The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts

The clever fifth installment of Thorogood’s Marlow Murder Club series (after Murder on the Marlow Belle) opens with Judith Potts being confronted in her home by a stranger who identifies herself as Eleni Paphides, the daughter of Judith’s late husband, Philippos Demetriou. Philippos died almost 50 years earlier in Greece, and Eleni accuses Judith of murdering him, a possibility considered at the time by the local police before being dropped. As Judith tries to figure out what Eleni might know about that long-ago tragedy, the village of Marlow is plagued by a murderer whose first victim is football star Gary Wise. The club’s friend on the force, DI Tanika Malik, hopes that Judith and her partners in crime—vicar’s wife Becks Starling and dog walker Suzie Harris—will help track the killer down. Thorogood expertly maintains suspense as he toggles between the novel’s two main plotlines, in part by keeping questions about Judith’s complicity in Philippos’s death tantalizingly open-ended. As ever, Thorogood balances canny plotting with sharp character development. This series is in good shape. Agent: Ginger Clark, Ginger Clark Literary. (July)