Review: The Mudflats Murder Club by Brian Thiem

The Mudflats Murder Club (Mudflats Murder Club Mysteries, #1)

by Brian Thiem

Release Date: July 29, 2025

2025 Severn River Publishing

Ebook ARC; 354 Pages

ISBN: 978-1648756283

ASIN:  ‎ B0DBRJB1L8

Audiobook: B0FFM3XZ8D

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Former homicide detective and recently widowed Sean Tanner has settled into Spartina Island's private retirement community, hoping to find solace after his wife's death in their chosen paradise. He soon finds himself drawn into the Mudflats Murder Club, an enthusiastic group of retired detectives, prosecutors, and forensic experts who are engrossed in solving the 38-year-old unsolved murder of Theresa Goldberg.

But the quiet of the community is shattered when Sean’s neighbor, Nancy Russo, is found dead in her home. Ignited by the crime, the club jumps into the fray, much to the annoyance of Sergeant Charlotte “Charlie” Nash, the lead detective spearheading the murder investigation. When Sean and his cohorts uncover a shocking connection between Nancy’s murder and their long-standing cold case, everything they thought they knew goes up in flames.

My Thoughts

The Mudflats Murder Club is one of those books to which I was drawn because the main characters were retired and lived in a retirement community, and as someone was had just recently retired, I was drawn to the older characters and to lives that were similar to mine.  However, this was much more than that and I found this to be a well-plotted, very enjoyable mystery. 

 

The MC was a retired homicide detective who inadvertently became involved in the murder investigation of his neighbour. While he's reluctant to give his advice, his natural curiosity and his years as a detective are hard to put aside and he is asked to help which does not endear himself to the local detective. I enjoyed Sean's character development as I understand how hard it would be to not want to get involved even if you are retired as those years you spent on the job just don't go away because you are retired. At first he clashes with Charlie Nash, the lead detective on the case, although in all fairness, the annoyance was all on her side as she felt she didn't need the help. I wasn't a huge fan of Charlie at the beginning of the novel as her uppity attitude got on my nerves, but she did grow on me as the story developed.  The ego trips are sometimes hard to deal with and the book just barely touched on the political nature of the police force in the area, something I think will be incorporated in future books. 

 

The plot itself moved along fairly comfortably and there were enough twists and turns to keep me turning the pages.  There were a lot of characters that were introduced, but it was not overwhelming, and many of them will probably feature in future books so I look forward to learning more about them as there are some intriguing characters, with some interesting backstories. What I especially liked is that the secondary characters are not just relegated to background noise, but the author took the time to develop a couple of them so they feel more fleshed out. The setting plays a huge role in the story and I enjoyed the descriptions of both the retirement community as well as the larger community in general.  I have visited the general area, so I was able to picture it in my mind.  

 

Verdict

The Mudflats Murder Club was an excellent introduction to a new series, and one I enjoyed tremendously. While there were a few problems with pace, I did like the attention to character development and setting, and thought the twists and turns were rather good. While I did figure out who was the culprit, I didn't understand the motive until the end, so that was fun.  I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this series, A Killer in the Cordgrass, when it releases February 2026.