If “Death Comes to Marlow” appeals to the head, “Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers” is all heart. More of a “howdunit” than a whodunit, “Death Comes to Marlow” understands the satisfaction that comes from a clever solution, and author Thorogood constructs his puzzles with care. Not to give away her secrets, but never, ever bet against a vicar’s wife in a British mystery. Perfect housewife Becks, meanwhile, is acting distinctly squirrelly, to her two friends’ growing concern. The three women are in fine fettle, with dog-walking grandmother Suzie finding local fame (if not fortune) on the radio and septuagenarian Judith still crafting fiendishly clever crosswords and scandalizing local birdwatchers by skinny-dipping even in winter. His estranged son, meanwhile, was outside talking to our intrepid trio, giving him a perfect alibi. But Judith, who had a phone call from the groom-to-be the day before his death, is convinced it’s murder. The door is locked, and the key is in his pocket. A wedding party to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of a local lord ends with said lord crushed beneath a cabinet of his ancestors’ scientific collection. Judith, Suzie, and Becks are back with more crosswords, wild swimming, and murdered gentry in “Death Comes to Marlow,” by Robert Thorogood. The women of a certain age crime-solving trend continues to cast a gimlet eye over a world that really should know better, and readers are all the richer for it.Īnd while book lovers are waiting for the fourth outing of the consistently outstanding Thursday Murder Club this fall and pining for a sequel to last year’s wickedly funny and feminist “Killers of a Certain Age,” this spring offers several new mysteries to test their wits against. Somewhere, Miss Marple is wryly smiling, possibly while industriously knitting something fluffy.

Killers of a certain age reviews