The Queen of Poisons is the third instalment in the The Marlow Murder Club series and is due to be published in January 2024. The mystery is the murder of the mayor, which actually occurs in the first chapter, so the drama begins straight away! It is well-paced and kept my interest throughout. I also love the village setting of Marlow as it reminds me so much of my own village.
There are so many red herrings! It is packed full of twists and turns which was great but I think everyone was accused as the killer at some point which was a bit 'overkill' (pardon the pun).
I noticed that there was much less focus on the main characters, Judith, Suzie and Becks, than in the first couple of books which I did feel let this book down. I think because the police take them on as civilian advisors, they don't have to be as sneaky and some of the humour and backstory was lost. I do also feel Judith is becoming more unlikeable and prickly as the series goes on which is a shame as I enjoyed her so much at the beginning. Something that did make me feel uncomfortable was the fatphobia towards Dave, it was quite insensitive and difficult to read.
For me the ending was great, I like who the killer turned out to be and the motive behind it, it was a good end to the book but I do think unfortunately this has ended up as my least favourite of the Marlow Murder club series. Still worth the read, and I will be reading the fourth book when it is released.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and Robert Thorogood for allowing me to read this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.