352 pages
Published: May 2022
Read: February 2023
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…
Trigger Warnings:
Main Characters
- Judith Potts – 70-something woman that creates crossword puzzles
- Stefan Dunwoody – Judith’s neighbor; murder victim
- Becks Starling – Vicar’s Wife
- Suzie Harris – Dogwalker
- Elliot Howard – owns the auction house; Judith suspects him of the murder after an altercation between Elliott and Stefan months ago
- DS Tanika Malik – working the case
- Iqbal Kassam – cab driver; murder victim
- Andy Bishop – Ezra’s lawyer
- Ezra Harrington – Iqbal’s neighbor
- Liz Curtis – third murder victim; she owned the rowing club
- Danny Curtis – Liz’s husband
My Review
This book gave off similar vibes as the Thursday Murder Club with not quite as much dry humor. Judith Potts is a 77 year old crossword puzzle creator who lives alone in a mansion in Marlow. She inherited the mansion, that looks over the river, from a wealthy great aunt. One evening while she is out for a nude, evening swim – she hears her neighbor get shot. When Judith calls the police, she doesn’t feel she is being taken seriously and decides to start investigating herself. Along the way, two more people are killed and she adds the vicar’s wife and a curt dogwalker to her murder solving club.
The personalities of the three women were great and fed off each other so well. I also liked Detective Sergeant Tanika Malik. It was a little unbelievable when she brought the crew in as ‘civilian consultants’ to help solve the crimes, but it is a nice change of pace from the books with the police that are (although, more realistically) telling the murder solving crew to stay out of things. Becs, the vicar’s wife, was my favorite character. She is so desperate to do something exciting but also wanting to follow rules and fall in line.
The pacing of this book was good but the ending was a tiny bit confusing (and waaaay too many coincidences coming together – but, hey, it’s a cozy mystery with an old lady as the star.. what else would you expect?), but I am glad it all wrapped up nicely and clearly explained.
I would recommend this book for anyone that wants a semi-cozy mystery, especially if you like the Thursday Murder Club or Killers of a Certain Age. I will definitely read the next book in this series when it comes out!
Spoilers
u003cstrongu003eWarningu003c/strongu003e: This section contains spoilers! Do not expand this section if you don’t want to be spoiled!
Stefan was murdered by an antique gun that used ammunition that hadn’t been around for centuries.
Danny killed Stefan for Elliott. Elliot killed Iqbal for Andy. Andy killed Liz for Danny. They were all on the same rowing team when they were younger, Judith discovered in an old newspaper.
A killing triangle? Danny wanted Liz dead – he was angry that she had given up her rowing career. He also wanted her dead so he could sell the land of their boat house for millions. Andy wanted Iqbal dead so that he could inherit the money that Iqbal’s neighbor, Ezra, left when he died. Andy had Ezra’s will signed and witnessed – but the signatures of the witnesses were a forgery. Ezra was going to leave all his money to Iqbal. Stefan had owned an art gallery and had swindled Elliott out of a valuable drawing.
Iqbal’s dog, Emma, saves the day – she attacks Andy just in time to save her and allow for Becks and Detective Sergeant Malik to get there to arrest him (and the whole trio of killers).
Suzie uncovers a newspaper that says that Judith’s husband died in a boating accident in 1970. The newspaper said that there was someone on the boat with him, but Judith is adamant that there wasn’t. The ending – Judith and Suzie and Becks all go out on a boat. They accuse Judith of murdering her abusive husband… she couldn’t possibly comment 🙂