Member Reviews

This novel had brilliant reviews but unfortunately I found it quite plodding and lacking in suspense. I worked out quite early on who the murderer probably was but not why. Not sure if this was a sequel as it made reference to a previous crime. On this occasion not for me

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I began reading Murder on the Marshes yesterday and literally couldn't put it down!! This was an excellent thriller with well developed characters and great twists!! From the first page until the end, Murder on the Marshes is a great ride of mystery, suspense and murder.

First, I'd like to thank Netgalley, Bookouture, and Clare Chase (the author) for allowing me to have this ARC.

**spoilers**

Tara Thorpe is a journalist who has a history of being stalked from when she was a teenager. 20 years later, she's living alone in a little cottage by the river. One late night, she sees someone watching her from the shadows, as she runs to her house, the person seems to give chase. She rushes into her house and notices an envelope on her mat. She opens it to discover a very threatening message and she knows this is something serious. She contacts the police and awaits their arrival. She gets a phone call from her boss who wants her to cover a new murder victim...who just so happened to be killed the night she was being watched.

Soon, the police are in contact and she learns this victim was a professor and she received the same threat also. Blake and Emma are assigned the murder case and Blake is immediately in contact with Tara. Terrified, Tara knows she has to do a good job digging around to make sure she's not the next victim. Along the way, there are many people she meets who could definitely have had a motive to kill the professor. Tara and Blake form a working pact to help each other solve this murder...and then another woman winds up dead. Time is running out for her story, will she be the third victim?

Excellent thriller and crime read!!

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Children can be so cruel. Tara can't believe that someone is stalking her again, she went through so much before and she is prepared but still very scared. And now her boss wants her to write a piece on the professor that was found murdered and find out about her life. DI Blake knows there is more to this case but they don't have much to go on as yet and so when he meets Tara he decides that they should share information. Can they really work together to find the killer? What Tara learns about the murdered woman Samantha Seabrook is that she was brilliant, harsh and a never one not to speak her mind. But who wanted her dead? Her pool of friends is very small and her fellow professors had different opinions about her and anyone of them could be the killer. But Tara has bigger problems to worry about she is still been followed and they think that the same person that killed Samantha is warning her off but Tara wants to find out the truth. Blake is trying to figure out who the killer is now that a second victim has been found and it has to be someone from the college. But who and why? The killer has been giving them clues but they keep on missing them and will Blake be able to find them out before Tara is killed? .But will Tara be able to get out of this alive and will Blake find her in time? A good read. I like Blake as he is trying to put his life back together and he still carries on regardless. Would have liked to meet Kemp he sounds like a dark horse. I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchange for my honest review.

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I now have another procedural investigative series to follow. MotM was a whip-smart read that had a good many surprises and twists. I won't be spoiling but I found the reveal of the murderer well done and while they were one I had briefly suspected and discarded, it all made sense in the denouement. Oxford is as much a character here as the others and that was also a high point for me. I cared a lot about Tara and her story and given the ending, look forward to what's next for her as it seems her past still isn't quite settled. Blake was a very good investigator and I look forward to perhaps following him on another case. I accept that I'm awful for hoping that reconciliation with his wife doesn't work out.

I'd definitely recommend this to fans of procedural mysteries. It was like an Inspector Morse & Midsomer layer cake with Christie for the frosting. I'm awaiting my next slice.

Thanks to publisher Bookouture for the advance reader's copy

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Murder on the Marshes Clare Chase


Set in and around Cambridge University this is a murder story with a list of characters that are firmly in the “Have” and “Have not” brackets.

Every character is either from a really privileged background, or a working-class background. But just because they are in these categories doesn’t mean that they are normal balanced people.

The book opens with a mystery scene of a young girl walking in on a horrific scene, a scene that is alluded to throughout the book, but who is it that’s witnessing the scene and what bearing will it have on the present day.

The present day see’s the body of a young professor, Samantha Seabrook, being found drowned in a fountain in a locked courtyard of one of the colleges in the University, a bit of a locked room puzzle.

Frighteningly a journalist Tara Thorpe is sent a warning on the same night Samantha is killed, it’s the same warning the Professor received a few weeks before she was killed.

DI Garstin Blake is the SIO for the murder but also goes to interview Tara. Together they form an unlikely alliance, and the investigation into the life and death of Samantha Seabrook takes on two lines, the Police investigation and the journalistic investigation.

It’s a good way of introducing information into the story and allows the author to get away with introducing information which would not be obtained by either the police or the journalist if they were working alone.

Garstin and Tara both have issues, and just like everyone else in the story they are split by the working class, privileged divide.

The investigation is a bit pedestrian at times but the story is well worth reading.


This book is a bit like two of my favourite TV series combined, inevitably the Cambridge Oxford thing leads to Morse, and the writer and detective leads to Castle. The pace of the book is definitely more Morse.

Will I read the next book in the series, Yes

Pages: 322
Publisher: Bookouture
Publishing Date: 31st July 2018

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Love books about the fens. Not somewhere I'd like to live, but the use that writers make of the wide open, bleak spaces is interesting. I really enjoyed this book, the characters are diverse and very human, and even though the book takes place over a short period of time the characters change and have interests outside of the story - which I really like. It's a good, strong story too.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for a digital galley of this novel.

This story, set in the environs of the colleges of the University of Cambridge, started out as a classic locked room mystery with a twist: instead of a room we are dealing with a garden. According to the information recorded with the key card codes nobody entered the locked garden gate after it was closed at 5:30 p.m. So how did a murder occur there after midnight? The police discover that an object was sent to the murder victim as well as to a journalist. There doesn't appear to be any connection between the two women but the police decide to allow the journalist to gather research information on Professor Samantha Seabrook. Tara Thorpe doesn't know what the object she received means but she knows she needs to find out everything she can about the murder victim.

I enjoyed reading this novel which approached the crime from two directions at the same time. The information uncovered by the police and the journalist was slightly different but nicely filled out the picture of the victim and others involved in the investigation. Having Tara Thorpe already skittish because of an extremely unpleasant incident in her past added another level of suspense to the story. The ending to this story leaves the crime solved but Tara's future occupation up in the air.

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I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of Murder on the Marshes, the first novel set in Cambridge to feature investigative journalist Tara Thorpe.

When Professor Samantha Seabrook is found murdered in the fountain of St Bede College's private walled garden DI Garstin Blake and his team are assigned the case. Tara Thorpe is asked to write an in-depth article on Samantha following her death so she crosses paths with DI Blake, especially when the police discover that the killer may have her in mind as the next victim.

I thoroughly enjoyed Murder on the Marshes which is a tense, exciting read with plenty of twists. It is slightly old fashioned in the sense that it relies on interviews, personalities and potential motives rather than technology to solve the case, but modern with its dual point of view narrative, being told alternately by Tara and Blake. I don't feel that the author has got this latter quite right as it can be repetitive and the characters' viewpoints aren't so divergent that the same information seems fresh when presented by the other voice.

The plotting is good as both characters gradually build a victimology. It makes for addictive reading as more and more facts are uncovered, although their arrival at a solution seems like a bolt from the blue and decidedly unheralded. I had an inkling of the killer from about half way through, simply by the way the character was written, but the motive was elusive until the denouement. Minor points in what is, overall, an addictive read.

The characterisation is sufficient for the novel, but not overly so. Much is made of the stalker Tara had when she was a teenager and who was never caught because it has shaped the woman she is today, strong, feisty and independent but aware of the danger around her. Blake, on the other hand, is a man of mystery. Obviously caring and good at his job he has recently separated from his wife, for reasons often hinted at but never revealed. By the end of the novel it's all change for them so it will be interesting to see what's in store for them.

Murder on the Marshes is a credible début which I have no hesitation in recommending as a good read.

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It wasn't just the exciting premise that I loved, the beautiful cover influenced me too. Yet another thriller writer that seems to have passed me by! Clare Chase has had three other books published from 2014-16 by Choc Lit. You'll enjoy her books including this one if you like Joy Ellis, L. J. Ross, and Faith Martin.

It's dawn and affluent Samantha Seabrook is found drowned in the ornamental fountain of a Cambridge courtyard. The only clue left is an antique silver chain that has been wound tightly around her throat. It is the job of DI Garstin Blake and Tara Thorpe to investigate what happened to the victim. The case hits very close to home when Tara discovers that Samantha had received the same death threats she had received on the night the woman died. If they wish to solve this case and catch the sadistic killer Tara needs to face up to the truth. Will she share the secret she has been hiding with Blake or will they die trying to track the murderer down?

I absolutely adored the setting here. It reminds a little of the sort of setting in Midsomer Murders - quaint and idyllic with some very shady characters. The twists in the plot were plentiful and I liked the relationship and dynamic between Thorpe and Blake. As this is a series opener I will look forward to seeing their characters develop further in the next books. The writing is sound and gets you interested and invested in the story pretty quickly.

Many thanks to Bookouture for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

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An intriguing story, with a hint at a romance for the Detective. Twists and turns around every corner making it difficult to settle on who the killer is, but it all unfolds in a surprising end. A good read, will look out for more from Clare Chase.

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DI Garstin Blake and Tara Thorpe investigate the murder of Samantha Seabrook, who was found dead in the fountain on the grounds of a deserted courtyard, a silver chain wrapped round her neck. Tara is more involved than she’s willing to admit, as her past makes her present dangerous for both she and Blake

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4 stars

A woman is found half submerged in a pond on the St. Bede’s College campus. DI Garstin Blake and his team respond to the call. She has been drowned intentionally. She turns out to be Samantha Seabrook, a professor at another college in the Cambridge College system. She is wearing a silver crucifix around her neck.

Tara Thorpe is a reporter for a publication called Not Now. It is sometimes edgy and just skirts the bounds of propriety. Tara is a good journalist who does not appreciate the questionable aspects of the magazine, but it is a job. She was followed home one dark night and received a creepy doll with a noose around its neck through her letterbox.

DI Blake goes to see Tara about her stalker/package though the letterbox. One look at the doll and he knows it is the same as the one Samantha received prior to her death.

The police have a suspect, but don’t have enough information or evidence to arrest him.

This is a good new series and I hope that Ms. Chase continues with it. The characters were interesting. The only problem I had with the story was sending a DI to interview Tara about the doll and the threatening note she received. Would a DI really do that? Wouldn’t it have been assigned to someone lower in rank? The book is well written, with only a few minor inconsistencies. I look forward to reading more about DI Blake and his team in the future.

I want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for forwarding to me a copy of this good book to read, enjoy and review.

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Thank you NetGalley and BookOuture for this arc.

I enjoyed Murder on the Marshes a lot. Fast paced, twisty, and interesting well-developed characters. Oh, and a very interesting setting! I just ripped right through this book. A wonderful balance of what I feel are the essential elements for a crime novel. This appears to be the first in a series... I hope so as I really enjoyed Tara!

4.5 stars rounded up.

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There’s a lot going on at this Cambridgeshire college! Not since Inspector Morse have I read of such goings on. This is going to be a new gripping series of mysteries and subplots I think.Great characters already - I liked Tara from the off. Think she should move from that common though - and parking the car in Garlic Lane was apt when she kicked up a stink afterwards!

It goes to show that what happens in our pasts can have serious repercussions and come back to haunt us. There was depth to this novel which I liked and even after only a few chapters, it had built up nicely to a point where it felt like an series I’d read a few episodes of already.

I’m excited by this. I think we need a new series of mysteries and murders in Cambridge and the fens..yes the fens. They fascinate me as I spent countless summer holidays there when younger. They haunt the novel and the difference between them and the city, the city and those who live and work there.....ooh yes, I liked this one!

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