Review: THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR OF JUDITH POTTS, Robert Thorogood

• 
  This edition read on Libby through my local library
  
• Format: eBook
• Imprint: HQ
• ISBN: 9780008567408
• Pages: 320
• Publication Date: 15th January 2026
• Series: The Marlow Murder Club Mysteries Book 5 

Synopsis (publisher)

A killer is on the loose. The bodies are piling up. And Judith is hiding a deadly secret …

Someone from Judith’s past has turned up in Marlow and is stirring up trouble. With all the murders that the Marlow Murder Club have had to solve and her work setting crosswords, Judith’s been too busy to give her old life much thought. But now it’s knocking on her door and won’t go away.

On top of that, Marlow’s celebrities are getting murdered! When a footballer and a thriller writer are found dead, Judith, Suzie, and Becks must untangle a web of scandal to find the killer. But with Judith keeping secrets, the Marlow Murder Club find themselves drifting apart.

The pressure is on in more ways than one …

Can they find the killer and help Judith in time, or could this be the end of the Marlow Murder Club? 

My Take

Judith's past, which has been referred to in previous titles, resurfaces when a young woman turns up on her doorstep claiming to be her step-daughter, and saying that Judith murdered her father. 

There are bits of this novel that stretch  reader credibility, but at the same time the action moves quickly and retains the interest.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read

4.6, THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB - #1

4.4, THE QUEEN OF POISONS - #3

4.4, MURDER ON THE MARLOW BELLE - #4

Review: THE QUEEN OF POISONS, Robert Thorogood

• 
   read as an e-book
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HQ, Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 18, 2024
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0008567323 
• Book 3 of 5: The Marlow Murder Club 

Synopsis (Amazon) 

Who killed the Mayor? It’s up to the Marlow Murder Club to find out…

Geoffrey Lushington, Mayor of Marlow, dies suddenly during a Town Council meeting. When traces of aconite – also known as the queen of poisons – are found in his coffee cup, the police realise he was murdered. But who did it? And why?

The police bring Judith, Suzie and Becks in to investigate as Civilian Advisors right from the start, so they have free rein to interview suspects and follow the evidence to their heart’s content, which is perfect because Judith has no time for rules and standard procedure. But this case has the Marlow Murder Club stumped. Who would want to kill the affable Mayor? How did they even get the poison into his coffee? And is anyone else in danger? The Marlow Murder Club are about to face their most difficult case yet … 

My Take

Thoroughly enjoyable, like catching up with old friends, although I've discovered I have missed reading a couple of the 5 published so far. Lots of red herrings and little puzzles to solve. Nice cozy reading.

My rating: 4.5 

I've also read

• 4.6, THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB - #1
• 4.4, MURDER ON THE MARLOW BELLE - #4  

Review: MURDER ON THE MARLOW BELLE, Robert Thorogood

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D4CJZ261
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HQ (January 16, 2025)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 333 pages 
• Book 4/5 Marlow Murder Club series

Synopsis (Amazon)

Verity Beresford is worried about her husband. Oliver didn’t come home last night so of course Verity goes straight to Judith Potts, Marlow’s resident amateur sleuth, for help. Oliver, founder of the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, had hired The Marlow Belle, a private pleasure cruiser, for an exclusive party with the MADS committee but no one remembers seeing him disembark. And then Oliver’s body washes up on the Thames with two bullet holes in him – it’s time for the Marlow Murder Club to leap into action.

Oliver was a rather complicated chap and he wasn’t short of enemies. Judith, Suzie, and Becks are convinced they’ll crack the case in no time. But things are not as they seem in the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, and the gang will need to keep their wits about them, otherwise a killer may sail away scot-free …

My Take

Quite an enjoyable cosy. Lots of red herrings. Every one seems to have an alibi for Oliver Beresford's murder and the final denouement is in an an unusual setting. A bit of a "soft" read.

My  rating: 4.4 

I have read 4.6, THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB

Review: THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB, Robert Thorogood

• 
  This edition available as an e-book from Amazon (Kindle)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B088F6TLVX
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HQ (January 7, 2021)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 348 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero…

Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper.

One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don’t believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar.

Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.

When another body turns up, they realise they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…

My Take

Suffice it to say, that all the way through the reading of this novel, I thought that I had somehow read it before, but I never checked if I had, until I came to write this review, and then I discovered that I actually had. My earlier review is here.

Anyway. it seems that I have enjoyed it a little more this time around.

And did I find it derivative of THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB, a question that seems to worry many readers, afraid of wasting their time if they take the plunge? The answer to that is No. Similar in plot lines but not derivative. It stands well on its own.

My rating: 4.6

Review: THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB, Robert Thorogood

• 
  This edition published by Harper Collins UK 2021
  
• ISBN 9-78008-43590-5
• 338 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero…

Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper.

One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don’t believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar.

Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.

When another body turns up, they realise they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…

My Take

I have categorised this novel as "geezer lit" - a sub-genre of mystery crime fiction in which "old geezers" are the principal characters, usually as amateur sleuths. (see this link for further examples). The authors themselves often fall into the "old geezer" category too.

Judith, Suzie and Becks work with a local police woman to find the murderer first of Judith's "neighbour" and then of the two subsequent murders that take place in the small Thames village of Marlow.

The reading audience is probably those who are "of an age" and like their cozies. I found the story entertaining. Under the leadership of Judith, a 77 year old who likes swimming in the Thames naked on a summer's night, the trio investigate a number of suspects and commit some very audacious acts. I enjoyed participating vicariously with them.

My rating: 4.4

About the author 

Robert Thorogood is the creator of the hit BBC One TV series DEATH IN PARADISE.He was born in Colchester, Essex, in 1972. When he was 10-years old, he read his first proper novel – Agatha Christie’s Peril at End House – and he’s been in love with the genre ever since.He now lives in Marlow in Buckinghamshire with his wife, children and an increasingly cranky Bengal cat called Daniel.