He’s a short, fat man with a touch of the Benny Hills who is quite taken with vicar's wife Becks. Then there's Andy Bishop, a local solicitor who benefits financially from the death of one of the victims. He is a leading light in the church choir and choir practice provides him with an unshakeable alibi.

Elliot Howard, the flamboyant and imposing owner of the Marlow Auction House, was seen having a public row with the first victim at Henley Regatta. They are even made 'civilian advisers' down at the police station by Senior Investigating Officer Tanika Malik, which goes to show how little progress her official investigation has made!Įven the two main suspects are on the cosy side. Through a combination of determination and bluster (Judith) cunning and intuition (Suzie) pretty face and hidden steel (Becks) they chat up witnesses and penetrate the middle-class facades of Marlow where officialdom seems unable to go. The police are baffled.Įnter our intrepid heroines: Judith, Suzie and Becks. Clues left at the scene tie the murders together, but nothing seems to link the victims.

This is a shocking event in Marlow and is swiftly followed by two more deaths with the same modus operandi. Stefan Dunwoody, a local art gallery owner, is found shot dead, straight between the eyes, with an antique German Luger pistol. Well, entertaining it is, but Agatha Christie it is not – Agatha is far too sinister. This has been likened to crime for fans of Agatha Christie. And in this story, comfort crime for our times, we are transported to Buckinghamshire. Author Robert Thorogood is the creator of the very popular TV series Death in Paradise. This is the world of suburbia – bell-ringing, canoeing on the Thames, art galleries and antique dealers, and doggy folk. The police presence is largely irrelevant. And there’s her neighbour, Suzie Harris, a middle-aged eccentric dog walker, and downtrodden local vicar's wife, Rebecca 'Becks' Starling. The members are 77-year-old Judith, who likes living alone and drinking whisky in her faded mansion house on the banks of the river Thames. In this case they form the club of the title. The Marlow Murder Club is part of an increasingly popular genre of crime novel – elderly people (mostly female) getting together to solve some rather nasty crimes.

The marlow murders