The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
My Rating: ★★★★★
I received a copy from Poisoned Pen Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Judith Potts is living her best life in an old mansion she inherited from her beloved late aunt. Things are going great until she overhears the murder of her very sweet neighbor while she’s having her usual swim in the Thames. Unfortunately for her, the police don’t believe her neighbor’s demise was murder, and Judith is left to investigate the poor man’s death herself. As the killer strikes again, Judith must hurry up and find who the killer is before the number of victims continue to increase, which quickly becomes an investigation that makes her two unlikely new friends.
This new series sounded like it would be a wonderful read, and I’m happy to say that it was! We mainly follow Judith, a 77-year-old woman who is happy creating crosswords for the newspaper, drinking, and swimming. While she doesn’t have any friends or family connections anymore, she’s content until overhearing the murder of her kind neighbor hits her life like a storm. Along the way, she makes two unlikely new friends: Suzie, a straightforward and friendly but nosy dog-walker, and Becks, the friendly wife of a Vicar.
Together, the trio find themselves in a variety of hilarious to awkward situations as they investigate the murders. Some of the shenanigans they were involved in were absolutely hilarious. The shenanigans were a nice touch of humor as we watched these three characters blossom and discover a cure for the loneliness the three didn’t realize they were experience: each other. I loved watching their friendships with each other grow as each character developed, leaving me wondering what will happen next and how we’ll see the three of them blossom as the series continues.
One of the things that I liked about the book is that there wasn’t a romance plot. Romance plots are great, and it would be cool to see one for an elderly character like Judith, but she’s not interested so I can’t see that being in the cards. It’s one of the reasons I really liked that there wasn’t a romance plot, especially because we won’t get a long love triangle as Judith’s slowly forced to choose between two different love interests. It’s just refreshing to not deal with a romance plot, especially a love triangle, and see the core relationship drama be between three friends as they grow closer.
The ending of the book was a bit flashy, but do I care? No! It was truly wild and one piece of it confirmed a theory I had about Judith about her past. I can’t wait to see what Robert Thorogood has in store for all us readers when the follow-up novel eventually drops!
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