Murder On The Marlow Belle (2025) by Robert Thorogood

Fancy a trip down the river Thames? Why not hire the Marlow Belle? A beautifully restored river cruiser, with cabins for your guests and first class catering, for that perfect get-together, such as a welcome home party for a Hollywood starlet and the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society where she got her start.

WARNING: We should say that the engines aren’t quite ready, and a bit on the noisy side. Just the occasional crash and bang – the sort of noise that a gunshot might make. So the only real problem would be that if someone was shot during the excursion, you wouldn’t hear the shot. But that’s not going to happen, is it?

Dear Cosy Mystery Writer

Are you planning on writing your next cosy mystery and feel that it’s leaning too heavily on the cosy and not the mystery? Obviously you’ve already read the Puzzle Doc-ologue but if you want to see the near-perfect cosy mystery in action, then I strongly recommend Murder On The Marlow Belle. It’s the fourth book in the series written by the Death In Paradise chap, Robert Thorogood. Actually, we might have to start referring to Death In Paradise as being created by the Marlow Murder Club chap. I’ll have to check.

So why is this so on point? Well, we have three central characters sufficiently free of past trauma who are investigating the murder for a reason. There is also an active police investigation too – I know it’s very easy to ignore that if you’ve got everyone trapped together in a snowed-in stately home, but if you’re investigating in civilisation, don’t forget there is a police force and that they will be competent.

The murder itself is suitably distinctive – in this case every suspect was in their cabin at the time of the murder having received a note asking for a meeting and evidence seems to incriminate every passenger – but there is a reason for the murderer choosing such a method for murder beyond “the killer was a nutter”. Even better, the sleuths factor this into their investigation – they see that this isn’t a normal killing and look for that reason.

Each character on the boat must have valid reasons for the murder and yet there must be a clear indication in the story as to why only one of them could have been the killer. So any clues – sorry, I misspoke. So THE clues should lead, via misdirection of course, to the identity of the killer, but hide them well enough for the reader not to spot the relevance of them but remember them when the sleuth reveals all, preferably in a dramatic finale. Literally in this case.

So include some red herrings – have a couple of characters around who almost certainly could not have committed the crime, so that readers (like that Puzzle Doctor chap) will be convinced that one of them did it, even if he didn’t have a clue why. I gather he was last seen shaking his fist at the heavens shouting “You win this one, Thorogood!” but he had a smile on his face so he clearly enjoyed getting well and truly beaten.

Because this should be a game, a game that you are playing against the reader, while they enjoy themselves with the plot and characters along the way. And this is a fantastic example of such a game. So do take notes…

Murder On The Marlow Belle is out in hardback and ebook on Thursday 16^th January 2025. Many thanks to HQ for the review e-copy.

Robert Thorogood Bibliography:

The Marlow Murder Club

Death In Paradise