On the HahaFiction shelf
The Marlow Murder Club
The Marlow Murder Club · Book 1 · 2021
Judith Potts, a 77-year-old crossword setter, hears a gunshot while swimming in the Thames. When the police dismiss her concern, she starts investigating with dog walker Suzie and vicar’s wife Becks. One neighbor’s death leads their new partnership into further danger.
From the publisher’s blurb
“Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.”Read the full description at Poisoned Pen Press / Sourcebooks
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What makes it funny?
Judith has a cape, a bicycle and a mansion to herself, but little sense of why anyone might consider her eccentric. The women’s dialogue also finds room for the practical indignities of aging and living alone.
The comedy at work
Judith’s imperious manner meets Suzie’s habit of noticing things and Becks’s initial timidity. Their different ways of dealing with people give the conversations friction as they learn to work together.
Try this if…
Puzzle readers get a fair-play mystery alongside a developing friendship. The light approach and amateur investigators may appeal particularly to readers who like a group solving the case.
Good to know
Judith’s opening swim is a skinny-dip. The civilian sleuths’ unusually close cooperation with police also asks readers to accept a generous arrangement.
A few distinguishing details
- A crossword setter assembles an amateur murder club
More funny amateur sleuth
Sources & further reading
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