'The Marlow Murder Club' Recap: Episode 2

The Marlow Murder Club airs Sundays at 8:00 pm and is available to stream via the PBS app and wttw.com. Recap the previous and following episodes.
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As the dogwalker Suzie Harris sits distraught outside the house of Iqbal Kassam, whom she found murdered in his bed, Judith Potts rides up on her bike and introduces herself. She tells the police that Suzie needs to recover before giving them more of a statement, and offers to accompany the grateful Suzie home. Iqbal’s dog Luna, whom Suzie watched almost every night while Iqbal worked as a taxi driver, goes home with her.

Iqbal himself took in Luna when his neighbor Ezra died last year. Iqbal was a generous man who gave 10 percent of his earnings to a refugee charity every year and offered free rides to retirees, as related in an old newspaper article found by Judith. After learning a bit about Suzie – her daughter Zeta’s father walked out when Zeta was a baby, but Zeta is now enjoying staying with him in Jamaica – Judith explains to Suzie that she’s investigating the murder of her neighbor, Stefan Dunwoody. She asks Suzie to share any information about Iqbal that occurs to her and might be significant.

When Suzie shows up at the huge manor Judith inherited from her great-aunt later, she arrives at the same time as the vicar’s wife Becks Starling, who’s bearing a cake. They both have information.

Suzie explains that Iqbal seemed to have come into some money a few months ago, but shared few details. When Suzie asked about it again a few weeks later, he was upset and didn’t want to talk. Perhaps he had been cheated out of the money. She also mentions that the police asked her about a medallion that said “Hope” that they found in Iqbal’s mouth.

Becks has invited the church gossip Mrs. Eddingham to tea to learn more about Stefan on the pretense of helping her husband Colin prepare Stefan’s eulogy. Eddingham shared that Stefan ran a scam with Elliot Howard’s father Alec, back when Alec owned the auction house that Elliot now runs. Alec would find patrons who unknowingly had expensive paintings and send Stefan to lowball the value before buying it to sell for a profit or keep himself. Alec always got a cut.

Judith still suspects Elliot is involved with Stefan’s death, even though he has an alibi confirmed by Becks – they were at choir together. Becks does say she doesn’t trust Elliot, however.

Judith tells the other women about the brick hurled through her window with a message to “stay away,” and Suzie suggests trying to match the note to Elliot’s handwriting. She and Becks head to his auction house, video-calling Judith. While they’re there, the police arrive to ask Elliot if he has recently sold an antique German gun – that’s what killed both Stefan and Iqbal, and Elliot has delayed in responding to the police’s request. But he did sell a World War II German pistol last year.

Elliot pulls out his book of receipts and Suzie “accidentally” knocks over an artifact, drawing everyone’s attention while Becks snaps a photo of the receipt. Elliot’s handwriting on it doesn’t match the message attached to the brick hurled at Judith.

So the amateur sleuths decide to visit the customer who bought the gun: Chris Bott, another member of Becks’ choir. Becks gets them in the door, then Judith engages Chris on the subject of war memorabilia. He opens up to her and agrees to show off his collection, which he keeps hidden – for good reason, given that it’s all Nazi gear, to the discomfort of the three women.

Judith asks if he has a German pistol, and he goes to show it to her – but finds it missing. Just then, a SWAT team descends and arrests him. As Tanika admonishes Judith and her new friends about continuing to interfere in the case, Judith realizes that the police’s presence means the same gun must have been used to kill both Stefan and Iqbal. Becks happily introduces herself as the mother of a kid who is in the same music class as Tanika’s daughter Shanti.

Then Becks remembers she is supposed to pick up a bishop to bring him to church. She, Judith, Suzie, and Iqbal’s dog Luna all go together. Judith and Suzie admire Becks’ ability to make people feel comfortable as she greets her husband’s parishioners.

Later, at Stefan’s funeral, Becks notices a woman sitting apart from the service but watching – and Tanika notices Becks notice the woman. After the service, Judith scans the condolence book while Suzie and Becks bond over both having teenage daughters. Judith finds a match for the handwriting on the brick message: Elliot’s wife and assistant Daisy.

Daisy admits that she threw the brick. She knows that Elliot has affairs, and assumed that Judith was one of them when Elliot obviously lied to Daisy about the purpose of Judith’s visit (which was actually to question Elliot about Stefan). She also admits that Elliot hated Stefan, because Elliot’s father Alec had a painting by Stanley Spencer that he bequeathed to Stefan, even though the painting was a favorite of Elliot’s and inspired him to go to art school. But despite his flaws – Daisy has also privately wondered why Elliot delayed in answering the police’s request about the German pistol – Daisy says Elliot wouldn’t have killed Stefan.

That night, the trio of amateur detectives hear glass shatter and an alarm go off outside Judith’s manor. Judith sees a flashlight moving inside Stefan’s house and goes over to investigate, leaving the other two women to call the police. Inside Stefan’s, she announces herself – and gets knocked out by the person with the flashlight.

She rouses when Tanika and the police arrive with Becks and Suzie. Becks notes the orderliness of the room – and an unexpected square of dust on the wall. A painting has been moved. Judith suspects it is the Stanley Spencer that Elliot coveted, and that Elliot took it.

Tanika warns the three women that the killer might come for them if they realize the women are investigating. Suzie and Becks want to stay the night with Judith, who lives alone, but she refuses. She had earlier bristled at talk of her marriage (she still wears a ring), but now says that her husband was a bad man and she survived him; she can survive this.

Alone that night, she thinks back to a sunny morning in a paradisiacal place when her husband requested that she tell anyone who asked that he was at home the previous Tuesday night. He wouldn’t explain why.

Later, Judith has an insight. She is turned away at the police station when she tries to see Tanika to share it, so sneaks in on her own. Tanika is in the middle of a briefing. There is indeed a Stanley Spencer painting missing from Stefan’s home, according to the list of his insured artwork. And no one can confirm Elliot’s alibi that he was at home alone when Judith noticed movement in Stefan’s house.

Judith interrupts to share a theory: Stefan and Iqbal’s murders share numerous characteristics – the gun, the shot in the forehead – but no medallion was found with Stefan. Judith brings Tanika with her to trawl the pond where Stefan was found with a magnet – and brings up another medallion reading “Faith.” There’s a famous Bible verse about faith, hope, and charity. Another murder is coming.