03 September 2021

The Marlow Murder Club

 

Robert Thorogood
Crime

My Review


Marlow resident Judith Potts is 77 years old and lives alone in a large house that's seen better days. She passes her time compiling crossword puzzles for The Times. While swimming in the Thames one evening she hears a shout, followed by a gunshot, coming from a property owned by neighbour Stefan Dunwoody. 

Judith reports what she's witnessed to the police but isn't taken seriously. Frustrated by their lack of action, she takes it upon herself to investigate  along with her new friends, dog walker Suzie Harris and vicar's wife Becks Starling.

Slotting nicely into the 'cozy' genre of crime fiction, I surprised myself by how much I liked this book. With a cast of wonderful characters that were simply delightful, I found myself instantly hooked. There were numerous twists, turns and red herrings; but for me it was the humour that elevated the book to a higher level. I could quite easily imagine it being adapted for TV. A highly enjoyable, easy read.           

Book Source: Purchased copy
My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: HQ (8th July 2021)
ISBN-13: 978-0008435912

The Blurb


To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero…

Seventy-seven-year-old Judith Potts is blissfully happy. She lives alone in a faded mansion in Marlow, sets crosswords for The Times, and there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink.

One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. When the local police don’t believe her story, Judith and two unlikely friends decide to investigate for themselves. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.

But soon another body turns up, and it seems they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. Now the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…

The Author



Robert Thorogood is an English screenwriter. He is best known as the creator of the BBC 1 Murder Mystery Series, Death in Paradise.

Robert was educated at Uppingham School in Rutland and read History at Downing College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he toured with the university's student comedy troupe Footlights in 1993 and was elected President in 1994. Soon after leaving Cambridge, Robert set up a theatre company that toured small theatres and schools, the highlight of which was a production of Molière's The Miser that he directed and acted in alongside Robert Webb, David Mitchell and Olivia Colman.

Robert wrote for many years - selling scripts to the BBC, ITV and independent film companies - but before 2011 the only script of his that was actually broadcast was a Radio 4 afternoon play called From Abstraction about the life of Paul Wolfskehl.

In 2008, Robert entered the inaugural Red Planet Prize and was a chosen finalist, where he was able to pitch his 'Copper in the Caribbean' idea to Tony Jordan. By 2011, when the show was finally broadcast - making it Robert's first TV broadcast credit at the age of 39 - Robert had become something of a poster boy for 'never giving up on the dream'.

In January 2014, it was announced that Robert had signed a deal with MIRA Harlequin to write three Richard Poole Murder Mystery novels, with the first being published in hardback in January 2015.

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