3.5 stars, rounded down
The Queen of Poisons is the third in the Marlow Murder Club series. While I enjoyed this, I found it the weakest of the three books.
This time, Geoffrey Lushington, the mayor of Marlow, dies during the town council meeting. Suzie is attending the meeting as an observer. It’s apparent that Geoffrey died from poison in his coffee cup. DI Tanika Malik has given up trying to fight the murder club and asks the three ladies to work as civilian advisors. I felt it beggared belief that the ladies would be granted free reign to interview suspects on their own. The women focus on the individuals present at the time. As they investigate, they learn that everyone has a motive but no one appears to have had the means. The story was too convoluted, with the elimination of each of the possible suspects. It also meant there had to be a LONG explanation at the end as to why the murderer killed the mayor.
The ladies remain enjoyable main characters and we also continue to get glimpses into their personal lives. Of most interest is Beck’s insufferable mother-in-law coming to live with them. Beck's attempts to extract her from their life is the main source of humor in this book.
The book would work as a standalone but I still recommend reading the series in order.
Thorogood’s background as a tv writer (Death in Paradise) means his writing is crisp with easy to envision scenes.
My thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Books for an advance copy of this book.
As an aside, PBS is turning the first book into a tv series and I look forward to watching it.

cozy-crime, situational-humor, verbal-humor, local-law-enforcement, local-gossip, amateur-sleuth, small-town, sleuthing-seniors, friends, friendship, friction, whodunit, England, secrets, lies, mystery, murder-witness, murder-investigation, cooperation, local-politics, organize, unputdownable*****

Done in by Wolfsbane in plain sight.
The informal Marlow Murder Club reunites as Judith Potts (who still swims naked in the Thames at 78), dogwalker Suzie Harris (AKA The Witness) and the vicar’s wife Becks Starling with the help of now DI Tanika Malik are once again involved in a Death Investigation. This time it's the mayor, by poison, at the Town Council meeting. Their investigation turns up more clues and more suspects in this tongue-in-cheek delightful mystery. Well worth reading!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

I don't typically consider "cosy" mysteries to be intelligent, clever, laugh out loud delightfully intelligent mysteries, but this book is exactly that, and it is 100% enjoyable.

This story is so SMART, and perfect for a lover of words and mysteries.

This group of clever friends make solving the most clever mystery easy; it is in the details we realize the many intricate details and working parts that are included, and this book is a delight, in so many aspects.

Robert Thorogood gets better with every book, and the Queens of Poisons" is truly outstanding...

This humble reader rates it an enthusiastic 5 stars.

A solid entry in a charming series. I really enjoy how very different our three sleuths are, and the clever puzzles this series always pulls out.

The gang is back with more murder, more witty asides and more quirky plots. This time the beloved city Mayor had been found dead, and while there are suspects, none seem especially likely, although all have a secret. The plots twists and turns as expected and the conclusion is nicely packaged.

I really like to spend time with Robert Thorogood’s characters. Judith, Suzie, and Becks are good friends and their adventures as well as their thought processes are what make this series so enjoyable. The Queen of Poisons is the third book featuring these three women and their ability to solve crimes. Specifically, murder. What starts out as a fairly straight-forward investigation morphs into something more involved, with a multitude of suspects who have secrets they’re trying to protect.

This book has the characteristics of a cozy mystery. No swearing or gory crime scenes. But, it’s much more complex than many cozies and the dialogue and descriptions are very well done. After getting to know these three amateur sleuths, I’ve decided I want to be their neighbor. They live in a charming English village and give each other the support they need, while having the best adventures. They’re definitely on my neighbor list.

Thank you, Mr Thorogood. The Queen of Poisons is an excellent entry in the Marlow Murder Club Mystery series and I’m already looking forward to your next book. NetGalley provided an advance copy.

I really enjoyed this book. It was different than anything else I've read recently. I couldn't put it down! I will keep an eye out for this author's future work!

Suzie Harris attends a Marlow Town Council meeting to decide on the council member to approach regarding her planning application. While at the meeting, she watches the Mayor of Marlow, Geoffrey Lushington collapse and die after drinking coffee. She thinks he may have been murdered and engages the other members of the “Marlow Murder Club,” Judith and Becks to find out who killed him.

Fans of Robert Thorogood’s Death in Paradise will surely enjoy this book and all the books in the Marlo Murder Club series. I like that the murder happens early in the story. Tanika, now a detective inspector, has made Suzie, Judith, and Becks civilian advisors for this case, showing she respects their input. This book is a proper whodunit. A murder occurs near the beginning of the story, and for the remainder of the book, the hunt is on to find the killer. When the killer is revealed, it is done in an interesting fashion. I look forward to reading future books in the Marlo Murder Club series. Thank you, Poinsoned Pen Press and NetGalley, for giving me the chance to read and review an advance reader copy of THE QUEEN OF POINSONS.

Judith, Suzie & Becks are back at it again!
This is the third book in the Marlow Murder Club series, and just when I thought the books couldn’t get any better, I read this one.
I love the Marlow Murder Club series, I love the characters and their relationships with each other.
I feel like everyone needs a Judith in their lives!
Extremely well written and creative, I was unable to guess the killer, and couldn’t put the book down!
Highly recommend ANY book by Robert Thorogood, especially this one!
Cannot wait for the next one.

The descriptions of the characters and locations are well written. I will be recommending this book to my fellow readers.

Thank you to Robert Thorogood, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the arc of this book

The third book in the Marlow Murder Club series of books — brings back all the loveable characters from previous books— crossword-puzzle creator and semi-recluse Judith Potts, ditzy dog walker Suzie Harris and vicar’s wife Becks Starling — Though this was another great mystery — something about it just didn’t grab me from the start the way the first two books did — but I loved all the misdirection on the possible killer in this book and the quirkiness of all the old ladies. — this could be read as a stand-alone with no issues. Great plot, perfect pacing makes this a fun read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Poison Pen Press for this ARC. This is my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, i really loved how captivating that it was throughout and kept me engaged all the way through. I loved following along and trying to work out the mystery of the ‘whodunnit’ along with the three main characters which made it a super fun read as well as a gripping one!

Robert Thorogood is fun. I enjoy his TV series (which I watch on BritBox). My favorite episodes are the ones he wrote in the first season. And I like his Marlow series, of which The Queen of Poisons is the third entry. In my opinion, it's the best of the series so far.

Judith is an almost-80 year old woman who, as a part-time job, creates crossword puzzles for newspapers. She is sharp, smart, drinks a little too much whiskey, and likes to swim nude in the Thames. And in her spare time, she solves murders (of which the village of Marlow seems to have more than its fair share. But why quibble?).

In the first book of the series, Judith and her best friend, Suzie Harris, a dogwalker embrace Becks Starling, the vicar's wife, as a kind of partner in crime solving. Judith is the leader--as good at solving a murder puzzle as she is at crosswords, Suzie is her emotional support friend--always willing to take a risk for the sake of an adventure, and Becks is a somewhat reluctant yet fascinated follower who emerges over time out of the shadow of her role of wife and mother to show her own brand of feistiness.

Suzie has thoughts of building a hotel of sorts in her back yard (yes, that's what I wrote). She attends a town council meeting to get a sense of how she might best approach the council successfully. Of course, there is a suspicious death, almost immediately.

Tanika, a rising star in the Marlow police force, has "worked" (not always willingly) with the triumvirate before. Although they constantly break rules and protocol, they (spearheaded by Judith) always solve the mystery (of course). So Taniika has accepted her fate--and her unofficial squad

Thorogood has a warm, humorous tone to his writing. The story moves along quickly.. Although I had suspicions about the identity of the killer, in the end, Thorogood did manage to surprise me.

The Marlow series are very light. As I began this review by saying, Thorogood is fun and so is this book.

This was a Great read. Had me hooked in the first chapter. I will definitely be checking this author out on their other books published. This really sets the scene and has great details for your imagination to place you there in the story.

The Queen of Poisons by Robert Thorogood is an absolutely delightful contemporary cozy of silver sleuthing! Oh my goodness, I need to catch up with this series as the FMCs Judith, Suzie and Becks (and the Bengal cat Daniel) are a fabulous group of silver sleuths in the little village of Marlow

The plotline itself could not be more out of the peace and quiet of small town life in the English countryside, when the Mayor keels over during a town council meeting after sipping his coffee (every time the girls refer to the coffee pods just makes me howl! (I don't know why, it just does.) Tanika the police DI has been promoted and calls in our vintage sleuths to help with the investigations, to burrow down deep and see what they can find out

(This book was so much fun that I also got the audiobook to listen to and both are an absolute delight!
Nicolette McKenzie is an incredible narrator and she really makes the characters her own! Fabulous!)

The writing is well paced, the humour subtle but impactful and a great mystery to boot! Straight on to my to buy list and my Cozy Authors to follow list!

Thank you to Netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press and the awesome author Robert Thorogood for this brilliant ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

Like the previous book in this series I read, this is a slow-moving traditional mystery with three unconventional amateur sleuths. The local DC has finally agreed to let them into the case of the mayor's murder, and they dig through clue after clue. A bit too slow for me, though the characters are all well-drawn and the setting and plot are good.

The gang’s together again — crossword-puzzle creator and semi-recluse Judith Potts, ditzy dogwalker Suzie Harris and vicar’s wife Becks Starling — and I am definitely here for it! In this third entry in the Marlow Murder Club series, the women — for once with Detective Inspector Tanika Malik’s blessing — investigate the death of the beloved mayor of Marlow. Right before Suzie’s eyes at a planning council meeting, Mayor Geoffrey Lushington died after a sip of coffee. How was he poisoned in plain sight? Judith, Suzie and Becks are sure to find out, while uncovering some other crimes in the effort.

Longtime fans will love catching up with the Marlow Murder Club, but those new to the series will not feel lost. Author Robert Thorogood has not lost his touch, as The Queen of Poisons proves just as stellar as the first two books in the series, The Marlow Murder Club and Death Comes to Marlow .

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun trip back to Marlow!

The story was captivating from the start and, as usual, there was no guessing who the murderer was until Judith tells you. And where would Judith be without her hilarious and loyal sidekicks Becks and Suzie? You're constantly cheering for these women as if they were your own real-life friends.

The setting, the murder, the characters, the prose, the strong female leads - there's nothing about this book that I didn't like!

Sharp, funny, and engaging throughout - mystery fans don't want to miss this book (or complete series for that matter)!

Please don't stop putting out these stories. I'm hooked and I want more!

there is something so metal about Robert Thorogood initially wanting to write a “The Marlow Murder Club” TV series which everyone rejected, only to decide to publish the story as a novel, which then became so successful it was turned into a TV series after all. First and foremost, you have to respect the hustle.

Naturally, I was curious to see how the series’ first book that I enjoyed so much would play out on screen and while the series is entertaining, though unremarkable, I now cannot help but view the books through an entirely new lens. Once you know this story was originally created and written for TV, you cannot help but notice all the signs pointing towards it, no more so than in Thorogood’s newest entry into the Marlow verse, The Queen of Poisons.

This time, Marlow’s idyllic peace is disturbed by a murder no one can explain. It’s not only the how, but the why that puzzles Judith, Suzie and Becks. After all, who would have wanted to kill Geoffrey Lushington, Marlow’s affable mayor who was beloved by all and hated by none? When traces of aconite – also known as the queen of poisons – are found in his coffee cup, they and the police realise they’re dealing with a stone-cold killer who will do anything to avoid being found.

The crime is set, the team is back together, and I was primed to enjoy the heck out of this murder mystery and yet… everywhere I looked I stumbled over signs just how much better this would have worked as a TV script and how much this was written as one. There’s a scene in here in which Judith and Suzie are facetiming each other when Judith accidentally uses one of those animal filters which leads to half a page of banter about how hilarious Suzie finds Judith talking to her whilst wearing giraffe face.

This scene SCREAMS television so much so that it made it into the TV adaptation of the first book, making me question just how invested the author still is in writing these novels rather than just developing his stories for the screen and afterwards putting the same scenes into his books, killing two birds with one stone whilst only putting the work in once. There’s rather a lot of telling instead of showing going on, and I can imagine much of the humour would translate so much better on screen than it does here.

The overall plot is unfortunately a bit draggy, with many of the characters’ decisions feeling like plot devices. The story lacked a natural flow, especially since 90% of it is the trio running around Marlow, going from interviewing one suspect to the next, then regrouping, finding out a fact that sheds new light on one of the suspects they had previously discounted. Then Judith says something like: “There’s one way to find out. We should ask her, don’t you think?” or “I think we need to talk to him, don’t you?” at the end of a chapter and off the women are to interview one of their previous suspects. It’s a pity the story essentially isn’t more than that because the three women could not be more different and it’s their character dynamic that really brings these stories to life.

While I think that Tanika’s decision to bring on the team as civil instigators served to make the narrative of three women sticking their noses into everybody’s business and running around questioning suspects a bit more believable, it also led to some of the spice missing that in previous books was so wonderfully created by the ladies’ continuous run-ins with the police.

Running parallel to the murder plot are several minor side plots that are concerned with further developing the main trio to a lesser success than I would have liked. Suzie is given another side hustle so utterly ridiculous, that it begs to question whether it does anything at all for Suzie’s character development. It does, however, provide the beginning of her turning over a new leaf so that’s that. Similarly, Becks does not only have to deal with the murder case but with an entitled and posh mother-in-law, a side plot that brought neither responsible for laughs nor good storytelling, merely serving to pad out the murder plot, while also “making it a bit about the people in it”.

I found the story lacking in much of what I had previously enjoyed in the series’ first two instalments and I would be content not to get another Marlow Murder Club for a while if that means Thorogood putting all his focus on getting a second series of the TV adaptation off the ground.

I absolutely love the Marlow Murder Club series! This one did not disappoint. Judith, Becks, and Suzie are such lovely friends and they're constantly making me laugh. The friends were allowed to investigate the murder of Marlow's mayor right from the start as civilian advisors to the police. That eliminated some of the humor in Judith's disregard for protocol and her ability to "get away" with her tactics because she's not official, but it did add some humor in Suzie telling everyone that they are police. All in all, loved it, and hope there will be more murders in Marlow!