Death Comes to Marlow

I expected more from that duck...

The Marlow Murder Club members are back in this second book of the series! This is a fun and delightful cozy mystery that will keep you guessing. Perfect for Agatha Christie lovers, and the British cozy mystery shows. After all, the author is the creator of one of my favorite such shows: Death in Paradise.

You don't have to have read the first book to enjoy this one, though the first one is definitely worth reading as well, especially if you wanna get to know the characters better.

I wrote this in the review of the first book: “There's Judith Potts the 77 year old cryptic crossword creator, Suzie the blunt dog walker, Becks the too proper wife of a Vicar and Tanika the by-the-books detective.” What's cool is that even though all of that is still true, (except Potts is now 78) they've also all grown and changed in some ways.

Compared to the first one, I found this to be a bit more focused on the mystery. We get less of all the characters' lives and quirks outside of them solving the mystery, which makes sense, since the first book probably had to spend some time introducing the characters fully. This isn't necessarily a bad thing since the focus on mystery makes the pacing feel very smooth, though I do really like the characters as well so I wouldn't have minded either way.

In terms of the actual mystery, this one really got me! It has a locked room mystery, and it's done so well. All the classic pathways are covered from the very beginning, in a way that it really feels like an impossible murder. You might figure out the culprit(s) early on, but the mystery of how they did it will still have you scrambling.

With brilliant characters, an intriguing mystery and perfect cozy vibes, this is a must read for the fans of the genre.

Thank you so much to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the eARC!