'The Marlow Murder Club' Recap: Episode 3

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.
Keep up with your favorite dramas and mysteries by signing up for our newsletter, Dramalogue. 

Judith’s discovery that the murders of Stefan Dunwoody and Iqbal Kassam are connected has led Tanika to bring Judith, Becks, and Suzie on as advisers to the police in the investigation, to the disbelief of her colleagues. But Tanika wants to prevent a third murder, suggested by medallions found by Stefan and Iqbal – engravings on each of “faith” and “hope” suggest “charity,” which finishes a common Bible verse, is still to come. Judith says the verse is a motto of the Freemasons, so the police look into the local lodge.

The head of the lodge calls the auctioneer Elliot Howard to warn him that the police have requested a list of Freemasons in Marlow – but Elliot’s not on it, since he left the lodge last year. Furthermore, a painting that went missing from Stefan’s home that once belonged to Elliot’s father is now hidden in Elliot’s house. Judith, her friends, and the police don’t know this, of course, but Judith continues to believe Elliot was involved with the murders.

Another possible suspect, the Nazi memorabilia-collecting Chris Bott, has been released by the police. He was in the United States at the time of both murders, even if an antique German gun he owned is likely the murder weapon. There’s an old door on his house that could have easily had its lock picked for someone to steal the antique gun.

Judith, Becks, and Suzie pore over the police files on the investigation, and Judith is impressed by Tanika’s work. Tanika mentions in a report noticing a woman watching Stefan’s funeral from afar, but that she disappeared before Tanika could question her. Becks also noticed her, and knows her from her yoga class: she’s Liz Curtis.

Suzie also knows her. Liz won an Olympic gold medal and now runs a rowing club with her husband Danny. Suzie used to take care of their dog. After the club suffered a bad flood and the Curtises had to consider selling it before the town rallied around them, they stopped using Suzie. Liz later told Suzie their dog had to be put down, but other people told Suzie nothing had been wrong with the dog. Suzie is convinced Liz killed the dog for no reason.

The trio of detectives go to speak to Liz, who denies knowing Stefan or Iqbal; she says she happened to be near the church when the funeral took place and was just sitting nearby when it moved to the graveyard. She leaves the interrogation, and Judith bags her notebook to bring it to the police for fingerprints.

The trio then speak to Liz’s husband Danny, who says Liz did know Stefan and had used Iqbal’s taxi service the other week. She was shaken up by their deaths.

Suzie still has a key to Iqbal’s house from watching his dog, so she, Becks, and Judith go visit. Suzie checks Iqbal’s landline, through which all his bookings came through, and sees Liz’s number on it – Danny wasn’t lying about Liz using Iqbal’s taxi.

Meanwhile, Judith opens Iqbal’s mail and finds a letter from some lawyers Iqbal had contacted. Iqbal’s neighbor Ezra Harrington recently died – Iqbal’s dog Luna, now under Suzie’s care, was previously Ezra’s – and Ezra’s will left his whole estate to Iqbal. But, two weeks before Ezra’s death, his lawyer Giles Bishop drew up a new will naming Giles as executor and sole beneficiary. This was the expected but lost windfall Iqbal had mentioned to Suzie months ago.

Judith visits Giles’ office and asks to see him while he is at lunch. Becks and Suzie observe as he immediately leaves his lunch and marches straight back to the office upon mention from his receptionist in a phone call of Ezra Harrington’s will. Judith accosts him outside the office, saying she has an elderly aunt in the same situation as Ezra – isn’t that unethical, for a lawyer to be sole beneficiary of a will they drew up? She follows Giles inside when he brushes her off and cleverly positions herself to observe him shredding a paper once he gets into his office.

So she, Suzie, and Becks plan to steal his shredded paper. Becks asks to see Giles at the office, then goes to “use the bathroom” but instead pops some pieces of bread into a toaster underneath a smoke detector. When the fire alarm goes off and everyone evacuates outside, Suzie stands on the wheelchair in which Judith is disguised as a frail elderly woman to clamber into Giles’ office window. She bags Giles’ shredded paper and replaces it with more shreds so that he won’t notice.

But the law office’s receptionist has quickly discovered the burnt toast as the issue and called everyone back inside. Suzie hides under Giles’ desk while Becks follows him back to his office and asks to consult with him on a matter – outside. She needs the fresh air. He reluctantly agrees, and listens to her complain about her husband before she suddenly abandons him at an all-clear sign from Judith. Suzie has made it out of the office.

But sorting through the shreds and piecing them back together is a daunting task. Judith knows that Giles shredded a shiny piece of paper, at least.

The trio has shared their information about Liz Curtis with Tanika and her team. Despite a complaint from one of her colleagues about her leadership of the case, Tanika continues to find that the amateur detectives are onto something. GPS from Iqbal’s phone shows that he took Liz to Chris Bott’s house, where she could have stolen the murder weapon. And her prints, lifted from the notebook Judith took from her, match those on the door and window of Stefan’s house after Judith spotted an intruder there.

Tanika calls Judith to warn her that they’re arresting Liz and thus to stay away – and Judith, Becks, and Suzie happily abandon their paper sorting to go observe.

But Liz is dead, shot in the forehead like Stefan and Iqbal, with a medallion reading “charity” in her mouth. Her husband Danny was out of town with a rowing team. When he returns, Suzie hides and listens to Tanika interview him. He says that everyone loved Liz; he was the one with the temper. Liz had been distracted, snappy, and withdrawn recently, and had been out of the house a lot without explanation.

Suzie’s hiding spot is given away when her phone rings – it’s her daughter Zeta. Tanika gives Suzie a stern word.

Judith has immediately set off to Elliot’s auction house to demand to know where he was when Liz was killed just an hour or so earlier – but he and his wife Daisy both confirm that they’ve been running an auction in front of witnesses all day. Judith does notice a newly blank wall in his office before he insists that she leave.

Elliot then calls someone and tells them that they need to meet.