Today’s book recommendation is going to be stepping outside of my regular history, historical fiction, and biography recs. If you read my 2023 Book Goals post, you will know that one of my goals for this year was to start branching out in book recommendations. And I actually read a lot of mysteries, so I thought that it would be a good fit for the blog. (Sidenote: is anyone else eagerly waiting for the new season of Only Murders in the Building?) For today’s Book Bite, I’m sharing the first in a fantastic series, The Marlow Murder Club!
The Marlow Murder Club, Robert Thorogood
To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero…
Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper.
One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don’t believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar.
Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.
When another body turns up, they realise they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…
Why You Should Read This…
I’m going to get this comparison out of the way first- yes, this mystery is somewhat similar to The Thursday Murder Club in that a group of people solve a murder that falls into their laps. However, I think that while if you enjoy one you will enjoy the other, The Marlow Murder Club has rather a different feeling to it. It is not quite as lighthearted in feeling as Thursday; this is not a bad thing, though.
I found that Marlow story built up beautifully throughout the book. Slowly as more people join the club, both their lives and the race to solve the murder become more and more nuanced. If I am being honest, I did not really love any of the characters when they were first introduced but by the end of the book, I was much more attached to them than I realised. (Yes, that is a risk to take as an author, but Thorogood’s choice certainly paid off.)
What I think clinched the book for me was the final 20%. Thorogood builds the suspense perfectly, and I kept thinking, surely this must be it? before it continued on. I couldn’t put it down, and I was thrilled that it wasn’t a 1-2-3 ending like a lot of mysteries. (I love cozies, but sometimes I prefer a more complex story.) And the murder club and the town were so well-written that I am fully invested and am impatiently waiting for the next book to come through from the library!
Is The Marlow Murder Club on your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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