Death Comes to Marlow

ROBERT THOROGOOD is the creator of the hit BBC One TV series Death in Paradise, and he has written a series of spin-off novels featuring D.I. Richard Poole. Robert was born in Colchester, Essex. When he was ten years old, he read his first proper novel – Agatha Christie’s Peril at End House – and he’s been in love with the genre ever since. He now lives in Marlow in Buckinghamshire with his wife, children and two whippets called Wally and Evie. About the Publisher Australia HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd. Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia http://www.harpercollins.com.au Canada HarperCollins Canada Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower 22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor Toronto, ON, M5H 4E3, Canada http://www.harpercollins.ca India HarperCollins India A 75, Sector 57 Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201 301, India http://www.harpercollins.co.in New Zealand HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited P.O. Box 1 Auckland, New Zealand http://www.harpercollins.co.nz United Kingdom HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF http://www.harpercollins.co.uk United States HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 195 Broadway New York, NY 10007 http://www.harpercollins.com Dublin HarperCollinsPublishers Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper Dublin 1 D01 C9W8 Ireland http://www.harpercollins.co.uk Acknowledgements Thanks go to my wonderful editor, Manpreet Grewal, who I tested to the limits as the delivery date on this book slipped and slipped. At all times, she remained patient and kind, and I can’t overstate how valuable her support was. Then, once I’d completed a first draft, her attention to detail and big-picture notes were crucial in helping me get the book into the final story you now hold in your hands. Thank you, Manpreet. I also want to thank my literary agent, Ed Wilson, who also kept up the good cheer every time I rang him with a ‘Now I know my contract says there’s a deadline coming up, how “deadliney” do you think it is …?’ Ed’s calm wisdom (that he otherwise hides behind an exterior of flamboyant bonhomie) kept me on the straight and narrow. Every author should have a literary agent like Ed. I’ve also come to rely on the other luminaries at Johnson & Alcock, in particular Hélène Butler, Kroum Vatchkov, Saliann St-Clair and Anna Dawson. Thank you all for looking after me so brilliantly, and apologies, Kroum, for the time I got shirty with you about that Japanese tax form. I also must thank Anne O’Brien, who once again quite brilliantly copy-edited the manuscript. Unlike with Book One in the series, there were no disastrous timeline errors this time (which is not to say there were none, just that they weren’t disastrous), but once I got the corrected text back, I realised that I seem to use the word ‘just’ in pretty much every sentence, and I just can’t imagine just how tiring it must have been just removing all the justs. I’d also like to thank Ged Parsons, Steffan Rhodri, Chris Bradford, Bronwyn Deacon, Jon Taylor and Stuart Bone. When I started compiling the Also by ROBERT THOROGOOD The Marlow Murder Club Mysteries The Marlow Murder Club The Death in Paradise Mystery series A Meditation on Murder The Killing of Polly Carter Death Knocks Twice Murder in the Caribbean Chapter 1 After the excitement of the previous summer, Mrs Judith Potts spent the winter returning to the more solitary rhythms of life. She woke late, watched a bit of telly, played clock patience, went for walks when the mood took her – which wasn’t in truth all that often – and made sure she set aside time each day to compile her cryptic crosswords for the newspapers. When the Christmas lights went up in the High Street, she found herself, as she did every year, quietly absenting herself from the festivities. It wasn’t that she was opposed to Christmas. Far from it. It was more that she felt it belonged to other people, mostly parents with young children and families hell-bent on enforced jollity. But if Christmas was a bit of a chore, and the time between Christmas and New Year’s Day a baffling week of non-existence, Judith knew January belonged to her. It was almost her favourite month. No one asked her to do anything in January. Or go anywhere. She could fully recharge her batteries and take stock. And go wild swimming, of course. Judith didn’t let the fact that it was winter deter her from her near-daily dips in the River Thames. At this time of year, her swims were of necessity brief, but she never missed the chance to commune with nature, and she loved the zingy feeling her skin had for the rest of the day. She especially loved to swim when she had a problem to work through, which was why she was in the Thames on this particular January morning.