I liked how this novel combined the elements of historical witch trials with the fictional Kilgoyne community accusing Marjorie of being a witch and potentially having an involvement in the death and disappearance of local teenagers. I thought at times Marjorie was an unreliable narrator but I liked her overall as a character. Some of the villagers and the teenagers I didn't like as much due to the way they behaved. I liked the short chapters.

Quite an unusual book which perfectly illustrates the small-minded attitude of some close-knit communities and the destructive powers of social media.

When Marjorie discovers the body of a local boy but doesn't immediately report it she is subject to hatred and bullying from neighbours and via social media trolls.

Can Marjorie convince the police that she has no ulterior motives, prove her innocence and help bring the perpetrators to justice.

Very readable.

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel set in a small Scottish village. Lots of twists I didn't see coming!

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

In a Nutshell: A mystery-drama with mild paranormal shades and a quirky aged lead character. The plot idea had great potential. Should have worked better for me, but the execution didn’t leave me happy. This is an outlier review.

Story Synopsis:
Sixty-something Marjorie Crowe has lived alone in a little Scottish village for twenty-five years. Yet, all the villagers know about her is that she is a creature of habit and a recluse. Her past life is a mystery. And her present habits cause many to feel that she’s a witch. So they gladly leave her alone, though they do talk about her behind her back, and she knows it.
Living in her cottage on the edge of the village, Marjorie has a fixed routine for every day, planned down to the second. This changes the day teenaged Charlie McKee is found hanging on the outskirts of the village. This is the first day that Marjorie is seven minutes late returning from her morning walk. Locals see her with a shocked look on her face and scurrying away faster than usual. Speculation begins that she has something to do with the boy’s death.
With no one to support her or accept her reasoning, it is up to Marjorie to save herself.
The story comes to us in Marjorie’s first person perspective.


Marjorie is the lynchpin of the plot, and as the first person narrator, it is she who takes us through the events that occur over the course of the story. The problem with this is that Marjorie is a highly unreliable narrator. She chooses to ramble to us readers about her inner thoughts and worries, but when it comes to the facts, she hides much and twists most of what she reveals. I am not fond of the unreliable narrator trope when it is executed this way. Deliberate manipulation of facts just to keep us in suspense gets annoying.
Not only does she NOT function as a reliable narrator but she is also not a reliable or likeable character. Her sketching is quite haphazard. She is confident in one scene and shaking with nerves in the next. She sometimes talks to the police about her suspicions and yet she doesn’t reveal crucial details to them. She is often afraid to go out in the village after the accusations begin, and yet she goes all alone to the house of whomever she suspects and confronts them without anyone’s help. She uses her impulse more than her brains and handles almost the entire investigation by herself despite the presence of two supportive police officers. In short, Marjorie is a typical contemporary thriller FMC in all ways except for her age. (Actually, her age is also just a number in the book – it is hardly ever incorporated well into the plot except in one scene.) Is it any surprise then that I couldn’t connect with her? Unreliable narrator + amateur sleuth = Loads of eye-rolling!
The only positive aspect of Marjorie’s character was her “witchy” tendencies. Her knowledge of herbs and remedies, her respectful approach towards nature, and her belief in the unexplainable is strongly rooted. I wish these elements had been explored more because she had great potential as an actual “witch.”
As a story, the premise could have worked wonders. The book straddles many genres – mystery, thriller, paranormal, witchcraft and drama. This weakens the core focus. The pacing is terribly slow, not a good sign for such a story. Despite the extensive development, there are many plot gaps, especially but not only connected to Marjorie’s past history and how she came to live in that village
The contemporary timeline, based in 2024, is interrupted often by flashbacks from the past, some of which date centuries ago. These focus either on past witch hunts or on mysterious happenings in the village from a few years ago. The witch hunts are sad to read, but they add nothing to the actual storyline. The village flashbacks are better connected to the plot, but they aren’t clarified well at the end.
I was keen to see how a woman who is a loner and a murder suspect clears her name. But the execution is so jumpy that I couldn’t focus properly on the plot. There is a lot of repetition, not in the writing but in the events. It feels like the same things happen on loop almost throughout the book, except for the ending, which is a typical extended infodump - a boring feature of so many murder mysteries.
On the other hand, the village is described excellently. The setting is written so well that you can actually picture the scenes in your mind. Some of the settings are based on actual locations. The one that is derived from the real-life Mexican island (won’t go into spoilers) is the creepiest.
The nature of the villagers is also like that of a typical small place, where there is loads of gossip and nose-poking. I wish the portrayal had been more balanced because most people in the village were cast only in negative shades.
It was nice to see an Indian-origin character as one of the investigating officers. Through her arc, and through Marjorie’s story as well, the plot tackles the theme of racism. What was ironic though is that when Marjorie’s first person narration talks of her, she sometimes refers to her as Indian or Hindu. This is also racism, though softer. True inclusivity means that you focus on the person and not on their ethnicity or religion during your interactions.
A part of me feels like this book might have clicked better for me if written in third person as the ramblings could have been avoided and I would have got to see more direct action. Then again, if Marjorie is unreliable, even that approach wouldn’t have worked. The storyline was great but the handling seemed superficial to me.
That said, most readers seem to have enjoyed this witchy mystery, so I am very much the outlier. Do read other reviews before you take a call on this novel.
2 stars.
My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Trials of Marjorie Crowe”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.

I LOVED this! I found Robertson's previous novel, The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill, beautiful and unputdownable, so had high hopes for this one, which were not dashed.
Robertson somehow conveys the soul, the person within, of his lead character, making us fall in love and forging a connection that deepens as the story progresses, as more and more of her life is revealed, and more and more of the truth.
Characterisation apart, it's a cracking murder mystery, drawing in small-minded villagers, open-minded police officers, secretive teens and vicious online trolls to create a storyline you won't be able to stop reading until the very last word is done.

For 25 years Marjorie Crowe has walked through the village of Kilgoyne twice a day, odd and independent, she has a reputation as a wise woman but few friends. One day she sees the body of a boy hanging in the woods. Traumatised Marjorie walks home and her nightmare begins. She is accused of murder and vilified online, her house is set alight and two more teenagers a disappear. Is Marjorie a witch, a murderer or innocent?
This is a really clever book, blending mysticism, demonics and a fairly standard crime plot, it's original and very good. I loved the interweaving of the tales of the Scottish witches and how spreading rumours affect people across the ages. I didn't really like the devil worship and black magic but it is a plot device and as such drives an aspect of the narrative. What was the best was the fact that the perpetrator was someone really ordinary

Marjorie Crowe lives in Kilgoyne , she’s different to other people she keeps herself to herself and there are rumours she’s a witch .
Marjorie has her own routine which she does every day which includes a walk and a route that she never veers from .
One day whilst on this walk she sees a local boy hanging from a tree , shocked she goes home not telling anyone about what she’s seen .
Once everyone knows the boy is missing and Marjorie tells the police what she saw and the exact time , because Marjorie is always at that place at that time it becomes apparent that it was impossible to see the boy in the tree because he was seen on cctv later in the day..
This puts Marjorie under serious suspicion which only grows when another teenager goes missing .
This is an excellent story with many layers to it and the calibre of writing is excellent .
A compelling and richly layered story .
A different and fulfilling read.
Highly recommended!
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton.

Everyone should be allowed to just be, be true to themselves and not feel forced to conform to the pressure and judgements of others to fit into the herd mentality.

Differences and quirkiness should be celebrated and embraced so I celebrate the strong determined unique character that is Marjorie Crowe.

Despite the challenges and prejudices she faces Marjorie seeks the truth and justice you can't help but be invested in the outcome.

A thought provoking read.

Marjorie’s story unfolds with growing dread, exposing the dark, unforgiving underbelly of a small Scottish village. Old prejudices surface as fear grips the locals and it becomes easier to blame the “old witch” than to examine what else might be going on as teenagers go missing or are found dead.

I was drawn into the story immediately and read with a chilling unease. Robertson paints such a vivid picture and this is the type of crime novel I love, where characters and motivations are at the heart of the story. Marjorie is wonderful and I loved seeing her grow a little in confidence and eventually tell her story.

Wow!!! I absolutely loved this intriguing & unusual very tense thriller.
I literally could not put it down it was such a compelling read.
The more I read the more the book drew me in to the dark & a little bit creepy storyline.
Well written & very descriptive this quirky psychological thriller holds you from beginning to end.
Marjorie Crowe the locals of Kilgoyne Scotland would say is one very strange woman.
They are not sure what her age is but they put it between 55 to 70.
Is she a spinster or divorced nobody knows.
They are not even sure what she does, but because she doesn’t conform to the norm they take against her.
They call her a witch & behave terrible towards her.
When a local boy is found hanging from a tree it’s Marjorie that comes across his body.
Then when another young person goes missing the accusations are turned on Marjorie.
Marjorie finds herself in the middle of a witch hunt.
One of the best books I’ve read this year.
The author has included chapters of witch trials in Scotland, which shows, people are quick to turn on anyone that should dare to be a little bit different from the norm.
Thoroughly enjoyed this well crafted story.

This story revolves around Marjorie, seen as an outsider and an eccentric elderly lady by the locals. On one of her walks she discovers the body of a local child, Charlie McKee in the woods. She leaves the scene. without saying anything to the police or Charlie’s parents.
When someone else goes missing, she finds herself at the centre of a modern-day witch hunt. The villagers demand that she leave the village and even go as far as setting fire to her cottage. Marjorie, however, is determined to find the truth.
A engaging and compelling read for fans of crime thrillers and mysteries.

Ooh I loved this Scottish thriller. Very tense and a little bit dark. Marjorie Crowe is what some may class as a witch, some of the locals in Kilgoyne, where she’s lived for 25 years, treat her very much like a pariah, others are kind, and then some are downright nasty, shouting obscenities and whispering behind her back, loud enough that she can hear them. The fact is she does have her beliefs and she does her best for herself and her community. There are lots of secrets in Kilgoyne, lots of evil, past and present, Marjorie has seen most of it. Following the death/murder/disappearance of some of the younger residents of the village Marjorie is considered a suspect, alongside another village outcast. Nobody really knows her, and she hasn’t really opened up to any of the villagers. So much happening within the story. I loved the twitter dialogues, so very true to life, and more than a little bit disturbing, I hated that she was judged. So many twists and turns. I loved it. I thought I had it all mapped out by the end. I was wrong. I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Marjorie Crowe is a senior singleton whose rigid routine and solitary state in the small Scottish village of Kilgoyne causes curiosity, and engenders speculative and unkind comments about her that she doesn’t deserve.

Some say she must be a witch because of her secluded nature and encyclopaedic knowledge of healing herbs and plants which she creates potions from. This is Marjorie’s heritage as she was taught these skills by her female ancestors.

Marjorie’s twice daily routine of circling the village in exactly the same way, without fail, passing through the pub but never stopping to buy anything, to the chagrin of the landlord, is a factor in her being marked out by others.

Her routine only deviates when she sees something horrific that stops her in her tracks. She spots teenager Charlie McKee hanging in the woods. Her eyes are glued to the sight before she makes a hurried dash from the scene. All without saying anything to the police or parents.

Her timing is later disputed because fresh evidence places Charlie alive and well and elsewhere then. Public opprobrium rises when a teenage girl’s dead body is discovered by Marjorie, the murder investigation hots up, and a veritable witch-hunt takes place.

An angry mob stages a protest outside her home. It subsequently gets set on fire, though the house is saved and Marjorie gets rescued in the nick of time. Having proved herself to be an oddity, and an unreliable witness, at best, the police and many villagers doubt her veracity,

Marjorie remains determined to help solve the cases, even at risk to her own life. You can’t help but admire Marjorie’s spirit and how she prioritises finding out what really happened, rather than focusing on clearing her own name. She’s an intriguing, driven character with a sad backstory which slowly comes to light.

I love how C.S Robertson weaves factual historical accounts of how witches have been badly treated in the past throughout the narrative. It adds an extra dimension and a richer layer to the story. Grateful thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the eARC.

Set in Scotland and with dual time lines of 1998 and present day, this is a really quirky murder mystery.
Marjorie Crowe is a spinster, who has a regular, somewhat obsessive pattern of walks around her village of Kilgoyne. The villagers treat her with suspicion, they believe that although she is skilled in matters of herbalism, she is a witch.
One morning on her regular walk, she finds a local boy, Charlie McKee hanging in the local woods. She is the first to find the body, but she doesn’t inform the police, she heads straight back to her cottage in a state of shock. Automatically she is a suspect, but when the police tell her that what she saw is categorically impossible, Marjorie remains troubled. Then another teenager goes missing, and the villagers turn upon her. She is the subject of local hostility and a well orchestrated online campaign of hatred and venomous opinions circulates.
Her only protectors are the police and even they are starting to wonder too.
Marjorie is concerned that the events of 1998 are being recreated in which a Satanic cult, and witchcraft led to the unexplained disappearance of a local girl, especially as she saw a figure dressed in black, standing near the first victim.
An intriguing mystery, and I liked the character of Marjorie. Misunderstood and shunned for being different , this novel proves that every person has the right to an honest opinion and the right to be believed and kept safe. The echoes of previous Witchcraft trials in Scotland added a certain pathos to this story.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Hodder and Stoughton for my advanced digital copy, freely given in exchange for my honest opinion. A five star read. I will post to Goodreads and Amazon UK.

4.25⭐️

I absolutely adored the undiscovered deaths of Grace McGill, if you haven’t read it, you really should it’s a very unique crime thriller. So when I saw this shiny new book by the same author I couldn’t possibly miss out on a chance to read it asap.

It’s set in Scotland. Marjorie Crowe is a quirky character and a woman of habit, the villagers of Kilgoyne can set their clocks by her as she takes her twice daily walk around the village. The only day she is late it’s the same day that 11 yr old Charlie goes missing. When Marjorie is questioned her account doesn’t match up to that of other eye witnesses.

There are two time lines, the present, and one in 1998and a thread which introduces a dark folklore mystic element.

Now I love a well fleshed quirky character, which Robertson writes well, add in some additional interest and I’m hooked. It has a bit of a creepy vibe to it. Marjorie has a very old world way about her. The prose is beautifully descriptive without being wordy. The pace is slow throughout, which I can struggle with however there was enough character interest to keep my attention.

I felt there was a bit of an information dump, although might find it totally fascinating. Also one explanation that I was disappointed with it.

I found Marjorie a likeable and very forgiving character considering how she was treated. I didn’t love it as much as Grace McGill, although I enjoyed it. I think anyone who read the first book will also enjoy this, plus anyone who loves quirky character driven stories.

The Trials of marjorie Crowe is a fabulous book dealing with not only murder but also attitudes, ancient and modern, towards what is thought of by many to be witchcraft.
Intriguing and heartbreaking it kept me enthralled from beginning to end and I cannot recommend it enough.

Here it is. The high-bar to which all other books will need to aspire to match through 2024. When I tell you I started my reading this year with a stone cold banger of a book it’s no exaggeration. The Trials of Marjorie Crowe will introduce you to one of the most memorable lead characters you’re likely to encounter for many months to come and her story will live with you just as long. I adored this book.

Marjorie Crowe is a witch. Not the halloween-esk, pointy hat, bubbling cauldron type of witch but a woman who’s learnt from her predecessors which plants and flowers can have medicinal benefits, the roots which will help make a lotion or the oils which could make a salve. She lives in an old cottage in a quiet village in central Scotland. Naturally the other villagers, particularly the teenagers, consider Marjorie a figure they can ridicule and easily dismiss but Marjorie doesn’t care too much about wagging tongues, those that came before her faced bigger dangers than being mocked by their neighbours (wirriet and burnt) and she goes on with her day and follows her routine – like clockwork.

Each day Marjorie takes the same walk around the village of Kilgoyne, she treads the same paths, turns the same corners and passes directly through the local pub (not stopping). Every. Single. Day. It drives the publican crazy and it further adds to the rididule Marjorie exposes herself to but Marjorie is a creature of habit. One day, however, something is going to happen during Marjorie’s walk which will shake her to her core. Deep in the woods Marjorie finds a local teenager, Charlie McKee, hanging in a clearing. Marjorie heads home – stunned and incommunicative – she doesn’t raise the alarm and it is only when Charlie’s body is discovered several hours later that people start to question why Marjorie didn’t tell anyone of what she saw until it was far, far too late.

The villagers of Kilgoyne will shun and turn on their peculiar neighbour. But for the reader there’s a small amount of clarification dripped into the story by C.S. Robertson. When Marjorie speaks with the police about what she saw when she found Charlie it seems there were two impossibilities – one is that someone else had seen Charlie, alive and well, an hour later than Majrorie saw his body. The second impossibility was who was beside Charlie in the woods when she saw his hanged body.

As I read I was sure Marjorie was always truthful about what she had seen. This is a woman of utter conviction and she knew she was right. Until the point came when Marjorie herself began to doubt what she’d seen. How could she be mistaken? What of the unexplained coincidence of markings appearing on a tree which mirrored an identical mark that appeared when another teenager vanished from the village around two decades earlier? More mysteries and more dangers, small villages are always a haven for secrets and C.S. Robertson makes sure Kilgoyne is packed with unanswered questions.

Events in Kilgoyne escalate as another teenager disappears and Marjorie finds herself under increasing pressure and scrutiny. She’s done nothing wrong (that she sees) but the court of public opinion is very much against her – the real trial of Marjorie Crowe appears to be a trial over social media, in the streets by her home and in the heads and hearts of her neighbours. Will Marjorie be strong enough to withstand the pressure of all the negative attention and what happens when emboldened mobs decide they can take matters into their own hands.

There is so much to this story that I simply cannot do it justice in such a short space. This is a book crying out to be your next pick at your local bookgroup, it needs discussed (only with people who know what happens) and the impact it had on me will last for quite some time. Stellar reading – grab this book!

I really enjoyed this book it wasn’t what I was expecting at all! When a young boy is found dead and another goes missing all the fingers point to Marjorie Crowe, a local woman who has always lived her life as an outsider.

This is so much more than a traditional thriller and explores witchcraft and how women accused of being witches were treated.

I loved the character of Majorie and I felt so sad for her in parts, she really broke my heart, the book was really beautifully written and i’ll definitely be picking up the authors other works.

Well... isn't Marjorie Crowe another cracking character!? I really enjoyed our time together and was a little sad to have to say goodbye to her on finishing the book. To say that she is a little quirky is a bit of an understatement and, as with every quirky female character of a certain age who keeps herself to herself, she is labelled a witch by the village kids. One of the things she does every day twice a day in fact, is go for a walk. It's a strange walk, but always the same walk, exactly the same, at exactly the same time. She even walks through a pub en route - in one door, out the other.
It is on one of these walks where she sees him. Hanging. Dead. 11 year old Charlie McKee. This discovery leads her to be 7 minutes late when walking through the pub and people notice. When word of the boy's disappearance starts to spread, people remember again and she is visited by the police where eventuality she explains that at 1.55pm she saw Charlie hanging, being watched over by a man in black. Except Charlie was seen alive in the street at half two that afternoon... So what's going on? And then people remember another girl who went missing a few years back. And Marjorie starts to get targeted and things really start to get dark...
I loved this book. It isn't my first by this author - The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill is also a brilliant read - and it most definitely won't be my last. I have read a fair few books with "quirky" people as main characters but both Grace and Marjorie are up in my top 5 I think. And that is half the battle when writing a character driven book. Although I also wouldn't necessarily class this as such as the plot is equally important - and indeed, just as expertly created and executed. I had an inkling about something but absolutely no idea where we were going until we got there. But when we did I sat back, wholly satisfied, and applauded a job well done.
And if that wasn't enough, I also learned quite a lot about witchcraft and witch-trials through Marjorie's own research. A subject which has interested me since I visited Salem a few years ago. Bonus!
I really can't wait to see what the author serves up for next time. More of the same please :)
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I was really excited to have the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Trials of Marjorie Crowe by C.S. Robertson.

Marjorie Crowe is an enigma - no-one knows much about her despite her having lived in the Scottish village of Kilgoyne for over twenty years.

On one of Marjorie’s daily walks, she sees Charlie McKee, a local teenage boy hanging in a tree, which understandably unsettles her. The issue is that police have evidence that Charlie was seen later alive, so Marjorie couldn’t have seen him……

Villagers very quickly turn against Marjorie. She’s never really been understood by them over the years. And now they can’t understand what she saw or why she said she saw Charlie. A modern day witch-hunt begins in Kilgoyne….. All Marjorie can do is try to clear her name and try to investigate what is actually going on in the village.

I loved this book. I was really drawn to Marjorie and respected her strength of character. I found the short historical accounts between chapters fascinating on the women who were tried and executed during the Witchcraft Trials in Scotland. It really brought home how hundreds of years after the Witchcraft Trials, people still are quick to turn against people who are a little different.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, for making this e-ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review. I can’t wait to read the next C.S. Robertson book.