forehead as if by magic?”

Marlow’s worse happening in years was two swans were taking a walk down the high street and now people had been found dead with bullets in their heads! Judith starts investigating and in this way find two comrades to help her to fulfill her task and find the killer, maybe a serial killer or the killers!

Beth, the vicar's wife was the kids’ mum and a perfect house’s wife who does everything in order, clean and completely legal, or did, before joining the informal investigation murder club!

"If we only did what was wise, nothing would ever get done, would it?"

The third of Musketeers is my favorite, Suzie Harris, a very solid-looking woman who was about fifty years old and a dog walker.

“What on earth’s going on in Marlow that’s worth killing over?”
“Oh, there’s plenty of wrongdoing going on. Don’t be fooled by the nice front gardens and smart cars.”
“You think so?”
“I’ve been a dog walker the best part of three decades, and I can tell you, people around here are wicked.”

Wicked people who look nice, have witnesses in murder time, and many twists and suspend are in this book.

My huge thanks to Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley for giving me the chance to read The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood, I have given my honest review.
Pub Date: 3 May 2022
My review: 8 Apr 2022

3.5 stars

A charming and humorous (if rather long-winded at times) tale of three slightly eccentric ladies who together form a bond as unlikely amateur sleuths in an attempt to solve a murder mystery in deepest Buckinghamshire. It’s a decent enough whodunnit if you are willing to suspend any sense of disbelief. Just go into it as a form of light entertainment and enjoy it for what it is.

My thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Some puzzles can be fatal! This is a fantastic mystery with characters you will love it. It’s perfectly paced revealing small pieces a little at a time. I’d describe as a cozy mystery. I’m already checking this author’s other books.