Midsomer Murders: Set One

To that illustrious group, British author Caroline Graham in 1987 added another sleuthing couple, the middle-aged D.C.I. Tom Barnaby and his young colleague D.S. Gavin Troy, coppers in a cluster of villages which, collectively, make up an area known as Midsomer County, and which could easily rival Agatha Christie's very own St. Mary Mead in per-capita occurrences of treachery, crime and bloodletting. The series' first entry, "The Killings at Badgers Drift," was so successful that it won a Macavity Award for best first mystery and, for its author, an instant loyal following. Before long, the books spawned a television series, which at almost 30 episodes has long since outrun the number of its print originals. Starring as Barnaby and Troy are Royal Shakespeare Company alumnus John Nettles, best known to TV audiences as Jerseyan Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac in the 1980s' series of the same name (based on the books by Andrew Saville), and Daniel Casey, whose most notable other roles to date have been appearances in the BBC's "Our Friends in the North" and the 1998 Catherine Cookson adaptation "The Wingless Bird." Nettles and Casey are an engaging team, not quite faithful to their characters' literary versions - which however works well to their advantage; particularly in the case of Daniel Casey's Troy, who is less brash and more goodnaturedly witty than in the books, and who presents a good foil for Nettles's emphatic Barnaby; in turn overall more reminiscent of George Baker's Wexford than of Nettles's own Bergerac, whose domestic bliss is spoiled, again and again, by the callings of his job; to his regret as much as to his family's; yet, he is to much of a professional not to heed those callings every single time.

With release of the series' episodes already underway in Britain, Acorn Media has now proceeded to the "region 1" transcription of its installments, individually and in collections of four episodes each. And while it is unfortunate that the TV version of "The Killings at Badgers Drift" - which not only introduced the characters of Barnaby and Troy but is also expressly referenced in this first collection's installment "Death's Shadow" - is neither part of this first nor even of the second boxed set released in the U.S., overall this is a most welcome and long overdue opportunity for fans of the series to reacquaint themselves with this winning pair of detectives and the not-so peaceful, albeit wonderfully filmed setting of rural Midsomer County.

This collection features the following episodes:

"Beyond the Grave:" Assisted by Barnaby's son, who is to "shadow" Troy in preparation of a school theatre appearance as a policeman, the two detectives have to get to the bottom of a series of seemingly paranormal events at Aspern Tallow Museum, all the while investigating the murders of a descendant of a long-deceased village hero and another local man who, like so many of the village residents, turns out not to always have been the honorable citizen his neighbors had known him to be.

"Blood Will Out:" Martyr Warren magistrate Hector Bridges is a Falklands hero, but also a man with an irascible temper, which endears him to few of his neighbors - and even less so to the traveler clans who assemble in the village one summer week, and whose leader has a bone of his own to pick with the magistrate. But are the wayfarers - the quintessential "usual suspects" for everything from theft to horsetrading - also guilty of his murder? (And will Barnaby survive the diet imposed on him by his wife and daughter without succumbing to the temptations of candy bars and chocolate cakes?)

"Death's Shadow:" Dark childhood memories haunt successful director Simon Fletcher as he returns to Badgers Drift to teach a summer acting workshop, one of whose attendees is Barnaby's daughter Callie. As he arrives, a series of arcane and seemingly unconnected murders begins in the village. Caught between the investigation and the preparations of the ceremonial confirmation of his marriage vows at Badgers Drift church, Barnaby eventually realizes that he has to dig deep into the hamlet's past to find the deeply disturbed mind responsible for the horrors visited upon its population.

"Strangler's Wood:" The forest's true name is Raven's Wood, but ever since three young women were found there strangled with a necktie years ago, it is more commonly known as "Strangler's Wood." Not surprising, then, that the discovery of yet another murdered woman ten years after the original crimes (this time a beautiful Brazilian model) brings forth premonitions of the worst kind; especially since the culprit responsible for the first three crimes was never caught. But did he really return to his evil ways, as suddenly as he had stopped murdering so long ago? As Barnaby and daughter Callie make an attempt at father-daughter bonding and Troy seizes an opportunity to demonstrate his linguistic prowess, they investigate the dead beauty's movements in Midsomer County - and unmask, yet again, more than one of its residents who is not quite as honorable as he seems.