It’s the Closest Call Yet for 'The Marlow Murder Club' in the Season 2 Finale

The Marlow Murder Club wrapped up their third case of the season in the Season 2 finale, but it was a very close call for one of our girls before the murderer was apprehended. When we last left off in "Sailing Close to the Wind," James Wyckham (Dominic Mafham) was squashed beneath his boat in the Tynham workshop. Luckily, the falling boat doesn't kill him, just severely injures his arm and makes Harry (James Goddas) even more of a person of interest to the police. 

Harry's business is failing because of Kit Harcourt's (Raphael Akuwudike) allegations that Harry stole money from the sailing club bar. James supported Kit in those claims, making him a potential target number two. When Harry hesitates to call an ambulance after discovering James in the shop, it makes the police all the more suspicious that he's their man. The only people looking out for Harry are his daughter, Jackie (Camilla Beeput), and Suzie. While Harry isn't completely innocent in all of this mess, Jackie and Suzie's determination to prove he isn't a killer puts a massive target on their back. It leads both of them to terrifying experiences by the end of the episode. 

Luckily, Judith is also on the case, and she manages to work it out before anyone is grievously injured. 

One of the major missing puzzle pieces in Kit Harcourt's murder is whether the theft of boat engines from the club shed on the same morning is related to the banker's gruesome death. The police and the MMC have been working both cases simultaneously to find a connection, but it's Judith who finally catches the thieves. 

She placed a large order of engines in the previous episode after the team deduced that the thief must be an inside man at the company. Then Judith, Suzie, and Becks dig a big hole in the woods behind Judith's house and cover it with leaves so the thief will fall into it when coming to steal the engines after they are delivered. The plan requires an all-nighter, but by the end of it, Judith and the girls discover Harry Tynham in their trap and his associate – the sketchy kid from Suzie's favorite pub – driving the getaway van. 

They are both brought in for questioning and confess to stealing the engines from the club to save their respective businesses. However, they deny having anything to do with Kit's murder. The robbery took place hours before, and they didn't see Kit Harcourt at all on the morning he was killed. Their DNA wasn't found near Kit's body either – only the DNA of a missing investment banker by the name of Darren Benson was found on the boat. 

They are in possession of a watch they found on the ground at the scene of the crime, though. Becks takes the watch to an antiques dealer she's worked with at the church, and he's able to point them to Ursula Liddington (Elizabeth Bennett). The watch belongs to her late husband. When the ladies ask Ursula about it, she reveals that her husband gave the watch to James Wyckham when he became commodore of the club. 

Judith and Becks ask to talk to James, who sometimes works out of a spare room at Ursula's house, so they can verify the watch found with the thieves belongs to him. She takes them inside, and Judith discovers a hidden computer setup that cracks the entire case wide open. 

Someone is one step ahead of Judith and the MMC, though, and that's Jackie Tynham. The police ask her to search James Wyckham's car, which is still parked at the Tynham workshop after his accident. Jackie doesn't find the phone, but she finds something that alarms her and immediately hangs up on the police team. 

The next time we see Jackie, she's calling Suzie to let her know that she's figured out who killed Kit Harcourt. She's typing the message on her computer, but the killer is on to her as well and chloroforms her before she can send the message. Her voicemail to Suzie goes unanswered because Suzie was with the girls laying the trap for the thieves when it happened. She gets it the next morning and rushes to the Tynham workshop to find Jackie unconscious, but thankfully still alive. 

Suzie is distraught after Jackie is taken away and is determined to do something to help wth the case. Unfortunately, the killer overhears Suzie say she's going to the workshop to look for Jackie's phone and additional clues while Judith and Becks follow up on the watch. The killer follows her to the seminar and kidnaps her German Shepherd, Luna. The dog is used to lure Suzie to a boat on the outskirts of town, which is rigged to start sinking as soon as she's inside. 

Luckily, Suzie has great and resourceful friends. When she doesn't return their calls after the watch revelations, Judith and Becks go to Suzie's house and find her abandoned phone, which has a tracking app for Luna's collar. They use it to track her to the boat just as the killer is leaving on his bike. They use Luna's leash to knock the assailant off the bike and call the police to get Suzie free from the sinking boat. 

The assailant is none other than James Wyckham. His real name is Darren Benson, and he was a disgraced investment banker from London who created a new identity after being caught for fraud at his previous job. He moved to Marlow to lead a quiet new existence, but all of that went up in smoke when Kit Harcourt arrived at the sailing club. 

Kit worked at the same bank as James/Darren and figured out his real identity after seeing an old photo from the sailing club team from twenty years ago. It was James who was stealing money from the sailing club bar instead of Harry Tynham, but Kit wanted Harry's business property on the river. Instead of turning James into the police, Kit blackmailed him into approving a compulsory sale of Harry's land for Kit, but that wasn't enough to satisfy the ambitious sailor. 

James knew Kit would continue to extort him, or worse, reveal James' true identity to his wife. So James met Kit at the sailing club on the windy morning, wearing the vice commodore's hat — which Jackie found in the boot of his car when she searched it — and hit Kit in the back of the head with the boom. James cut the rope at Harry's shop to make the boat fall on his arm and cast suspicion even further away from himself.

He might have gotten away with it, too, if Jackie hadn't found the hat. Once she confronted him about it, James knew she had to be taken out as well. He just didn't hold the handkerchief over her face long enough. Then he overheard Suzie say she was going to look for more clues, and he couldn't risk her connecting him to the crime, so he set up the trap for her on the boat. 

Even if Judith and Becks hadn't caught James red-handed leaving Suzie on the sinking boat, Judith had figured out he was Darren Benson as soon as she saw the computers with scrolling financial data at Ursula's house. James planned to pay back all the money, but it didn't matter. He committed murder and then attempted murder twice on top of all the financial fraud. He did all of it to prevent his wife, Hayley (Abigail Cruttenden), from finding out who he really was, but it all came out anyway. 

James went off to prison. Suzie was saved from the boat. Jackie made a full recovery, and Harry was given a reduced sentence for his thieving. 

The Marlow Murder Club and Tanika's (Natalie Dew) team were up against the clock for most of the past two episodes. Tanika wanted the case solved before she had to return her temporary supervisory position to her coworker, who was coming off sick leave. However, Tanika finally learns in the finale that her co-worker isn't coming back, and she's officially going to be head of the detective team. That means she gets to keep her job, and the MMC gets to keep their roles as civilian advisers. 

Judith has also reignited her passion for archaeology. Her work on the "Fred" dig site in Marlow at the start of this case proves she's not done digging up bones and making connections with history. She's going to continue working, but don't worry, she'll still make time for solving murders on the side. 

All six episodes of The Marlow Murder Club Season 2 are available for members via PBS Passport. Season 1 is also available for PBS Passport members; Season 3 is already in production and is expected to debut in mid-2026 on both sides of the pond.