"The Trials of Marjorie Crowe" by C.S Robertson

The Trials of Marjorie Crowe by C.S Robertson

"The Trials of Marjorie Crowe" by C.S Robertson was recommended to me by Steve Cavanagh. That makes it sound a bit grander than what actually happened. My Book Club went along to a talk he did at our local Waterstones and someone asked him what the last book he read was and he said this.

As I love Steve Cavanagh's books, I figured if it was good enough for him, then I'd probably love it too. I downloaded it and finally got around to reading it earlier this week. It turns out Steve was right! It's a bloody good book and I demolished it in 3 days.

"The Trials of Marjorie Crowe" by C.S. Robertson is all about a lady called Marjorie Crowe who lives in the fictional Scottish village of Kilgoyne. Marjorie is an outsider and even though she's lived there for 25 years, the rest of the village have decided that she's a bit weird, her age and past are subjects of local speculation.... they say all kinds of mean things about her and Marjorie, largely doesn't care.

Every day Marjorie goes for a walk, always taking the same route, which involves walking through the local pub, she never stops for a drink. One day the walk takes a dark turn when she finds the body of a local teenager, Charlie McKee hanging from a tree, her peculiar reaction and the subsequent inconsistencies in her account draw the attention of Detectives Deacon and Sharma, as well as the ire of the community. As another young person goes missing, the village's latent suspicions toward Marjorie intensify, leading to a modern-day witch hunt reminiscent of historical persecutions.

For me the book cleverly weaves the historical persicution of women with modern day. What was once the mumblings of a woman's neighbours that she was different or eccentric or complex gets taken online and when you think about it, nothign has really changed.

But that is just the backdrop to a very clever murder mystery that had me on the edge of my seat, I genuinely couldn't put it down, so if you're looking for you next read, I highly recommend "The Trials of Marjorie Crowe."

I gave it a 9 out of 10.

I'd love to know if you've read it and what you thought?