The Marlow Murder Club (Robert Thorogood)

“To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero.”

Judith Potts, a seventy-seven-year-old whisky-drinking crossword puzzle author, lives alone in a rundown Marlow mansion. One evening, swimming nude (of course) in the Thames, she hears what she believes to be her neighbour being shot. The local police are skeptical, but Judith sets about tracking down the killer herself, joining forces with Suzie, the dogwalker, and Becks, the vicar’s wife, along the way.

“If she had one piece of advice she’d give her younger self, it would be: don’t get old.”

I am loving this revived trend of books and series about older people turned sleuths. We need more Jessica Fletchers. With PBS Masterpiece soon to release The Marlow Murder Club as a series, Judith Potts could be our generation’s Miss Marple. She’s clever, feisty, eccentric, and has a totally relatable desire to live her best life untroubled by the interference of others (read: men). I fell in love with Judith immediately.

“The whole point of living on your own was that you didn’t have to share your home with anyone.”

Add prim and proper Becks, who, beneath her perfect housewife façade, is grappling with unadmitted feelings of dissatisfaction and is perhaps not as meek as she seems. And round out the trio with Suzie, a fiercely independent long-time divorcee with a past that she keeps to herself.

“She couldn’t help noticing everything about her existence seemed to be defined by someone who wasn’t her. She was the kids’ mum, the vicar’s wife, and the house’s wife for that matter.”

The dynamic of the trio of main characters is what gives life to this cozy mystery. They’re relatable and well-written, each with their own flaws. Together, they make up the unstoppable Marlow Murder Club, solving what turns out to be serial killings, all while helping each other grow and develop — yes, a cozy mystery novel with genuine, well-written character arcs.

“We’ve got one thing going for us, haven’t we?”

“What’s that?”

“We’re invisible.”

“How do you mean?”

“It’s like I said. We’re ‘older’ women, aren’t we? No one notices women over the age of about forty.”

I particularly enjoyed the interplay between the three amateur sleuths and DS Tanika Malik. Unlike the usual friction between law enforcement who refuse to listen and sleuths who constantly butt heads with the police, Malik knows she’s out of her depth and ends up feeding information to and working along with Judith, Suzie, and Becks. It felt like a refreshing change and another reason why The Marlow Murder Club is not just another formulaic cozy mystery.

Robert Thorogood, creator of Death in Paradise, smashed it out of the park with this light-hearted, cleverly-plotted murder mystery. The Marlow Murder Club, a perfect bit of escapism, left me wanting more, and with two sequels already released and a TV series on the way, there’s plenty to be enjoyed. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a new murder mystery series to fall in love with.