Review of Mad Mad Murders of Marigold Way

The Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold Way by Raymond Benson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I met Raymond Benson, the author, at a Chicago Writer’s Association event. We’re both members but he’s sold a lot more books. I don’t know exactly how his latest novel came to my attention, but it did, and after a long rest on my to-be-read pile I finally got to it. I very much enjoyed it, with one exception. Each chapter opens with an unidentified narrator who provides commentary on the chapter to follow, something which was explicitly based on Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town. I found these commentaries at best distracting and at worst irritating. With the exception of the first one, they were also unnecessary.

Having said the above, I really enjoyed the book. Essentially all the action takes place over a few weeks in May, 2020 in a small subdivision of a suburban Chicago town. Who lives in which house and where those houses are in relationship to each other is a critical part of the story. Also critical is COVID-19, which was still in its early and uncontrolled stages.

Scott Hatcher, a mid-list novelist, resides in one of the houses with his wife, a realtor. She goes missing, as does his neighbor John Bergman. Then another house on the block catches fire and the bodies of the missing people are found inside. The story is one of solving these murders, and it comes with a surprising twist at the end. Other than the commentaries mentioned above, it’s a delightful book.




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