[review] Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood

Death Comes to Marlow is the second book in Robert Thorogood’s Marlow Murder Club Series, featuring 80-year-old Judith Potts, a crossword-setter who loves whisky, nude swimming, and solving puzzles.

Title: Death Comes to Marlow
Author: Robert Thorogood
Series: The Marlow Murder Club
First Published: June 6, 2023
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Genres: Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher

*** Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. ***

It’s been an enjoyable and murder-free time for Judith, Suzie and Becks – AKA the Marlow Murder Club – since the events of last year. The most exciting thing on the horizon is the upcoming wedding of Marlow grandee, Sir Peter Bailey, to his nurse, Jenny Page. Sir Peter is having a party at his grand mansion on the river Thames the day before the wedding, and Judith and Co. are looking forward to a bit of free champagne.

But during the soiree, there’s a crash from inside the house, and when the Marlow Murder Club rush to investigate, they are shocked to find the groom-to-be crushed to death in his study.

The study was locked from the inside, so the police don’t consider the death suspicious. But Judith disagrees. As far as she’s concerned, Peter was murdered! And it’s up to the Marlow Murder Club to find the killer before he or she strikes again…

A great locked-room mystery

Sequels, especially ones that follow a great series-starter, are always hit-or-miss. They often have a lot to live up to and I must say that Death Comes to Marlow was brilliant and just as fun to read as the first book in the series, The Marlow Murder Club (you can read my review of that book here).

Judith, Suzie, and Becks face a locked-room conundrum complete with lots of family drama on the side. The mystery had lots of fun twists and turns, red herrings and even a second body later on in the story.

The pacing is perfect and it was great to continue getting to know the three women, who have very distinctive (and often contrasting) personalities. The action and dialogue held my attention and it definitely was a book I couldn’t put down. These are rare for me so I enjoyed every minute. Every time I thought I had things figured out, a new clue would appear or a new twist would be added that had me thinking in a whole new direction.

The Marlow Murder Club continues to delight

What makes this book (and series) one of my current favourites are the characters. I loved getting to know everyone better, from Beck’s secret (why is she wearing new, expensive jewellery and sneaking around with a man who’s NOT her husband?), to Suzie’s blossoming career as a radio celebrity, to Judith’s growing reputation as a mystery solver – the trio continue to make me laugh.

Judith herself is just a fantastic main character. She’s feisty, smart, and incredibly interesting. I hope I have just a fraction of her energy and quick-thinking when I’m her age!

Their growing respect and partnership with DS Tanika Malik is also very enjoyable for me as I dislike books where the amateur sleuth is always clashing with the police. While we don’t know Tanika as well as the other three, I’m hoping for more of her backstory in future books.

There are several new characters introduced specifically for this story, including Sir Peter, his fiancee, his two grown children, and several other new faces. While that sounds like a lot of new characters to meet, I found it really easy to keep track of everyone and their personalities and motives were well developed considering it was all during the span of one book.

As I mentioned above, this is currently one of my favourite mystery series and I’m already looking forward to the next one!

Quote from Death Comes to Marlow