The Marlow Murder Club

While I already loved the core trio from Season 1, they’re even better here, feeling truly like a group of good friends now that they’ve had some time to settle in.

Groundbreaking it sure is not, but cozy, it most definitely is. The Marlow Murder Club features a charming ensemble of British actors doing what they do best: countryside murder mysteries with low stakes and high quality. Pour a cuppa and get comfy under a blanket because this is peak cozy murder mystery material.

“Marlow” begs our indulgence, in other words, but given its various charms, it needn’t make very much effort doing so.

The comedy in particular is somewhat stilted. .... However, in spite of any of these reservations, there's no doubt this second season gives fans what they're looking – some fun, intricate murder mystery puzzles brought to life by a very game cast.

The characters are charming, the performances are effective and the reveals are impressive. However, if you're looking for something new, fresh and formula-busting, then you're best to look elsewhere.

Marlow’s Judith Potts (Samantha Bond), Becks Starling (Cara Horgan) and Suzie Harris (Jo Martin)—a retired archaeologist, a vicar’s wife and a dog walker, respectively—are decidedly more dilettantish and seem to relish rankling certain members of the Marlow force. They do have an ally in Detective Sergeant Tanika Malik (the terrific Natalie Dew), who knows a valuable resource when she conspires with one.

The dialogue was stilted and heavily laden with exposition, leaving the actors to struggle to make such implausible conversation seem realistic. The worst of this came during the cheesy, sepia-toned flashback scenes, where the important information was so obviously signposted it felt, at times, like a comedy parody of a murder mystery.