Monday, May 29, 2023

Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood

 
First Line: After the excitement of the previous summer, Mrs. Judith Potts spent the winter returning to the more solitary rhythms of life.
 
When prominent Marlow resident Sir Peter Bailey calls local crossword puzzle author Judith Potts and asks her to attend a celebration at his house the day before his wedding, she really doesn't want to go, but she relents. Bailey sounded worried-- almost as if he wanted her there to be some sort of witness-- and, after all, his house is close by and there will be free champagne. 
 
During the party, there's a loud crash. Sir Peter, the groom-to-be, has been crushed to death in his study. Since the door was locked from the inside, the police naturally assume Sir Peter committed suicide. Judith thinks otherwise, and soon she and the other two members of the Marlow Murder Club are out to prove that Sir Peter was murdered.
 
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Death Comes to Marlow is a fun, light read for those who love quirky characters and cleverly constructed puzzles. The three members of the Marlow Murder Club are sure to keep readers smiling. Septuagenarian Judith Potts is a skinny-dipping, whiskey-loving crossword author who loves solving a good puzzle and being in charge. Her two companions-- Becks the vicar's wife and Suzie the dogwalker-- sometimes chafe at Judith's take-charge attitude. Still, after what happened in The Marlow Murder Club, they've come to realize that they've got a talent for solving mysteries, too, so they're willing to put up with a bit of bossiness. 

Their contact in the local police department, DS Tanika Malik, has had a bit of a demotion. Her boss is back from sick leave and doesn't approve of how she stole the spotlight from him while he was gone. He declares Sir Peter Bailey's death a suicide and tells Tanika to catalog the evidence and keep her nose out of the investigation (not that there really is one). How she and the Marlow Murder Club find ways to work together to solve the mystery is one of the best parts of the book.

Death Comes to Marlow has a very cleverly constructed mystery containing a locked room murder in a country house and a missing will, but that's not all. There's also the mystery surrounding secret messages contained in the local newspaper's weekly crossword puzzles as well as Becks' strange behavior that has Judith and Suzie worried.

If there was any drawback to this second book in the series, it was the time it took for the Christie-esque get-all-the-suspects-in-the-same-room reveal. It took way too long, and I kept wanting to tell Judith to cut to the chase and stop showing off. How long did it seem? The reveal alone seemed to take up three hundred pages in a two hundred eighty-eight-page book. That's how long. I remember feeling a bit the same way when I read The Marlow Murder Club, but this second book went to all new heights. As delightful as the characters are in this series, the glacial reveal may put me off reading any future books, more's the pity.


Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood
eISBN: 9781728250564
Poisoned Pen Press © 2023
eBook, 288 pages
 
Cozy Mystery, #2 Marlow Murder Club mystery
Rating: B-
Source: Net Galley

8 comments:

  1. The reveal took 300 pages om a 288 page book, huh? Ha. Guess I'll skip it and wonder what happened to the vanished 12 pages. Sounds like a bit of a slog which I will skip. I'm over my head with the lists of new books.

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    1. The book was going well until that reveal that took f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

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  2. Sometimes it's nice to read a light, fun book like that, Cathy. And quirky characters can be just the thing. I think this sort of book is great after a few dark, bleak books in a row. Maybe an editor could have helped with that drawn-out reveal, but still, it sounds fun.

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    1. It is the perfect book to read after a few dark gritty ones. A good palate cleanser, if you will.

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  3. The story does sound appealing. Too bad the reveal was not so satisfying.

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  4. The glacial reveal...too funny! I still need to read the first one. Someday. ;D

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    1. I know what you mean! I have quite a few Someday Books, too! :-)

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