This is the first book that I have read by this author and my first book of 2021. The story is of three ladies, all completely different characters and personalities, who get together and look for clues in solving three murders that have taken place locally. The characterisation of the main players is very good, as is the setting. It is all very much Agatha Christie meets Caroline Graham in its plot. The book canters along and is very enjoyable, though I think it will be judged against The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, even the cover is similar! It does not take much thought to work out the ending, but this does not spoil the story at all. I would recommend reading, as I found the writing to be clever and witty with great personality. Thank you NetGalley.

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood is a contemporary novel with good old fashioned amateur super sleuthing murder suspense.
The novel is set in the English countryside in a village with a cast of characters who could be straight out of Miss Marple or Midsommer! The leading lady is heading towards her eighties, there is a vicar’s wife and a dog walking lady – three musketeers who set out to solve crimes their way. This certainly produces some amusing scenes. The novel is light-hearted in tone and would make a fabulous early evening television drama.
As the action progresses there are an array of guilty parties but can you work out who is the perpetrator and why? I failed to solve the crime before the big reveal – again.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Marlow Murder Club and I hope there will be more books in the series.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful cosy crime. Judith is a feisty OAP who can certainly look after herself which is why there is so much joy in the unlikely friendship that develops between her, Becks & Susie. Their amateur sleuthing & near disastrous investigative adventures are compelling & I found myself flying through this book. The murder story itself was a great read with a brilliant trail of clues left for the reader, but the real treat was the women at the centre of it.

I haven't read any of Robert Thorogood's other books but I'll be sure to check them out.

This was my first read of 2021 and I LOVED IT! Judith is eccentric, quirky and brave. She is exactly the kind of hero we need in 2021. I was hooked from the very beginning as soon as she stripped off her clothes, put on a cape and climbed into the Thames completely naked. Also as this book is set in Marlow which is very close to where I live, it made the book feel even more special as I could picture every backdrop to this story.

A light hearted and funny murder mystery story with lots of likeable characters and good twists, I would definitely recommend this one.

I am a huge fan of Death in Paradise which is the brainchild of this author - both the TV series (first) and then the books based on it (I know - not the usual way round) so I was quite excited when I saw this - the start of a brand new series featuring Judith Potts, 77.
There seems to be a slew of aged amateur sleuths popping up these days. This is a good example of one. Judith is a cracking character, She may be 77 in body but definitely not in mind and actions! She swims every day - naked! - and it is whilst out on her evening swim that she witnesses the brutal murder of her neighbour. She does her duty and reports it to the Police but their investigation does not back up her witness statement and she is dismissed. Not perturbed in the slightest, she ups and decides to investigate it herself. Not by herself though, no, she ropes in Suzie the local dog walker and Becks the vicar's wife. Together they become - The Marlow Murder Club!
Oh my days - these three women are plucky! And that's a bit of an understatement to say the least! I had an absolute blast reading this book. Some of their antics and shenanigans so tickled me that at times I almost forgot we were actually trying to solve a serious brutal murder. Each brings something to the pot and what they lack individually, they managed to conquer together. Suzie and Becks also help Judith in ways she really didn't want to admit needing help with.
The plot was interesting and held my attention very well. I love the concept of grey power - getting to that stage myself - so I do love to see that the oldies have their place still and loads left to give. The mystery was intriguing and well planned and executed. Albeit a tad on the predictable side, guessing a few things early didn't appear to mar my enjoyment at all. I wasn't 100% convinced that the police would "include" out trio so much but am happy to let that go in the name of good fiction.
Oh and I also really loved the crossword angle...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and HQ for sending me this ARC, this is my first read by Robert Thorogood but I doubt it will be my last.

I loved the quirky group of ladies, playing detective. They made me smile with their clashing personalities and daring ways. We start with Judith, our seventy seven formidable woman that doesn’t suffer fools. Her candid attitude often had my cheering her on and thinking I know who I’d call if I was ever in a jam. We then meet Becks, the vicars wife. She comes across as a snobby housewife who is too good for the likes of Judith but from their first bizarre meeting I knew Judith would soon corrupt Becks into her daredevil ways! Becks was the quiet one of the trio but her final scenes are when she really comes alive. You can tell that she wants part of the action but doesn’t want to upset her housewife image. Finally we have Susie, the wacky dog walker that eggs Judith on and is game for anything!

This unlikely friendship gave this crime/mystery book a different edge. The lengths they went to during their investigation were not only funny and entertaining but methodical and interesting. I personally loved the scene involving the wheelchair, it was pure entertainment imagining that scenario playing out!

To go with our wacky amateur detectives we had a murder to solve. The story and lead up to the final revelation was well paced with just the right amount of red herrings thrown in. I had an incline as to what had happened but there were still some elements that surprised me. The final scenes were dramatic and rounded the story off nicely, especially when Becks came into her own!

For a crime read I found this one to be light hearted, witty and entertaining. A huge refreshing wave from the intensity that can often be associated to this genre.

A new book from Robert Thorogood is always something to look forward to and when its a new series you hope for good things. This is a very different setting to his Death in Paradise mysteries but the writing has that same wry humour sprinkled throughout. Though there is not quite as much as usual you get the feeling that once he really gets into his stride with this series it will fly. The book has an interesting array of characters and the plotting is generally good, some of the action towards the end borders on cartoonish but as I enjoyed the book overall it didn't put me off. When I got to the end there was a satisfying conclusion and a good what happened next section which many authors fail to satisfy.

Overall a good series opener with much more to learn about the main players, good use of cryptic crosswords and problem solving of detectives, some stretches of the imagination but the impression of good fun all round.

#TheMarlowMurderClub #NetGalley

Judith Potts is 77 and living in a mansion on the riverside of Marlow. Her hobbies include naked swimming in the Thames, riding a rickety bike, created cryptic crosswords for the Observer and apparently now solving murders.
.
📚📚📚
.
Judith is swimming one night in the Thames when she hears one of her neighbours being murdered but the police find nothing suspicious and leave the scene. But Judith is determined that she heard what she heard and heads out to find out what happened! She is quite stubborn you know. She soon teams up with two other locals - Suzie a local dog walker and Becky the vicars wife.
.
📚📚📚
.
What I loved about this book was its female characters as they were all women who are desperately lonely and intellectually bored silly. Out of this adventure a firm friendship is born and I really hope that there will be more to come from these women.
.
📚📚📚
.
The only reason I haven’t given this 5⭐️ is because of the resolution of the case. It follows a very famous plot line of a classic golden crime. Due to this I had worked out the premise of the crime but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. This might be billed as a cosy crime but I think it’s more than this - the characterisation was superb, the plot was detailed and there were many twists and turns to keep you guessing and entertained. At points I actually laughed out loud, which for me is a rarity.
.
📚📚📚
.
Unfortunately, I think this might be unfairly compared to Richard Osman’s new release as it deals with an older group of women solving a series of events with great aplomb. I don’t think even having the same colourway on the front cover will help. I know this is my bugbear of covers all looking the same but this needed just a different colour to stand out. I hope that this isn’t the case as this was a great book. Grab a copy if you see it!

Seventy-seven year old Judith Potts has a settled life, a mostly solitary routine of crossword setting, drinking whisky and skinny-dipping in the Thames in the evening. That would seem to be enough for her, until during a night-time swim, she hears an altercation at a neighbour’s house – and a gunshot.

The police find nothing suspicious, but determined to find out what happened, Judith finds her neighbour’s body in the garden with a bullet-hole in his forehead. Enlisting the help of Suzie, a dog-walker, and Becks, the vicar’s wife, Judith decides that if the police can’t find the killer, she will have to do it. And she’s certain she knows who did it – apart from the fact that the suspect has a cast-iron alibi.

I’ve been a fan of Robert Thorogood’s work since roughly the start of the blog. As you may be aware, Thorogood is the creator of Death In Paradise, one of the only mystery shows on TV that remembers to include actual clues in the plot, and he also wrote four excellent novels based on the show, featuring the original sleuth Richard Poole – A Meditation On Murder, The Killing of Polly Carter, Death Knocks Twice and Murder In The Caribbean – all of which fans of the show, or fans of mysteries in general, really should read. They are both excellent puzzles and entertaining reads.

Which brings us to The Marlow Murder Club, his first non-DIP novel that I’m aware of, and obviously there are going to be comparisons, because of the title with the recent The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, which looks like it’s going to end up selling more copies than the Bible. Both take the inspiration for their titles from Miss Marple’s The Tuesday Night Club, so I do hope that readers don’t think Thorogood is jumping on the bandwagon – the similarity in titles is coincidence, pure and simple. It happens. The other primary similarity is that they are both excellent books…

I love the central characters here – I’m especially fond here of Becks, the vicar’s wife, reluctant in part to get involved due to being the vicar’s wife and yet desperate to do something exciting because, well, she’s the vicar’s wife but the others are all fully-rounded distinct individuals too. They have back-stories without distracting from the central mystery plot – a plot that is both complex and simple. And here we get the difference that I expected between this and Osman’s book – there are clues here, clues for the reader to deduce who the murder is, rather than being asked to guess who the murderer is.

It’s not an easy feat to properly clue a mystery and still make it an entertaining read, yet I can see the clues dangling in front of my nose and yet as I write this, I haven’t a clue who did it.

You see, as I write this book, I’m exactly 85% of the way into the book and while Thorogood hasn’t explicitly entered a Challenge to the Reader, our heroes have just worked out who did it – and I haven’t got a bleeding clue. And I absolutely love it – I was hoping writing this review would help me get my thoughts in order, but no – I’m baffled.

The Last 15% Of The Book Later…

OK, Rob, you got me. I did have a feeling which way it was going, but I couldn’t make sense of it, so went looking elsewhere. Nice job. [I know Rob will read this, so I thought I’d address that bit to him.] Plenty of clues if you look at them in the right way (which, of course, I didn’t).

Not entirely sure why one of the blurbs on the poster for this book refers to it as an impossible crime as, well, it isn’t. What it is, it’s a very well-crafted murder mystery, with a core of delightful central characters and a twisty-turny plot that managed to twist and turn past me. An absolute delight, and I hope this is the start of a long-running and successful series.

It’s out on January 7th 2021 in hardback and ebook, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. At a time when every piece of news seems to worse than the last one, this was exactly what I needed.

Many thanks to HQ for the review copy via NetGalley.

A fun and entertaining read from The Death in Paradise writer. This has great female characters who form a solid if slightly unlikely friendship to solve the mystery. I loved the setting in Marlow - having known and walked some of the streets described brought the whole story to life. The resolution of the mystery was cleverly written and showed again the brilliant use of the characters involved.

Okay ... so when I say that this. story is Christie-esque and will appeal to Marple fans, I mean purely in style in that it is an amatuer sleuth led cosy crime mystery, full of surprises and misdirection, and the kind of Agatha Christie style big reveal ending that will leave you with a satisfied smile on your face. The only similarities between Miss Marple and Judith Potts, Marlow's answer to Christie's crime-cracking spinster, is that both are of a certain age and both like solving puzzles. I could never imagine a time, even in her youth, when Jane Marple will have taken to swimming naked in the Thames, but this is exactly what Judith is doing when she hears the murder of her neighbour, Stefan Dunwoody.

Yes, it is true to say that Judith Potts is quite the character, so it's hardly any wonder when nobody, the police included, will take her claims that Stefan was murdered, very seriously. But despite her eccentricities, and there are many, I really liked Judith as a character. She is bold, forthright and more than happy to insinuate herself into the investigation in spite of warnings from the police not to. She is exactly the right kind of madcap character to lead a story like this and her naturally inquisitive and logic driven mind means that she won't give up, even when all the evidence points away from what she believes to be the truth.

Now this would not be a very good 'club' if there was only one member, and Judith is joined in her investigation by dog walker Suzie and vicar's wife, Becks, albeit very reluctantly in Becks' case. Suzie loves the fun and the mystery of it and is more than happy to get stuck into the search for the killer. She is very much the opposite of Judith, whose opulent, if somewhat messy, style of living couldn't be further from Suzie's meagre existence. And were Judith is refined, Suzie is as down to earth as they come. Throw into the mix the prim and proper Becks who just wants to be the perfect wife and mother and doesn't like the disruption to her ordered existence that comes from knowing Judith, and you have a trio that shouldn't work but. which absolutely does. They each have strengths which compliment the others, and they all bring their own brand of colour and, in some cases, humour to the story. All three women have an admirable tenacity though and a determination when going gets tough that makes you smile and root for them all the more. Even Becks was able to surprise me.

This is a brilliant story, full of twists and turns and red herrings, and as the number of victims grows so does the suspect pool. It certainly is a puzzle and although I figured out the who relatively quickly as I've seen this particular sleight of hand plotting before, I was still completely invested in the story and in seeing how Judith and co would figure it out and finally catch their man. Or woman. Whatever. And, well ... That final nod of confession by Judith to her new friends. She's one to watch, that one.

With a fun story full of tense moments, scenes that made me laugh, and the kind of end of investigation reveal that would make Jane Marple proud, if you like a modern twist on a Christie-style murder mystery, then you will likely love this. I'm intrigued to see if Judith and co will be back for more. I have a feeling those ladies would be unstoppable.

My thanks to HQ for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Marlow Murder Club’ by Robert Thorogood in exchange for an honest review.

What great fun this novel was! Its lead is Judith Potts, a seventy-seven year old woman who lives blissfully on her own in a faded mansion on the banks of the Thames. For years she’s been employed setting crosswords for the national newspapers. Every evening she swims in the Thames. As the novel opens she is taking her usual swim and is close to her neighbour’s property when she hears him shout followed by the retort of a gunshot.

The local police initially don’t believe her and even after a body is discovered, Judith isn’t convinced that they are on the right track. So, she decides to investigate for herself. She is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a down-to-earth dog-walker, who doesn’t trust the Old Bill, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.

Then another body is found with clear links to the first. Heading the police investigation is DS Tanika Malik and she’s initially rather frustrated by the MMC’s amateur sleuthing.

Robert Thorogood is well known as the creator of the highly popular BBC murder mystery series, ‘Death in Paradise’ and has also written four spinoff novels featuring DI Richard Poole.

Like ‘Death in Paradise’, this novel is a delight, a compelling murder mystery with aspects of comedy. It certainly kept me guessing until the final reveal. Its four quirky female leads, including DS Malik, were well realised. There were moments that I was doubled up in laughter with their antics.

I also appreciated that Thorogood explored the experience of ageing, a subject that I could relate to and relevant to many of his readers as women over forty are known to be the largest readership for cosy murder mysteries.

I have no doubt that this will be a huge bestseller on its publication in early January. I was pleased to see that this is the first in a new series and having enjoyed this so much I certainly will be looking forward to many more cases for the Marlow Murder Club!

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

A fun and entertaining good rollicking mystery that is utterly charming. Reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s miss marple type characters but modernised. If you love a 70 yr old woman investigating a murder with help from other ladies and acquaintances then this is one for you. Marvellous and just full of humour.

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood was a very quick read for me. I loved the characters, particularly the eccentric amateur sleuth Judith with her naked swimming and crossword-setting.

Very cosy, very enjoyable and great fun. I hope this is the beginning of a series!

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

There seems to be a real trend of Murder mystery’s recently where instead of the usual 40-something detective protagonist trying to solve the crime, we get a group of little old women, retired, innocent and yet devilishly cunning. I saw it first in The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osmand, (and loved it) but I believe there has been a few recently.

This time we don’t just get a sweet old lady though -oh no, we get 77 year old, wooly-cape-wearing, skinny-dipping-in-the-Thames, bicycle-riding, whisky-drinking Judith, who has a hoarding problem and definitely more than just a few skeletons in her closet. Judith is an eccentric loner, wallowing in her inherited mansion on the canal with dirty plates and cups stacking up around her, setting crossword puzzles for the local newspaper and drinking whisky by the bottle until it’s time to go to bed.

Our delightful main character has the misfortune of stumbling upon a murder, and is determined to solve the crime herself if the police won’t listen to her. And so Our eccentric loner ends up befriending two of the most unlikely individuals you could imagine - rough and ready dog walker Susie, and prim and proper Vicar’s wife Becks, who ultimately help Judith not only solve the crime, but save her from herself. Their friendship is raw and funny and as unnatural as it is natural, and helps Judith to realize that she doesn’t quite hate having company as much as she thought she did. Equally, being friends with Judith seems to be as rewarding for the others as it is for her, and we see a beautiful friendship blossom...bonded over....Murder.

I laughed out loud in places reading this, and the delightful characters just came to life off the page for me. This story told a real story about what it is to grow old, and explored many different aspects to growing old such as loneliness, falling out with family, the drinking to fill the time, the fact that ‘men don’t look twice at you once you’re past 40’, and the crazy hobbies one must take up to ensure one stays fit and sane! This was a really quirky and funny, heartwarming murder mystery that read really easily with lovable characters. I was just a tad disappointed with the ending which didn’t really wow me like I’d have hoped, (and reminded me clearly of a certain famous murder mystery ending which I won’t name here) which felt too deliberate. However, it was a fun read and I’d read more of this crazy unlikely motley trio any day!

4 sugared sweets eating, ‘two sisters sat on a knee’ stars.

Thank you to HQ Publishers and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Marlow just isn’t a town where murder happens and a 77-year-old crossword complier is an unlucky saviour but Judith stumbles across a murder, she knows that she is the perfect person to solve it. If only the police would trust her, it would all be sorted in no time. She just needs a little help from a few like-minded individuals gathered during her investigations, and she’ll have the cryptic crime solved. Well, that’s if the guilty party doesn’t stop Judith first, permanently!

This is a tremendous example of cosy crime that steps out of the classic genre tropes and into the modern world with gusto. Judith is an unusual character that will appeal to a lot of readers, due to her fearless determination and her sharp mind. It’s very easy to get wrapped up in Judith’s world as the book is a very addictive bit of escapism.

The cover is an excellent choice as it’s striking and perfectly sums the story up.

A nice easy read if a bit fanciful. Great characters though and a more cozy mystery than I usually read, The body count was quite high but it still retained it's charm.

Judith, Suzie and Becks are three women most unlikely to meet in usual circumstances. However, when murder stalks Marlow, they are thrust together more or less unwillingly by the common bond of determination to find the culprit. If I had to sum up the book in a sentence, I'd say it was highly improbable but a most enjoyable read. Robert Thorogood keeps the pace moving along and by and large plays fair with those readers who like to solve the mystery ahead of the detectives.

An entertaining read. I enjoyed the characters especially Judith who, at 77, is still sharp as a tack and rallying the troops.
A gentle murder mystery despite the body total creeping up, this book took you through Judith's investigations and revealed clues along the way. The outcome was not a surprise to me but that did not spoil the enjoyment in any way.
I look forward to more books about Judith and her friends, a diverse but complementary trio who each bring something to the mix.

The ending is one you will never guess and that’s the perfect answer for any writer to the question of whodunnit. There is also another part of the ending sent to surprise the reader. You won’t see that coming either.

Three people, unrelated, apparently, are murdered. The key is to find the link. The police are understaffed and without spare funds, so the policewoman in charge brings in three totally unrelated individuals who happen to possess some skills that the police lack. A team is formed.

The non police detectives have to think how they provide the links between the murder victims and those left behind. The forging of witness signatures on a will is how one enterprising solicitor makes his money on the side. However, the three ladies soon pull a hole through that plan.

This most enjoyable and easy read from the same writer that brought us the excellent Death in Paradise television series and books continues with a different style of detective novel. My free copy doesn’t change my review. I look forward to more in this series, although with one character set at age 77, the writer needs to write more books quickly!