4.25 stars!

The Marlow Murder Club follows 77 year-old Judith Potts who likes to do her own thing and be independent, as she creates crosswords for The Times newspaper. This changes when she hears her next door neighbor getting shot and she decides to take the investigation into her own hands as more people in her quaint, English town get murdered.

The Marlow Murder Club was everything I wanted in this cozy-ish, Englishtown murder! I really enjoyed the three main characters, and how they were all. very different from each other. I thought the clues were really well thought out and even though I could kinda see where it was going I still really liked the ending.

I kinda hope this becomes a series because I was definitely intrigued!

This book was very enjoyable! I love Judy and her friends. The relationship between the three women cracked me up! This book was perfect for this moment in my life, Thank you for this ARC! Looking forward to the second installment!

Seventy-seven-year-old Judith Potts, crossword setter extraordinaire, hears what very much sounds like her neighbor being murdered while she's taking her nightly au naturel swim in the Thames. When the police brush her off, she recruits the vicar's wife and a local dog walker to help her solve the crime.

The Marlow Murder Club announces the arrival of a delightful new cozy mystery series featuring a septuagenarian heroine that I couldn't get enough of. The mystery is clever, with plenty of red herrings and motives and alibis to puzzle through, but it's really the characters that carry this story. Judith and her sidekicks Becks and Suzie are fascinating and fun, with interesting back stories I'm eager to learn more about in subsequent books.

Some parts of the book feel repetitive as the women talk through various suspects, and the killer's motive is a bit over-explained, but overall I enjoyed this clever and cinematic mystery. I'm raising my glass of scotch to the Marlow Murder Club and looking forward to the next entry in the series.

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood is a brilliantly crafted novel starring an elderly woman as the main inquisitive character. The main character is crafted so uniquely and fully and the reader will be enthralled from the very first pages. Is something amiss in her neighborhood? I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good mystery with quirky characters. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

It took me a bit of time to get into the story, but once I did, I was completely hooked! The character development was superb (particularly Judith Potts), engaging twists and misdirection abound, and the author infused humor throughout. A fantastic cozy mystery with a sequel coming this winter.

This book is a great read! I thought that the cover and the book's details were interesting, and decided to try out this book. I found that addition of an older protagonist in her 70's is a wonderful idea. Mrs. Judith Potts brought wisdom, fun, and experience to the mystery. Judith's personality helped to make the book a pleasant read for me along with the story and cast of characters.

My thanks to Poisioned Pen Press and NetGallery for a digital copy of this book for my review!

I love an amateur sleuth novel where the main character is not twenty, recently returned to her hometown, has an above-average pet, and is not dating the local small-town detective. Robert Thorogood makes it a pleasure to meet Judith Potts and the members of her murder club.

Following new friends, Judith, a creator of word puzzles, Suzie the dogwalker, and Becks, the vicar’s wife, is adventurous fun. The plot is a bit twisty, but the right kind of twisty. Before you know it, the person you thought was the killer turns out to be so far from correct you are embarrassed to admit it.

By the final chapter, you realize the author has brought you three new favorite characters and a who-done-it that is familiar, and, if you are like me, you didn’t catch on until the end. Thank you, Robert Thorogood, for the surprise and an enjoyable read.

Judith Potts is a 77 year old crossword puzzle creator for local newspaper. She also live on the Thames in a village called Marlow. She enjoys multiple glasses of whiskey a day and nude swims in the Thames.

She hears gunshots a a neighbor across the river and decides to start investigating the case herself. In doing so she pick two other ladies who decide to help her.

The characters are all lovely and funny and caring for one another. I loved the writing in this book. It was calming and cozy. If you want a great cozy mystery this is the one. I can’t wait to real the next book and I’m going to try some of the other series this author has out.

Thanks to Net galley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Overall rating: 4.5 rounded down

This was such a fun and delightful cozy mystery! Plus if you like British humor, which I really do, it is quite funny as well! Recommended for lovers of cozy mysteries, especially if you appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

I will definitely be reading the future books in this series!

While this was a mystery first and foremost, I really loved all the protagonists. There's Judith Potts the 77 year old cryptic crossword creator, Suzie the blunt dog walker, Becks the too proper wife of a Vicar and Tanika the by-the-books detective. They were flawed but loveable. I really enjoyed their found family/murder club. I loved how they pushed each other outside their comfort zones and empowered one another to take control of their lives.

I especially loved the main character Judith Potts. She was so independent, brilliant, and quite an introvert too. And just like the other members of the murder club I liked that she wasn't static, she changed throughout the book and started to let other people in.

Overall I appreciated the focus on women being brilliant, strong and empowered. I always worry about men writing women but this one I thought was done very well.

Now, onto the mystery, while I did figure out who dun it, too early on, I still enjoyed the journey very much, and the book still managed to give me a bunch of edge-of-my-seat moments. And I enjoyed the path our intrepid amateur sleuths took to solving it.

Possibly because the author is from the world of the TV, there were a lot of scenes that I could easily picture, especially the climax. I can imagine this being turned into a movie/TV series and I'd be more than happy to watch it.

Thank you so much to Poisoned Pen Press and NEtGalley for the eARC!

While swimming in the Thames, Judith, 77, hears gunshots at her neighbour’s house across the river. When she can’t convince the police a murder has been committed, she decides to investigate on her own. She is aided by Susie, local dog walker and Becks, the vicars wife. As their investigation continues and as the murder count rises to three, the clues seem to point in several directions, all of which lead to dead ends. Still they refuse to give up which leads them into ever more perilous positions. Can they solve the crime before one of them becomes the fourth victim?

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood was just a whole lot of fun. The story kept me entertained throughout and, if at times it put a strain on my willing suspension of disbelief, it made up for it with three of the most likeable amateur sleuths I’ve ever come across in the genre. I don’t know if this is the beginning of a new series but I hope so because I am so looking forward to see what shenanigans Judith, Susie, and Becks get up to in the future.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

The Marlow Murder Club follows Judith Potts, crossword puzzle creator, who is swimming in the River Thames one evening and hears her neighbor arguing with someone and being shot. When she decides to investigate herself, she meets Suzie, a local dog walker, and Becks, the vicars wife. This eclectic trio learns there are more murders to be solved and takes it upon themselves to investigate, much to the horror of Tanika Malik, the local detective in charge. Eventually Tanika sees that the women are much more valuable than they first seemed, solving lots of clues before her police can. The women in this story are diverse and extremely likable. This was a great story with great characters. I think I saw there was another Marlow Murder Club coming and I will for sure be reading it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of the book.

Thank you to the author, Netgalley and my partners at Poisoned Pen Press for a copy of this title. After discovering the cozy mystery genre through the popular Finlay Donovan series, I’ve been on the hunt for more, and this one provided a similar type of story with a different set of quirky characters and plot.

Judith Potts is the eccentric protagonist who hears suspicious noises in her neighborhood one late night, leading her to believe that a murder may have occurred. A septuagenarian whose hobbies include regularly swimming naked in the River Thames and setting crosswords for newspapers, Judith is a delightful character whose sense of justice (and likely a desire for adventure) drives her to pursue the truth behind the death of a neighbor.

Thorogood excels at writing characters with engaging personalities. I was pulled into this story not only by the central mystery of the plot, but largely by a desire to discover more about the lives of its intriguing heroes. I enjoyed the group of ‘neighborhood detectives’ that Judith ends up forming with other female characters, and the journey that their friendship takes throughout the investigation. The alternating focus of the story between the mystery of the murders and the lives of these women and their budding friendship was a solid balance in storytelling and character development.

There’s a good amount of moving parts and I didn’t always follow the progression of the mystery-solving aspect, but I got enough to understand the ending and get a satisfying resolution to the story. The subtle sense of humor injected into the writing style subdued the serious moments and ensured that this cozy mystery focused more on the cozy aspect and stayed a fun and relatively lighthearted read.

After septuagenarian Judith Potts witnesses the murder of a neighbor while taking her nightly swim in the Thames, the local police don't believe her. story---and she begins investigating the crime herself. Together with her new friends Suzie, a local dog walker, and Becks, the vicar's wife, they set out to uncover the truth about the killer, who doesn't stop with the initial victim.

I appreciate any story where the main characters are older and are pretty much normal people who get sucked into a mystery. All of the books' characters are engaging, there's plenty of humor, and the plot has plenty of twists to keep readers guessing. Recommended for fans of British mysteries, cozy mysteries, and anyone who enjoys books featuring characters of a certain age.

Marlow Murder Club
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Cozy Murder Mystery
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 5/3/22
Author: Robert Thorogood
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 304
Goodreads Rating: 3.89

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Judith Potts is 77 years old and blissfully happy, living in a faded mansion outside of Marlow, a whiz at crossword puzzles, and no man to tell her what to do. One evening, while out swimming nude in the Thames River, 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, dog-walker, and Becks, wife of the local Vicar. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club. As the bodies drop, is there a serial killer out there? Or is this a big trap?

My Thoughts: This is the first book in this quirky cozy murder series. Generally Cozy Murder Mysteries are not my cup of tea, but the cover and title name intrigued me. The characters are well developed with depth, quirkiness, spunky, and intelligent, since the concept is what we have seen before, the characters really made the book what it is. The lady trio does a better job at investigating the murders than the cops do! The author’s writing style is creative, impressive, complex, and brilliant, I felt like I was right next to Judith trying to solve the mystery. The best part of this book was the story was not realistic and it just works for this book and works well. The conclusion was complex but Judy does such an amazing job at explaining that it just works very well for this book. I will definitely be interested in the second book in this series.

I have two things to say before I dive into my review. 1. I was nervous when I saw this book. I love "The Thursday Murder Club" books by Richard Osman and I was initially afraid this was just going to be a rip-off of these excellent book [<i>I am here to say that they are SO not. More on that to come</i>], and 2. I knew I knew the name of the author from somewhere. It just kept rumbling around in my mind until I was watching an episode of "Death in Paradise" and there was his name. He created the show. I had been seeing his name every night as I binged watched that show [<i>which I totally love and once I realized it was he that had written this book, I had no worries about whether I was going to like it or not</i>]. What an interesting way to start a book right?

This was my fourth 5 star read in a row, which seems like some sort of record to me [<i>my rating system is much different than most, but that still doesn't mean I have a plethora of 5 star reads, quite the opposite actually</i>] and due to my initial concerns about this book [<i>The Thursday Murder Club is an excellent series, but those characters are POSH. Totally. These characters are much more down to earth, more like the every day person. SUCH a huge difference in how they look at things etc</i>], it makes it even more surprising. This was an EXCELLENT read. Judith, Suzie, and Becks [<i>Oh Becks. What a fastidious person. I love her, but WOW, she can be exhausting. I can only hope that Judith and Suzie help her loosen up a bit</i>] and such a fun trio and I love how the DS [Tanika] works with them instead of just ignoring the abilities and evidence they bring to the table. It is thoroughly enjoyable to read a book with older women in it that are still vibrant, productive human beings that bring much to their community. They are amazing and I loved every second with them.

I will say I had part of the mystery figured out [being a mystery reader helps, plus I had read the book that some of this mystery is based on so that helps], but not all of it and that reveal shocked the heck out of me. I just never saw that person coming. Which makes this the best win ever. When you can write a book where I am totally surprised at the end, well, that makes it 5 stars alone.

Well done. I cannot wait for the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley, Robert Thorogood, and Poisoned Pen Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun mystery. In a small village in England, 77 year old Judith’s neighbor is murdered and she starts investigating herself, eventually ending up with some other locals helping her and even helping the police.

Honestly, the biggest issue with this book is the title - there is no club, which makes it feel like this book is trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman. It actually shares with that series a senior citizen investigating, a British setting, and a fun vibe just this side of being a cozy mystery - it’s just a bit short of being as good as those books but the similar title invites comparisons. And yet, it worked to get me to read it, and I really enjoyed it and would even read a sequel. So maybe it’s just smart marketing! 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

Love Robert Thorogood! Thorogood brings characters together that normally would not be in each other’s lives. Three women come together to solve a recent murder in the village of Marlow. Judith, an elderly avid crossword and puzzler along with Suzie, a dog walker and Becks, the vicars wife all come together to solve who killed Judith’s neighbor. However, it’s just not one murder they have to solve.

Robert Thorogood’s The Marlow Murder Club is a fast-paced, well-written, and wonderfully humorous cozy mystery.

Septuagenarian Judith Potts lives alone in a mansion just outside Marlow. She is completely content being single and spends her time swimming naked in the Thames and setting crosswords for The Times newspaper. However, while she is out for a swim, she overhears the murder of her neighbor. Unfortunately, the local police do not believe that Judith’s neighbor was murdered. Judith launches her own investigation and is soon joined by the local Vicar’s wife, prim and proper housewife Becks as well as blunt and lively dogwalker Suzie. And, when another person is killed, the trio soon realize that there is a serial killer loose in Marlow…

This is such a fun book! The mystery plot is well-paced with some great twists. The viable suspects are appropriately smug, slimy, and suspicious! I really thought I had figured out the mystery early on but I like that Thorogood throws in some nice surprises. Admittedly, parts of the plot are a little predictable but I didn’t mind because the characters and story are so much fun!

The Marlow Murder Club ladies engage in some absolutely ridiculous and laugh-out-loud hijinks in their quest to uncover the serial killer. However, there is surprising depth in this novel and I love the more subtly humourous and heartwarming moments. I particularly like that Thorogood carefully builds these women’s relationships with each other. The book heavily features supportive and positive female friendships as well as women having adventures. Too many books often relegate older women to the backseat and they rarely have lives of their own outside of their children and husbands.

But, there is too much exposition in the big reveal. I wish there had been more action. However, ultimately, the book wraps up quite nicely. The big climax is flashy, over-the-top, but so much fun and it really fits! Is it ridiculous? Sure. Did I have to constantly suspend my disbelief? Absolutely. Did I mind? Not at all!

Judith is a wonderful and unique protagonist! She is a breath of fresh air with her mysterious past, her love of whiskey and travel sweets, and her insane crossword solving skills. I loved watching her form genuine friendships with Suzie and Becks as well as DS Tanika. These women are all likable, well-written, and distinct characters. They could so easily have been caricatures. Instead, these women are relatable and written with warmth, authenticity, and vibrancy. I particularly love my name twin meticulous Becks who is trying to find fulfillment away from her boring life as a doting housewife and mother. However, I wish Suzie and Tanika had as much development as Judith and Becks. I really like that all the women contribute their unique skills to solving the mystery and I love their genuine support for each other.

The Marlow Murder Club is an engaging and fantastic read. I cannot wait to see what these ladies get up to next!



🔎🔎🔎🔎 ½ magnifying glasses out of 5!

The Marlow Murder Club was a fantastic read. If you are a fan of Murder, She Wrote you will love this!!

Seventy-seven-year-old Judith Potts might just be my new idol. A strong, independent woman, who, along with her friends attempts to solve the murder of her neighbor. This book is full of wit. It's so clever and charming that you will not be able to put it down.

5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.