Murder on the Marshes

A Tara Thorpe Mystery, Book 1

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Murder on the Marshes

By: Clare Chase

Narrated by: Lucy Brownhill

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About this listen

Do you love twisty murder mysteries? Meet Tara Thorpe. The clue to a puzzling local murder has landed right on her doorstep. Perfect for fans of Faith Martin, LJ Ross, and Joy Ellis.

As the sun rises, a wealthy young woman, Samantha Seabrook, is found drowned in the ornamental fountain of a deserted Cambridge courtyard, the only clue: an antique silver chain wound tightly around her throat.

It’s Tara Thorpe’s job to discover what happened to Miss Seabrook. But the case becomes personal when she learns that Samantha had been receiving death threats...rather like the one that landed on Tara’s doorstep the night the woman died.

Together with Detective Inspector Garstin Blake, Tara tracks the killer to the dank and dangerous fens on the outskirts of the city. But there’s something Tara can’t quite admit to Blake about her past – and it could make all the difference to whether they live...or die.

An absolutely gripping mystery that will keep you hooked until the very last word. The first in a series of pause-resisting Cambridge mysteries featuring Thorpe and Blake.

Cosy

Crime

Crime Thrillers

Fiction

Mystery

Police Procedural

Thriller

Thriller & Suspense

Murder

Suspense

Most relevant

After I finished this book I read Clare Chase’s Goodreads author profile where she states that Elly Griffiths is one of her influences. I must say this didn’t surprise me as I had noticed similarities between Murder on the Marshes and the books in Griffiths’s Ruth Galloway series.

The heroine here is reporter Tara Thorpe. Tara is the daughter of an actress and has previously been harassed by a stalker. As such, when she receives a rag doll with a noose around its neck in the mail, she immediately goes to the police. In turn, the police instantly take the threat to Tara seriously as they’ve just discovered the body of a Cambridge professor who, a few days before she was killed, also received a rag doll.

Tara meets DI Blake, the detective assigned to the case and there’s instant attraction between the pair. It's all very respectable though. In fact, I enjoyed how Blake is the only one who seems to completely respect Tara and her choices when it comes to her safety and security.

While Blake is investigating the murder in the conventional manner, Tara starts interviewing witnesses and potential killers. She is writing an article on the murder but she also, obviously, needs to solve the case before the murderer catches up with her.

The murder plot was pretty good but I can’t say I thought the clues to the identity of the murderer were very useful. They seemed very general. If you guessed the murderer, you would have been doing just that -- guessing.

The Cambridge setting was great. It increased Tara’s vulnerability to attack in unexpected and clever ways. The setting mentioned in the title, however, is a little misleading. Neither of the murders were carried out in marshes.

I liked the romantic aspect of the book. It was added with a light touch for this first book but I imagine it will develop further in the future books in the series. I look forward to it; I will read on.

I’ll read them the old fashioned way though. I didn’t like the narration in this audio version. The narrator seemed to be whispering every line. It was very annoying.

For most of the book I was a little annoyed too by the slut shaming of the victim (I think I noticed it especially because it was also something Robert Bryndza did in Girl in the Ice which I read recently and therefore, it was still fresh in my mind) but I was pleasantly surprised that Chase made some amends in this area by adding an explanation and a measure of empathy towards the end.

Although the mystery plot is wrapped up, the ending cleverly doesn’t answer every question posed meaning, again, I’m sure to pick up the second book.

I’d also admit I could be tempted to pick up one of the books from Chase’s other series. Always a good sign.

3 ½ out of 5