Murderous Marlow

Disclaimer. The views expressed in this review are those of the reviewer and not necessarily those of Selfishgenie Publishing. No payment or inducement was requested, offered or received in respect of this review and the reviewer purchased a copy of the book.

If you like your murder mysteries cozy, then “Death Comes To Marlow” by Robert Thorogood is probably just the book for you.
 
For those of you who aren’t native Brits, Marlow is a small (and rather expensive) town about 35 miles west of London, sitting on the banks of the River Thames. I have been there several times and I can say that it is not the sort of place where you might expect a murder to happen – which is why it is such a great location for a cozy mystery.
 
This is actually the second book in the series, the first being “The Marlow Murder Club”. I haven’t reviewed that because it has already been on TV as a drama in March of this year, so you can go and watch it for yourself on the U streaming service.
 
But the real reason I’m reviewing the second book and not the first is that I think that this book is better in many ways.
 
If you haven’t read the first book, or seen the TV series, it follows Judith (a senior citizen), Becks (the vicar’s wife) and Suzie (a dog walker) as they investigate a seemingly impenetrable murder, all the time getting under the feet of Detective Sergeant Tanika Malik of the Thames Valley Police.
 
“Death Comes to Marlow” catches up with this trio the following winter when Sir Peter Blake is murdered on the eve of his wedding to a much younger bride. But wait, is it a coincidence that Judith, Becks and Suzie have all been invited to a cocktail party to celebrate the forthcoming nuptials and are present when the murder takes place?
 
Of course it isn’t (but I can’t tell you why).
 
Two out of the three amateur sleuths believe that the death, in bizarre circumstances and inside a locked room, is no accident. DS Tanika Malik takes some convincing, but eventually she decides the death is at least suspicious. Unfortunately, Tanika’s boss returns from sick leave at that point and he is dismissive of the idea of murder, Which leaves the three amateurs no option but to keep on investigating (with a little bit of inside help from Tanika).
 
There are several suspects, and they all have seemingly cast iron alibis, so who could have committed the crime? And, perhaps more importantly, how could they have committed the murder inside a locked room and then made their escape?
 
I can’t say any more about the plot without giving away spoilers, but lovers of Miss Marple, Murder She Wrote and other amateur sleuths in the cozy genre, will find this book entirely to their taste. It is well written, the characters are well developed and, importantly, the clues are all there so that you can try to solve the mystery for yourself.
 
So, why only 4 stars?
 
Well, it is all down to me really. I worked out the “who” of the whodunnit very early on and also the “why” for the murder. I even worked out a tiny bit of the “how” because the author used a plot device that I had seen used in other cosy mysteries. This made me feel that the author hadn’t quite fulfilled the promise of the “mystery”. After all, if I can solve the murder that quickly, so can anyone.
 
All that remained was the rest of the “how” and that was far more challenging, and I had to wait until the end of the book to find out how the murder had been committed. So, the author really had created a mystery and my temptation to give the book 3 stars was dismissed and I upgraded it. But, as I said, the clues were there for me to interpret had I been a bit cleverer.
 
Did I enjoy the book? Let me put it this way. I’m already reading book 3 of the series, “Queen Of Poisons” and I have book 4, “Murder On The Marlow Belle” on pre-order (at the time of writing. By the time you read this I may had finished reading them all).
 
So, I recommend “Murder Comes To Marlow” to all lovers of the cosy mystery genre. To find out more about the book and the series, click the button.

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