Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood – Book Review

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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 …

In the fourth book of The Marlow Murder Club, the trio of amateur detectives – Judith, Suzie, and Becks are back, and this time they are trying to solve the murder of Oliver Beresford, founder of the local Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society (MADS).

Oliver’s wife raised the alarm about her missing husband to Judith and asks for her help in finding him. Not long after, the call comes in that a body has been found in the river. Oliver had been shot and killed, and it looks like it happened whilst members of MADS were enjoying a pleasure cruise together.

However, the three women have to do their sleuthing in secret, as DS Tanika Malik, who they usually help out, is under scrutiny and can’t have the women involved this time.

Murder on the Marlow Belle is another tremendous book in an already fabulous series, which has now been turned into a TV drama. Judith, Suzie, and Becks are all at their best, and even though they have been told not to get involved, they just can’t help themselves, as solving murders is what they are good at.

The list of suspects is long and a good amount of red herrings have weaved into the story. Fingers are pointed aplenty, and nearly everyone had a motive for wanting Oliver dead, as he wasn’t a well-liked man.

The book is certainly a page-turner, and I didn’t want to put it down once I had begun. Judith’s sharp tongue and stubbornness were ever-present, which makes for entertaining reading. The plot thrilled me and had me eager to discover who the murderer was and why. I now can’t wait for book five in the series.

Robert Thorogood is an English screenwriter. He is best known as the creator of the BBC 1 Murder Mystery Series, Death in Paradise.

Robert wrote for many years – selling scripts to the BBC, ITV and independent film companies – but before 2011 the only script of his that was actually broadcast was a Radio 4 afternoon play called From Abstraction about the life of Paul Wolfskehl.

In 2008, Robert entered the inaugural Red Planet Prize and was a chosen finalist, where he was able to pitch his ‘Copper in the Caribbean’ idea to Tony Jordan. By 2011, when the show was finally broadcast – making it Robert’s first TV broadcast credit at the age of 39 – Robert had become something of a poster boy for ‘never giving up on the dream’.

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