Tag: the marlow murder club

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts

theblindscribe

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a lovely day. Today, I am bringing you my review for the fifth book in the Marlow Murder Club series by Robert Thorogood – The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts.

Blurb/Synopsis:

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 Review:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts is the fifth book in the series following Judith, Suzie and Becks. Throughout the books we have seen the trio build an unlikely friendship and that base becomes slightly threatened within this book, adding higher stakes than ever. Of course, as I am keeping this spoiler free it will be difficult to talk about any specifics but as usual this series provides great twists and turns and in this one in particular, I liked how there was a pivotal link back to something that is hinted at in the first book in the series. I like following the characters but in this one Judith is preoccupied from the main investigation and I personally felt that this took away some of the magic that the rest of the books had, there was also less of the relationship between our three protagonists and their friends in the Police this time which again, took something away from the book for my taste. I still loved this book, it was a solid four star read for me but not as good as others in the series I think but I would be intrigued to see where the series goes next.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Monthly Wrap Ups

February Wrap Up!

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today.

Today I am bringing you the wrap up for my February reading, which, spoiler alert, did not go well.

I did a lot in February. I went to a Nightcourt Ball! based on the ACOTAR books and it was a very cool experience, I got to dress up like a fantasy princess and dance for a night and they had people dressed up as the characters from the books and even a live singer, who was excellent. It was tiring but fun.
Then next up in February, I went to Disneyland Paris with my Mum and my sister and my Sister’s family. This was also great but it didn’t give me much time for reading unfortunately.

So, onto what I read this month. I’ll save the list this month I had five books on my February TBR and I only read one (which I literally finished this morning.)

So, in February I read The Queen of Poisons by Robert Thorogood, the third book in the Marlow Murder Club series. I have loved the previous two books in the series but for me this third one fell a bit flat and well, it took me a month to finish it. I’ll give my thoughts in a review later this month but for now that’s it for this post, I didn’t manage to read anything else in February. All I hope is that I get some good books read in March.

How was your reading in February? What was your favourite book that you have read recently?

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood

theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today. I am bringing you my book review of The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood.

As always in this book review I will be giving star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will do my best to avoid any spoilers.

The Marlow Murder Club Plot:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I have to be honest, I went into this book with some preconceptions. First was that I had already read The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman a while before this and I had heard that they were similar and they were a bit, the characters were in the older age group and the overall tone of the book is quite light. For me that was the end of the similarities which I was happy about because I ended up enjoying The Marlow Murder Club more then The Thursday Murder Club. The other preconception I had was that Robert Thorogood wrote a lot of the Death In Paradise episodes and my friend and I have seen every single episode, we love the series, actually we compete over it to see who gets the most right by the end of each series. I was worried that the book would feel like a repeat of one of the episodes, and personally that meant that I was a bit disappointed by the ending of this book because, without spoiling anything, I was able to guess the ending early on because it was a similar plot to one of the episodes.

The Marlow Murder Club Characters:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Judith Potts is the main character (there are more of them in the group later in the book but I won’t spoil anything) and I really felt like I could relate to her, an elderly lady who can’t help herself but be nosy. That’s definitely going to be me. It’s really hard to talk about the characters in this book without spoiling anything so I won’t say too much more but I will say I loved the energy of Judith Potts and her friends, this book was a great introduction to them and I hope that we will see more of them in coming books.

The Marlow Murder Club Writing and Dialogue

Rating: 4 out of 5.

As I said earlier, this book has a very light tone to it, there’s a lot of comedic elements to it which was something that I thought worked really well for the mystery in this book.

The Marlow Murder Club Overall:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Overall, I gave this book a rating of four stars because I enjoyed the gathering pace of the novel and I thought the mystery was well-plotted, the only thing I didn’t enjoy was the ending and how similar it was to the episodes of Death In Paradise.

Blurb/Synopsis:

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…

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Monthly TBRs

July TBR!

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today. I am so excited to be bringing you my July TBR today, not only because I have a good feeling about this month but also because it is time for the July Summer edition of the Chopped Readathon! Hosted by myself @oliviatempleto6 on Twitter/@the_blind_scribe on instagram and @Plaid_Reader_is_writing on Twitter. It is a month long readathon with prompts attached to a food item based on the theme so obviously the July theme is summer. If you are interested in joining the fun all the information can be found on the Chopped Readathon Twitter account @choppedread

Also this month I have tried to put a mystery/crime book to each prompt because… I have a PhD to write which means I need to read all the mystery books and I have a lot to get through.

Onto my TBR for July!

  • for the prompt Cotton Candy – a light or easy book I chose The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood, I have heard there’s a new book in this series coming soon so I need to get around to this one
  • Salt water taffy – a salty protagonist – I chose A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn, the second in the Veronica Speedwell series
  • Corn dog – a book with something hidden – I chose Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
  • Soda – a book you are excited about – The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson, the fourth book in the truly devious series
  • BBQ – book with a battle – I have gone very metaphorical for this one as most mysteries don’t have epic battles like the fantasy genre does so I have chosen Finlay Donovan Knocks Em Dead by Elle Cosimano
  • Lobster – Centred around the ocean – Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
  • Lemonade – a yellow book – Nine Lives by Peter Swanson
  • Burgers – a meaty book over 400 pages – Daughters of Night by Laura Shephard Robinson
  • Ice cream – a fancy book – the Three Dog Problem by S J Bennett
  • watermelon – a childhood favourite – The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah
  • Funnel Cakes – a sweet book – Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens
  • Milkshakes – a book with a location you would go in the summer – I chose The Perfect Escape by Leah Konen

That’s it for my July TBR! What are you all planning on reading in July? Leave me a comment below.

Monthly Wrap Ups

December Wrap Up!

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Happy Saturday bookish people! If I am scheduling this right this should be my first post of 2022 which is crazy because 2021 went by so fast. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year and that you are all excited about what 2022 could bring.

So let’s talk about what I did or didn’t read in December 2021 and what I thought of the books!

  • A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – none of you will be surprised that again, no I haven’t read this book yet. I will but I didn’t get to it in 2021.
  • All Of Us Villains by Amanda Foody – I was so excited for this one but I wasn’t in the mood to read such a dark fantasy so I am hoping to read it soon.
  • Dance of Thieves by Mary E Pearson – I didn’t get around to this one either.
  • Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia – I did not read this book.
  • Good Girl Bad Blood by Holly Jackson – I did read this one! I liked it but not quite as much as I enjoyed the first book in the series.
  • In the Crypt with the Candlestick by Daisy Waugh – I did not read this one.
  • It Sounded Better In My Head by Nina Kenwood – I didn’t read this book.
  • Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco – I really wanted to get around to this one but in the end I didn’t.
  • Mistletoe and Murder by Robin Stevens – I read this one and I really loved it, except for the ending.
  • Murder in Midwinter – I started reading this one but I haven’t quite finished it.
  • Not Here to be Liked by Michelle Quach – I read this book but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.
  • Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber – I also was very excited to read this but I didn’t in December.
  • Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian – I didn’t read this book.
  • The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict – I did read this one and I have posted a book review of it.
  • The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling – I didn’t read this one
  • The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood – I wanted to read this one but then I heard some reactions to it and it has put me off a little bit.
  • The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman – I read this one and I liked it but again it wasn’t as good as the first book in the series.
  • The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood – I didn’t read this one
  • Traitors Kiss by Erin Beaty – I didn’t read this one either
  • Truthwitch by Susan Dennard – I didn’t read this one
  • Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson – I did not read this
  • Well Met by Jen De Luca – I did not read this one.

So from my TBR i ended up reading five and I started reading one other. On top of my TBR I read Murder on Christmas Eve, Rivers of London, Unsolved Deaths, and six of the books in the Pony Mad Princess series. That brings my total of book read to 14 in December which is a great amount.

That’s it for my December TBR, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Bookmas 2021, Monthly TBRs

Merry Bookmas Day 1 – 1st December – December TBR

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Happy Wednesday bookish people! And a merry bookmas! As I announced last week I am going to be posting every day in December and this is the first of these posts. Of course I had to start my blogmas/ bookmas with my TBR for December so I hope you all enjoy reading about what I plan to read in December and the thoughts I already have about the books.

My December TBR:

  • Well Met by Jen de Luca – This month I have included lots of books that are outside of my comfort zone in my TBR and this is one of them. It mentions a Renaissance fair and that sounds very unique and interesting.
  • The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman – I read his first book either this year or last year, I can’t quite remember and it was very enjoyable so hopefully the second book lives up to it.
  • Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia – I am interested in reading this book because it has been compared to Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and I loved hat book.
  • Kingdom of The Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco – I love Kerri Maniscalco’s work and Kingdom of the wicked is no different, I can’t wait to be back with Wrath and Emilia.
  • Dance of Thieves by Mary E Pearson – The description makes me think of Six of Crows a little bit so I have high hopes for this one.
  • A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – again this book is on my TBR, I will read it eventually!
  • Not Here to be Liked by Michelle Quach – I’m not usually drawn to this genre but the synopsis really interested me and I’m not completely sure why.
  • All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody – this is like a very dark version of the Hunger Games mixed with family gangs.
  • Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson – I love her books and a fantasy book about magic and nuns sounds amazing.
  • The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood – again, another book outside of my comfort zone but I am looking forward to giving it a chance.
  • In The Crypt With A Candlestick by Daisy Waugh – a 1920’s themed murder mystery makes me think of Agatha Christie which I love so hopefully I will enjoy it.
  • The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood – this is written by the writer of Death In Paradise which is one of my favourite TV shows so hopefully this book is good too.
  • Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber – I love the Caraval series and this book follows one of the characters from that so I’m excited to read it.
  • Truthwitch by Susan Dennard – this is a book that I have heard a lot about so I want to get around to it soon.
  • Traitors Kiss by Erin Beaty – I don’t know much about this book other than it has a lovely cover.
  • The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict – this is a festive themed book that I am excited to read
  • It sounded Better In My Head by Nina Kenwood – I don’t know much about this book either, other than it is outside my usual genre
  • Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian – it’s set in an ice cream shop, I don’t need to know anything else about it.
  • Good Girl Bad Blood by Holly Jackson – I loved A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder and I can’t wait to read the second one in the series
  • Mistletoe and Murder by Robin Stevens – another festive themed book that I am very glad I managed to get onto my TBR.
  • The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling – I have seen so many good things about this book and I know it has comedy in it so I should enjoy it.
  • Murder In Midwinter – a collection of crime short stories set in winter should be a nice change of pace.

That’s it for my December TBR, have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?