I’m very late coming to The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood, spurred on by wanting to read the books before watching the television series. I’ve loved Agatha Christie books since I was young and this is full of the same spirit; the puzzle of the unravelling a mystery, set within a small community with a limited geographical area, with death but not violence. Curiosity, nosiness, imagination, determination and knowing when to break the rules.Three women are brought together accidentally, randomly, by murder. Three murders in quiet, respectable, boring Marlow where nothing ever happens. The three victims seem unconnected. Suitably, seventy-seven year old Judith Potts who asks the awkward questions is a crossword setter, a professional puzzler who invents exactly the kind of cryptic clues I don’t understand.
Until the first murder happens at a house on the opposite side of the river from Judith’s waterside home, she has been living a quiet, almost hermit-like, minding her own business. She has earned a reputation as an eccentric. It all starts one summer night when Judith strips naked and steps into the Thames for a nighttime swim. She hears a gunshot and finds her friend Stefan Dunwoody shot dead. Detective Sergeant Tanika Malik, Judith quickly decides, is asking the wrong questions and too slowly. Judith’s first suspect is local auctioneer Elliot Howard but he has an alibi; he was at choir practice when Stefan died. Not believing anything she is told, Judith goes to the church to make enquiries where she finds a woman hiding in a cupboard. It is Becks Starling, the shy wife of the vicar, professional housewife and mother, incredibly tidy and drinks only tea. It’s difficult to think of two people more dissimilar in nature than Becks and whisky-drinking, naked-swimming, Judith.
When there’s a second murder in a bungalow on a suburban street in Marlow, Judith meets her third co-investigator. Iqbal Kassam was a taxi driver who worked the night shift and slept during the day. His dream was to own a boat on the river. So why has he been shot in the head? Judith, suspecting the two murders are linked, packs a flask of tea and a packet of beetroot sandwiches and sets out to be nosy. She meets dog-walker Suzie Harris who is walking Iqbal’s Dobermann, Emma.
And so the investigative trio is formed and the story is mainly told by these three women and Tanika Malik. This is a funny, clever novel which pays tribute to the type of small town community which exists across the country. It also shines a light on the roles of women in modern society, the misconceptions about their abilities, assumptions made based on personal appearance, and the bullying and crime that goes on in even the most idyllic-looking streets.
I’m hooked. Next is Death comes to Marlow.

Here’s my review of THE KILLING OF POLLY CARTER #2DEATHINPARADISE by the same author.

If you like this, try:-
‘Death at the Dance’ by Verity Bright #2Lady Eleanor Swift
‘The Mystery of Three Quarters’ by Sophie Hannah #3Poirot
‘Magpie Murders’ by Anthony Horowitz #1SusanRyeland

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB by Robert Thorogood https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8b0 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-