A Review of The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood

     Before reading The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood, I hadn't imagined myself reading a detective story, let alone about an elderly lady. The premise of the book is about a woman named Judith Potts, in her 70s who takes a murder investigation into her own hands. The murder case is about Judith's neighbor, who is shot to death while Judith is swimming outside of her mansion. Judith began the Marlow Murder Club soon after to try to do what the police couldn't. 


When I was reflecting on this book, it didn't make much sense to me. Judith, a rich retired woman in her 70s, is apparently able to solve a murder case because she does crossword puzzles every day. It's kind of heavily implied throughout the entire book that just because she does crosswords every day it somehow makes her capable of solving a murder case. The two other women who made up the Marlow Murder Club, Becks and Suzie were characters who realized their potential through the club and were able to come out of their shells, especially Becks. Their backstories are all connected to the murders in some way, whether knowing the victim, or the perpetrator. Which I guess may have been needed to make this book slightly realistic, but to me it made it seem even more fake and predictable. The only way I got through the book was by pretending that it wasn't excruciatingly obvious who the murderer was. 

    Another large problem to The Marlow Murders is the lack of showing and not telling. It was the opposite of an engaging book, and I often found myself not being able to picture what was happening in the book as well. I got through the book so I guess it wasn't too unbearable, but if I had the choice of reading it again for funsies without remembering what happened, I wouldn't want to. I would rather read something that could keep me more engaged. 

    Maybe the mystery genre of books isn't for me, even though I love TV shows like that. Or the book was poorly thought out. Either way, I rate it a 3.5/10.

                                                                                                                    -Ava Roberts

Comments

  1. KrishnaFebruary 5, 2024 at 6:02 PM

    Hey Ava! It is true that sometimes a books plot may be interesting but the book/writing itself fails to bring it to life. You did a good job on summarizing the book and taking about some of the problems and challenges about the book. Great blog!

    ReplyDelete

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