All Suzie wanted was an insight into how the local council worked in order to help get her latest scheme off the ground. Barely had the meeting started, however, when the mayor, Geoffrey Lushington, drinks from his coffee cup and collapses on the ground, poisoned. Aconite, the so-called Queen of Poisons, is found in his cup, but how did it get there? Who on the council had the opportunity? And given that Geoffrey had seemingly been the nicest person in Marlow (and probably beyond), who on earth would want to kill him?

By the time the police arrive, Suzie’s friends (and fellow sleuths) Judith and Becks are on the scene. They’ve solved two tricky cases in the past, so in order to keep them in line, this time they’re appointed as official Civilian Advisors to the police – that certainly will make sure they behave themselves while investigating. Won’t it?

Book three of the Marlow Murder Club series – soon to be a TV series – and once again we have a proper mystery. Cosy, quite possibly, but cosy done right by including such things as clues, multiple motives, characters with actions that weave together into a picture that is both complex and simple at the same time.

The three leads are as fun as ever, with enough development for each of them to engage the reader but not so much as to get in the way of the story. Judith’s arc in particular, as her isolated life comes under threat from a few directions, is particularly enjoyable, especially as it has a surprising – to me – ending. Becks still shines of the three of them for me, but the interplay between the characters is well done.

The plot is cleverly done – it’s not an impossible mystery per se, bar from the notion that basically virtually none of the suspects could have done it – but there is something intriguing about a victim that nobody has a motive to murder (despite the actual motive being deducible). Oh, and it’s worth saying this because I’ve been showing off recently about my armchair sleuthing – I wasn’t close to spotting the murderer. Nowhere near. Which is just the way I like it…

It’s not flawless – the structure does feel a bit like a Death In Paradise episode with extra suspects in a “find something out about A”, “confront A with it”, “get an explanation from A which raises a question about B”, and repeat for some sections of the book, but that really isn’t a problem for me when the mystery is this interesting, and the humour lands as well as it does here.

Very much looking forward to the upcoming TV adaptation with Samantha Bond, Jo Martin and Cara Horgan, but in the meantime, if you haven’t caught up with these books yet, why not check out The Marlow Murder Club and Death Comes To Marlow and then wait until January 18^th for this one…