miles-33108 Reviews

Murdoch Mysteries: Nolo Contendere (2015) Season 9, Episode 1

Crabtree is in jail. Can anything be done to help him?

[10/10 · 21 December 2016]

The first proper episode of season 9 opens with George Crabtree in the Don Jail, after he offered no defence to the charge of murdering Archibald Brooks, the violent husband of Edna Brooks, whom George had been courting.

In the prison exercise yard, a fellow inmate, Julian Foster, approaches George with news of a threat to Edna. This engages George, who grabs Foster and may have done him harm, if the prison guards had no separated them. They arrange a meeting later, in the coal shed.

In their suite at the Windsor House Hotel, Murdoch and Dr Ogden are discussing a cartographic exhibition advertised in the Toronto Gazette. Just then their telephone rings. It is Constable Higgins, to tell Murdoch there has been a burglary at Edna Brooks' former residence. Murdoch wouldn't normally look into a burglary, but as Dr Ogden feels George is in jail for a crime Edna probably committed, Murdoch is persuaded to respond.

George goes to the coal shed to see Foster, but finds him on the point of death. Apparently, someone stabbed him. George raises the alarm. Prison guards collect Foster's body, but George tries to stop them, as they may be destroying vital evidence. Former Chief Constable Giles, also a prisoner following his conviction for murder, tells George to be careful.

Murdoch visits the burglary scene. The new resident, Mr Suffolk, tells Murdoch nothing is missing. Murdoch examines the room, and is sure something about it is different from the last time he was there. As he can't immediately identify the difference, he sends Constable Higgins to fetch his camera.

At Don Jail, former CC Giles tells Crabtree he knows Crabtree is there for a crime Edna committed, and doesn't know whether Crabtree is the noblest man he has ever met, or the stupidest. Either way, he wishes George luck.

Murdoch and Julia compare the photographs Murdoch took now against the old crime scene photographs. Julia sees the possibility of a new game in this, and does indeed spot the difference: the chimney from the stove has been moved. Perhaps someone who had a key, most likely Edna, has retrieved something.

At Don Jail, Giles provokes a fight to occupy the guards and enable Crabtree to look at Foster's body. All he has time to do is examine the fatal wound, and to note a tattoo on his right arm, which tells George that Foster had served in the same regiment as Archibald Brooks. He tells Murdoch all this when Murdoch visits him, and Murdoch says he will look into it. Soon, he has found the murder weapon. At the morgue, Dr Grace and Lilian Moss are planning to move to London, England. Murdoch arrives with Foster's body and the weapon he found at the jail.

Inspector Brackenreid has retrieved Foster's belongings, and finds a photograph of him and other members of the regiment, including Archibald Brooks. Also among Foster's papers is a lead to another soldier from a different unit, Douglas Roper. Mrs Roper has no idea what has become of her husband, though she does tell Murdoch that two other men, one of whom she identifies as Brooks, had been asking after him some months before.

In an attempt to flush out the killer, George starts a book on whom Murdoch will arrest.

Murdoch suspects that Brooks has killed Roper and assumed his identity. He then wonders about why Brooks allowed himself to be cornered in an alley when he was shot, so he visits the alley and discovers a huge uncut diamond, hidden behind a loose brick. Just then, an unseen assailant coshes him from behind. When he wakes, the diamond has gone.

Murdoch tells George that he suspects Brooks' army friends killed him over the diamond, and George finally admits that he did not kill Brooks, but assumed Edna had. Inspector Brackenreid visits Edna, who says she thought George had shot her husband.

George's bookmaking ruse seems to have worked. A convict called Pearson seems to be the killer, though he's unlikely to have done it without being paid.

So, will Murdoch track down the person who killed Archibald Brooks, and thereby prove George not guilty? Will George be able to settle down with Edna and Simon? Will Julia market her game of spot the difference?

This enjoyable episode has a fine multi-layered mystery at its heart, as well as offering insights into the characters of the main players. Whether the experience will make or break George remains to be seen, and in the end, there are possibilities to take the story forward. Once again, the historical research behind the story is spot on, except for the conceit that a plaintiff can offer nolo contendere in Canada: in the British Empire a plaintiff must either plead guilty or not guilty. A refusal to plead is treated as a not guilty plea.

Murdoch Mysteries: The Devil Wears Whalebone (2015) Season 8, Episode 12

Beneath the corsetry lies something deeply unattractive

[8/10 · 20 December 2016]

There is a fashion show at the House of Heloise. Many buyers are there to acquire latest in lingerie for their stores in New York and London. There is also a demonstration outside, led by Miss Lilian Moss, against the cruelty of corsetry. Suddenly, a brick comes through one of the windows, and one of the models, Miss Isabelle Young, is struck and killed. Miss Heloise seems determined to pass the incident off as a terrible accident, until one of her models reminds her of an anonymous note she received before the show, saying CORSETS KILL.

Gareth Clark is there, apparently not at Miss Heloise's invitation. He is a former employer and lover of Miss Heloise, but they have had a falling out.

Murdoch discovers that Lilian Moss was present at the demonstration, and she admits to throwing the brick, though she never intended anybody to come to harm.

Crabtree is concerned when Simon Brooks comes into Police Station 4 with a bloody nose. The person who gave it to him is already in the station: Bobby Brackenreid - it was a fight over a penny dropped on the sidewalk.

Dr Grace concludes the autopsy on Isabelle, and tells Murdoch the cause of death was in fact asphyxiation, but she has no idea how it happened.

Back at the Windsor House Hotel, Dr Ogden is trying on the corset Isabelle was wearing, and whilst at first she finds it comfortable and stylish, suddenly she collapses on the floor, unable to breathe. Murdoch is on hand to undo the corset: he now has the killer.

Murdoch takes the corset apart to see how it works, and discovers that deep within the garment is a chain-link structure that acts as a ratchet and gradually tightens the corset.

Miss Heloise knows nothing about the chain-link mechanism, and says she would certainly not have designed any corset like that, especially as she had been due to model it. Murdoch goes to the head seamstress, Eunice Parks, but she says that the corset she made for the show is not the one Murdoch is showing her. She doesn't know who made that one, or where the one she made has gone.

Inspector Brackenreid tells Constable Crabtree that they need to settle the matter between Bobby and Simon. He proposes a fair fight in a proper ring, with the winner taking the penny.

In the morgue, the corset gives up its secrets. It is triggered by a sharp intake of breath, as might have happened when the brick came through the window. Dr Grace tells Murdoch that Lilian Moss had fallen out with Miss Heloise when she had modelled for her.

So, who was responsible for the death of Isabelle Young? Was it Miss Heloise, despite the damage it would do to her reputation and business? Was it Gareth Clark, in retaliation for a broken heart? Was it Miss Moss, taking her vendetta with Miss Heloise too far? Was it one of the women in Miss Heloise's empty, with all their bitchy squabbling? And who will win the big fight between Bobby and Simon?

Much is uncovered in this episode, while much also remains concealed. Murdoch finds himself quite unprepared for the world of lingerie that he must enter, but now that he is a married man, at least he has Julia to turn to when the going gets tough. This is a neatly constructed story, and although there is an ending, we viewers are still left with questions about who should face justice, and how a case can be built against them. Once more, the writers have come up with a fresh and involving story.

Murdoch Mysteries: The Keystone Constables (2014) Season 8, Episode 9

Murdoch has the last laugh (yes, really)

[8/10 · 20 December 2016]

The Bradley Theatre is hosting a variety show, with Bert Grady the monologuist top of the bill. Juggler W C Fields is so poor that he leaves the stage in a shower of cabbages and other vegetables, including a tomato from Grady. Grady once again won the audience prize, for a routine of terrible mother-in-law jokes. Constables Crabtree and Higgins wait at the stage door to thank Grady for the show and to offer him some jokes of theirs, but he is not interested, and leaves in a cab. In compensation, Lewis Hoffat, the assistant manager offers Crabtree and Higgins a tour of the theatre. Later, Grady is shot three times in an alley, by someone he recognised. Detective Murdoch and Dr Grace are on the scene within an hour. Grady's watch and wallet are gone. A nearby hotelier, Miss Glenys Moore, heard Grady speak to his killer before the shots were fired.

Next morning at the Bradley Theatre, Murdoch and Brackenreid arrive as the vaudevillians are holding a moment's silence for Grady. Theatre manager Mr Allen says that moment was all Grady deserved; everyone in the company hated him. Ed Ward, the prop comedian confirms that he admired Grady's talent, if not the man himself. W C Fields, thinks Grady was a louse, but not worth troubling himself over. Lewis Hoffat confirms that Grady has been consistently winning the audience prize ever since becoming a monologuist; before that, he was in a double act with Ed Ward, though Ward has not yet found a replacement partner, nor matched his new-found popularity. That evening, a full house witnesses a series of successful acts, and Ed Ward wins the audience prize.

Murdoch visits the hotel at the crime scene. Miss Moore says Bert Grady kept a room there, for writing his jokes - he always kept a notebook with him - and for entertaining his female companion, a handsome woman, but for the scar on her face. When Miss Moore opens Grady's room for Murdoch, they find it has been turned over, and his writing desk is empty. Thinking that Grady may have been killed for his material, Constable Crabtree suggests that he and Higgins might go undercover at the theatre to look for anything suspicious.

Mr Allen would have preferred a cat orchestra, but allows Crabtree and Higgins onto the bill, as long as they rehearse. While rehearsing, they see Eleanor Hoffat kissing her husband Lewis, and realise she was Grady's mistress. Murdoch questions her and learns Grady kept all his notebooks in the desk. She had gone to the hotel that night to finish with him, because Lewis had discovered the affair. Lewis Hoffat, of course, has Crabtree and Higgins as an alibi.

That evening, as Crabtree and Higgins flop on stage, W C Fields delivers a monologue every bit as good as Grady's, a fact not lost on the Constables. Fields claims to have bought the material, though he doesn't know from whom, as the deal was done anonymously, under his dressing room door. On the night of the murder, he says he went straight back to his hotel and drank himself to sleep, a story confirmed by the hotel staff.

So, who killed Grady? Were his jokes really that bad? Will Crabtree and Higgins ever perform their routine without a fruity reception from the audience?

This episode is notable for the opportunities it gives the cast to overact, and for the way they enter into the spirit with gusto. The mystery is in play throughout the episode, and it has more layers to it than it first appears. Very entertaining stuff!

Murdoch Mysteries: High Voltage (2014) Season 8, Episode 8

The despair of Thomas Alva Edison Snr

[7/10 · 20 December 2016]

The morning after an assignation with a young woman, man's body is found in room 206 at the Windsor house hotel. Murdoch is called from his breakfast in the suite he shares with Dr Ogden to investigate. The man is Frederick Longfellow, an inventor, who was in Toronto for the medical exhibition, and he seems to have been electrocuted by the device he brought to exhibit, an electric chair called, "The Amazing Vital Motion Plus." Longfellow, however, was registered in room 209, whilst 206 was booked in the name of Thomas Edison.

Edna Brooks asks if George Crabtree will take her son, Simon, to the medical exhibition, and he agrees. Meanwhile, Dr Ogden is hosting a meeting of her suffragette friends, Margaret Haile and Lilian Moss; they are joined for the first time by Dr Grace. They are there to discuss entering Dr Ogden as a candidate in the forthcoming Provincial elections. However, back at the Masonic Lodge, Mayor Clarkson has a quiet word with Inspector Brackenreid, saying that Dr Ogden's candidacy could prove a can of worms.

Crabtree reports that Thomas Edison's finger marks were found in his hotel room and on the chair. Also, he and Longfellow had once been business partners. When challenged by Murdoch, Edison says the signature and room were his son's, Thomas Alva Edison Jnr. Murdoch catches up with Edison Jnr at the Medical Emporium, and brings him in for questioning, as Constable Crabtree and Simon Brooks enjoy the exhibits.

Inspector Brackenreid has a difficult conversation with Dr Ogden about her plan to stand for election. He cannot dissuade her.

Edison Jnr says he left Longfellow at the Exhibition Hall before going drinking with his boss, McBride, and fellow exhibitor Rico. He says Longfellow was not giving him due respect, so he chose to go with McBride. He cannot account for his movements after leaving McBride and Rico, as he was drunk.

Dr Grace tells Murdoch she found cotton fibres in Longfellow's mouth. It turns out that Edison Snr had removed a handkerchief belonging to Edison Jnr from Longfellow's mouth. Murdoch arrests Edison Jnr on suspicion of murder. Murdoch turns his attention to finding the woman Longfellow was seen with before his death. He tracks her down, she is Anna Rico, and she tells him that Longfellow took her back to his room, but she left after the arrival of a very drunk Thomas Edison Jnr.

Dr Ogden and Murdoch talk over the Inspector's intervention, and Murdoch says that as many and wife, they stand together, come what may. He tells the Inspector that, too, and that the matter is not up for further discussion. So, will Murdoch prove Edison Jnr the murderer, or will he find evidence against someone else? Will Inspector Brackenreid continue to pressurise Murdoch to get to Dr Ogden? Will Murdoch's marriage falter just as it is beginning?

Once again, the writers have twisted historical fact (Thomas Alva Edison Snr did despair over the course his son's life was taking, and did eventually take the steps mentioned in the final scene) and a murder mystery into an entertaining and diverting show. It's also fascinating to be in at the beginning of Murdoch's married life, and to see how the dynamic of the relationship is changing.

The Murdoch Mysteries: Except the Dying (2004) Season 1, Episode 1

Not the best way to meet Detective Murdoch and co.

[4/10 · 19 December 2016]

It's hard for me to offer an objective assessment of this mystery show, as I came to it having seen 9 series of Murdoch Mysteries. This episode is twice as long as one of the others, and at times it seemed ponderous in the way the story unfolds.

It doesn't matter that different actors play the principal parts. In fact, they are all actors that I admire from other characters in other shows, but this script just doesn't allow the stars to twinkle as they do elsewhere.

The mystery does have some twists and turns, and some people who are not helpful at the start do indeed later start telling truths they are ashamed of, once they can see that Murdoch is really only interested in catching the killer, rather than shaming them for their dirty little secrets. Even so, this double length episode pales compared with most of the shorter episodes in the Murdoch Mysteries series. I can see many of the same traits in these principal characters as in the series, but these are humourless and much less endearing.

I think if I had seen this first, I would not have bothered with the series, and that would have been a pity, as I have truly enjoyed more than 95% of those

Murdoch Mysteries: Winston's Lost Night (2013) Season 6, Episode 2

Winston Churchill's drunken odyssey through Toronto ends in tragedy

[8/10 · 19 December 2016]

Murdoch is demonstrating his new Induction Balance Machine to Constable Higgins, who seems frightened by the way it lights up electric lamps,, as does Constable Crabtree, who finds his Police whistle attracted by it when he comes to tell Murdoch there has been a murder at the Palace Hotel. When Murdoch arrives at the scene, there are two men in the hotel room. One is the dead man, Reginald Mayfair, who has a stab wound in the chest and a big cut on his arm, the other is his friend, Winston Churchill, whose hands have blood on them. There is also a bloodstained sword in the room. Churchill has no memory of the previous night, due to the amount he drank.

Churchill has known Mayfair since the two of them were soldiers together in the Sudan. After leaving the army, Mayfair had emigrated to Canada. Churchill can only recall drinking in the hotel with Mayfair, and then going on to Mayfair's club, the Albany. He says he has never seen the sword before. Crabtree interrupts the interview to inform Murdoch that Churchill's finger marks have been found on the sword. Dr Grace tells Murdoch that a sword killed Mayfair between 1:30 and 2:00 last night, while a facial bruise suggests he was in a fist fight an hour earlier.

Back at Police Station 4, Churchill's Egyptian valet, Mr Ahmadi, has arrived with a change of clothes. Ahmadi tells Murdoch he can trust Churchill's every word, and he was with Churchill until the Albany, where Churchill dismissed him for the night at 9:00pm. Crabtree reports that people in rooms neighbouring Churchill's heard a commotion in his room around 1:45am, and a witness saw a negro man leaving Churchill's room around 2:00am. Ahmadi tells Murdoch that Churchill's boot-boy, Jim Carver, is a negro. Carver admits to being there around 2:30am to polish Churchill's boots, but didn't see or hear anything amiss.

Churchill himself joins the investigation, endeavouring to retrace his steps. At the Albany Club, Churchill made a great impression, especially when the old soldiers there were reminiscing about their time in Sudan, and were celebrating the desecration of the Mahdi's body as retaliation for what the Dervishes had done to the British. Churchill thundered against the action, saying it not only degraded Reginald, who had beheaded the Mahdi's corpse, but behaviour like that degraded the whole of the British Empire. Club members admit that it was a shaming they deserved, even Reginald was moved by it. A newspaper story leads to Churchill's next stop on his Toronto odyssey: Mrs Gertrude Miller's Temperance party, where he behaved very rudely.

Dr Ogden arrives at Police Station 4 with news that she and Darcy have an appointment with a judge the following day, regarding the annulment of their marriage. She then recognises Mr Churchill from the previous evening; they were both in the same club, having an enjoyable time, but when they left, Gertrude Miller's husband punched Reginald Mayfair, believing him to be Churchill, in response to his insulting behaviour earlier.

A trip to Murphy's Tavern reveals another stop in the odyssey. After a drink, Churchill and Mayfair were chased out of the pub, and then taken into protective custody at 12:45am by Constable Jackson, who kept them in the cells until the bars closed.

After this, they found a speakeasy to carry on drinking, and indeed arguing over what happened in Sudan, according to the bartender, who demands the return of the swords Churchill took. He tells Murdoch that Churchill ended up challenging Mayfair to a duel, and stole two swords displayed in the speakeasy which had belonged to the bartender's grandfather. The bartender's assistant, Al, confirms all of this.

Dr Ogden arrives at Police Station 4, bringing the bad news that the judge would not grant her the annulment, because she could not lie about the marriage not having been consummated. Even so, Darcy would agree to a divorce. Of course, that puts Murdoch in a difficult position, as the Catholic Church would not sanction him marrying a divorcée. She leaves Murdoch to sort things out with God, while she takes care of legal matters.

So, can Detective Murdoch discover what happened in the time between leaving the speakeasy and the alarm being raised about the killing? Did Churchill and Mayfair really fight a duel to the death with swords? Will Winston Churchill face the noose? (Look away from your history books now, if you don't want to know the result!) Can Murdoch reconcile his beliefs with his desires?

This is a fascinating episode, based on real historical events in Africa, and also on Winston's well-known love for the bottle, and his habit, when drunk, of being very rude to anyone who criticised him. Once again, the mystery is not solved until the very end, but every scrap of information relevant to the killing is used to build up the picture. It's good fun to watch, and as for the relationship between Murdoch and Dr Ogden, whichever way it goes, it will bring pain.

Murdoch Mysteries: Snakes and Ladders (2009) Season 2, Episode 2

Is Jack the Ripper loose in Toronto?

[8/10 · 17 December 2016]

One night, a woman is walking through the dark streets of Toronto, when a carriage draws up alongside her and she climbs aboard.

Next morning, Murdoch is experimenting with an ultraviolet lamp when Inspector Brackenreid breezes in, and tells him he should get out more, and offers him a pair of tickets for a gala ball that some dinosaur expert is putting on next week. Murdoch tries to decline, but Constable Higgins interrupts the conversation; they are needed.

The body of a young woman, Alberta Moffat, who has previously been convicted for prostitution, is found near a waterfall. She has been mutilated, and there is a message, TRY TO STOP ME, written in blood, on a nearby rock. While the Police are surveying the scene, a man demands to see the man in charge. He is taken to Inspector Brackenreid, and says he is Detective Edward Scanlon from Scotland Yard, that he knows who the killer is, and that he will kill again if he is not stopped.

Back in Police Station 4, Detective Scanlon names the suspect as Harland Orgill, and shows Inspector Brackenreid a sketch of him. Orgill is a maniac, he says, and he has been on his trail more than a year, from London to Cairo, to Bombay, to Auckland, and in each city Orgill has slaughtered eight women before moving on. A note left in a hotel room he used suggests Toronto is next; also, a man fitting the description took a steamer from Auckland to Vancouver recently. Scanlon says Orgill's style of killing is very reminiscent of the Whitechapel murders, leading Murdoch to ask if he seriously believes that Orgill may be Jack the Ripper. While Murdoch and Brackenreid mull over what they have been told, Detective Scanlon observes Constables Higgins and Crabtree playing checkers, and angrily upsets their board. When the Inspector comes to see what's going on, Scanlon says that Constables playing checkers while a murderer is on the loose is a dereliction of duty. Brackenreid agrees, and Murdoch briefs all the officers.

After visiting Alberta's mother, where they learn little, Scanlon and Murdoch return to Police Station 4, via a toy shop where Scanlon buys a peace offering. On arrival at the station, Scanlon gives it to Constable Higgins: a Snakes-and-Ladders game, to replace the checkers set that he threw in the air. He warmly recommends the game, which he has been playing to entertain himself since Cairo.

That evening, Murdoch visits a Dance Studio, where the proprietor, Professor Otranto, says Murdoch has a lot to learn.

Next morning, a second victim, Gloria Abercrombie, is found with similar mutilations to Alberta. A carriage matching the description of one stolen the day of the first murder was seen nearby. Again, TRY TO STOP ME is found written in blood near the body. Dr Ogden says the young woman was no prostitute, in fact she was a virgin. Murdoch tells Dr Ogden he would like to understand the mind of this killer, and she tells him about an alienist, Dr. Roberts, who was recently fired from the Provincial Lunatic Asylum because his research into the criminal mind was ruffling too many feathers. Just as he is about to leave, Murdoch invites Dr. Ogden to the Dinosaur Ball, and she accepts...

Dr Roberts is surprised that Murdoch wants his help, but readily agrees. Back at Police Station 4, Crabtree and Higgins have been playing Snakes-and-Ladders while they wait for the Detective to return. They have news: the carriage has been found.

Detective Scanlon says that manifestly Orgill has cleaned the carriage thoroughly, so there's little point looking for finger marks and similar clues. Murdoch inspects the carriage with his new ultraviolet lamp, explaining how it works to Scanlon. He finds traces of blood: the women were killed inside the carriage.

Murdoch visits Dr Roberts who has by now reviewed the case files Murdoch sent to him, to see if he has built a psychological portrait of the killer. Dr Roberts says that it is clear that the killer feels threatened by women, and may well have had problems with sex, once he reached adulthood. Over time, this feeling has grown into a murderous rage. Clearly the number 8 is significant to the killer. It's possible that the killer has more than one persona, one that is sane and lucid, the other insane and murderous. As for any connection between the victims, the only thing he could offer Murdoch is that all 26 victims worked. Murdoch finds it hard to believe that is really the only connection, but Dr Roberts tells him that to someone already threatened by women, the fact that they work would add to the killer's perception of their power, and make him more want to kill them. Murdoch ponders what he has been told, and asks if the message left by the killer is really a plea for help from the sane persona of the killer, rather than a taunt. Dr Roberts agrees that it's possible, but cannot say for sure.

When Murdoch arrives at the Dance Studio for his next lesson, Professor Otranto pairs him with a new student - Dr Ogden...

So, is the portrait of the killer created by Dr Roberts going to be any help in catching the killer? Is Detective Scanlon finally going to get his man? Does the killer really want to be caught, or is he taunting the Police? Will William impress Julia with his two-step or cripple her with his two left feet?

This episode is built around a fascinating mystery. The faltering steps taken by William and Julia on the road to romance are beautifully played. Even the board game has more significance than it seems at first. Hats off once more to the writers and actors.

Murdoch Mysteries: Still Waters (2008) Season 1, Episode 8

The conventions of society lead to a tragedy at the rowing club

[9/10 · 17 December 2016]

Three boys are playing near the river when they discover the body of a drowned man. Meanwhile, in Police Station 4, Murdoch is demonstrating his latest invention, the pneumograph, which measures the stress in someone's body, which he believes could help the Police to identify when a suspect is lying during questioning. Dr Ogden's presence seems to have a rather unsettling effect on Murdoch, at least according to the pneumograph but the demonstration is cut short when news of the drowning reaches the station.

Dr Ogden recognises the dead man as Richard Hartley, a member of a wealthy family, and also one of the men's eight rowing team from the King's Rowing Club. It looks like Hartley had been severely beaten. Minerva Fairchild identifies the body in the morgue. She was his fiancée, and has gone to the morgue because Hartley's parents are holidaying in Egypt. She tells Murdoch she last saw Hartley at lunch the previous day, after his training session, and she believes Hartley had recently argued with his coach, Hamilton Kane, though she does not know the details. Dr Ogden knows Minerva and sympathises with her, but afterwards tells Murdoch that Fairchilds never show their true feelings.

Brackenreid calls Murdoch in to monitor progress. In light of the influence of the Hartley family, Chief Constable Stockton is breathing down his neck wanting progress. At the morgue, Dr Ogden says the wounds on the body were made by a heavy object with straight sides, and there was a deep gash on one foot which would have bled profusely. She has also retrieved some sand and clay particles from under Hartley's nails. Dr Ogden, who has family membership at the club also forewarns Murdoch about the concierge at the King's Club, who enforces club rules strictly.

So it proves when Murdoch attends the club. In the end, Hamilton Kane comes forward to get Murdoch past the concierge. Murdoch asks Kane about the argument, and Kane recalls reminding Hartley not to drink too much while training. The last time Kane saw Hartley, it was in the clubhouse, surrounded by the rowing team. From the team members, Murdoch learns that there was a rift between Hartley and Horace Briggs, whose place in the team Hartley had taken.

Briggs is the club gardener, and an outstanding rower, holding many club records. He was admitted to the rowing team on merit, while for most it was their money talking. Despite being the best natural rower, Briggs wasn't even granted clubhouse privileges. Dr Ogden informs Murdoch she found a sliver of wood in one of Hartley's wounds. Examining the oars for one with corresponding damage, Murdoch finds nothing, though one oar, belonging to Briggs, has a spot of still wet blood on it, which Dr Ogden says should be long dry. Murdoch suspects someone is trying to frame Briggs.

Briggs tells Murdoch Hartley's injuries came from an initiation ritual for team members. The whole team took part, and it was just high spirits. Dr Ogden knows about such rituals, as they have been going on for years, it's just harmless fun. Murdoch disagrees, and says he needs a crime scene to investigate. Dr Ogden arranges for Murdoch to speak to Dr Isaac Tash, with whom she studied at university, and was a rower in his youth - he should be able to find where the initiation took place.

At the riverside, Murdoch notices Minerva smoking a cigarette. Minerva explains that she has to sneak away from the club house, because Mrs Hartley thinks it a bad habit, and one doesn't argue with a Hartley. Just then Dr Tash arrives to guide Murdoch through the woods. On the way Dr Tash tells Murdoch about his relationship with Dr Ogden at university. They find a clearing strewn with bottles, the remains of a fire, and many fresh footprints. It is obvious many people were there, and there is a blood trail leading to the river.

Murdoch questions the rowers in their locker room, but they are uncooperative, so he brings them in to Police Station 4 and uses his pneumograph to elicit the truth from them. Eventually Murdoch builds up a picture of the team members carrying out a severe beating so as to injure Hartley and keep him off the team. The team coach admits it was his plan. The rowers didn't follow Hartley when he ran off to the river, as he was an excellent swimmer. It was only after hearing that Hartley had drowned that they agreed to frame Briggs by planting evidence to incriminate him.

Inspector Brackenreid is happy that the case is solved, but Murdoch is unwilling to let matters rest as he doesn't see how the sand and clay under Hartley's fingernails fit in, as both the places where Hartley went into the river and where his body was found had sandy shores. Murdoch visits Briggs to ask if he knows of anywhere along the river bank with a clay shore, and he finds the place where Hartley came out of the river. Clearly, Hartley survived the initiation.

Desperate for anything else that will shed light on what happened, Murdoch visits the morgue to see if Hartley's lungs might contain some plant or mineral material which might point to where Hartley drowned. The contents are completely unexpected, containing lavender bath oil and fragments of bone.

So in what direction will this new information take Murdoch's investigation? Will he find what he needs to identify the killer or killers beyond all reasonable doubt? How will Murdoch look on Dr Ogden, now that he knows something significant about her past?

The mystery at the heart of this episode is well constructed and keeps the viewer guessing right until the very end. In the end, everything fits together beautifully.

Murdoch Mysteries: Body Double (2008) Season 1, Episode 7

A real Shakespearian tragedy is played out

[8/10 · 14 December 2016]

Inspector Brackenreid has gone to a performance of the Scottish Play. It is raining heavily, and the theatre roof isn't keeping the water out. Eventually, the flow of water causes the ceiling to give way, and part comes down, bringing with it human remains. Dr Ogden says the corpse looks like it has been there years. Murdoch and Brackenreid clamber around in the roof space and find a place where the floorboards have been removed and then replaced. Opening them up again reveals a jacket that had presumably covered the remains.

They go to interview the cast. Stella Smart is the theatre owner since her husband Virgil died. Arthur Wellesley, who has been there four years, co-manages with Stella, who has performed there for 22 years. They are married, though Stella kept her first husband's surname, for theatrical reasons. Ellen Granger and David Martin both joined the company when they played the leads in Romeo and Juliet, six years before. Ellen and David recall a vagrant sleeping up there sometimes.

An examination of the jacket back at Police Station 4 reveals a hole that could be the trace of a stab wound, plus a newspaper clipping dating from 1892, three years earlier, at about the time that Virgil Smart died. Dr Ogden confirms that there was evidence of a fatal stab wound, as well as a pair of dentures. A visit to the local dentist confirms the former owner was Virgil Smart.

Returning to Stella and Arthur, they at first can't find significance in the date 1892, until Murdoch reminds them it was when Virgil died. Murdoch also tells them about the newspaper clipping, and its story about price rises on property in Downtown Toronto because of a building boom. That reminds them that some shady characters were around in those days, always looking out for Virgil. This leads to Stella wondering about who is lying in Virgil's grave, if his body has been in the theatre these past three years.

Once the body has been exhumed, Dr Ogden says it had been a man in his forties, with no obvious way to identify him, though his skeleton was remarkably similar to that of Virgil Smart.

Each of the cast is then interviewed individually at Police Station 4. They all give identical accounts of the day Virgil died. He had locked himself in his office to count the day's takings, but didn't come out. A nearby Constable called Morrison was enlisted to break down the door, and there was Virgil, slumped on his desk. Ellen ran to find Dr Watkins, who found he had died from heart failure. Constable Morrison is called to the theatre, and confirms the story of the actors, adding that having found the man dead inside a locked room with nowhere in the room to hide meant that he concluded nobody else was involved. The doctor has died in the meantime, though he had a reputation for misdiagnosis, so Dr Ogden checks the second skeleton, finding evidence that he had been strangled, rather than dying from heart failure, as Dr Watkins said.

A new examination of Virgil Smart's office reveals a secret boudoir behind a bookcase. There are signs of a struggle there, from which Murdoch concludes that this is the true murder scene. attention now turns to finding out who the second skeleton was. Dr Ogden works on a new technique of facial reconstruction by overlaying clay on the skull. Murdoch, meanwhile, finds surreptitious ways of collecting the cast's finger marks to compare with some found in the secret room. When Dr Ogden completes her work, the cast members recognise the reconstruction as Eddie George, one of their company who frequently played minor parts until Virgil sacked him.

Murdoch is convinced that one or more, perhaps all, of the principal players is/are involved in the crime, but how can he unravel the plot? What was or were the motive(s)?

Even though there are relatively few contenders for the guilty in this murder mystery, nevertheless it is well crafted, and remains unclear until the very end, with perhaps the most significant fact being that Murdoch finds a path through all the snippets of information that come his way, without having to test all of them to find the truth.

Murdoch Mysteries: Elementary, My Dear Murdoch (2008) Season 1, Episode 4

A medium provides a lead to the murder of a friend, and unsettles Detective Murdoch

[9/10 · 14 December 2016]

Murdoch introduces himself to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who is visiting Toronto. Doyle is in a hurry to get to a séance, as he is developing an interest in Spiritualism. A medium called Sarah Pensell is leading, and she starts by trying to contact the deceased son of Conrad Hunt, who is there, in hope. Murdoch looks uncomfortable, skeptical about the whole affair. Instead of young James Hunt, Sarah says she has been contacted by a young woman, who says she was murdered and buried in a shallow grave. Doyle goes to investigate the place of burial, accompanied by Murdoch, who seems astonished that a man of science like Doyle would be taken in. Doyle says that as a man of science, he believes such claims should be tested scientifically, which is why he is there. They find a body, more or less where Sarah said.

Dr Ogden arrives at the scene, rather overdressed for pathology, having been at the theatre when called. She determines that the young woman, Ida Winston, has probably been killed in the past 24 hours, shot dead. There are two entry wounds, but just one exit wound.

Back at Sarah Pensell's premises, Murdoch looks around for any explanation of the effects he witnessed at the séance, but finds nothing. When he tells Sarah that the victim was Ida Winston, Sarah is shocked, as she knew Ida, a member of the Toronto Paranormal Society, well.

At the morgue, Dr Ogden has found one of the bullets which killed Ida. She, Murdoch and Doyle are all surprised when Crabtree arrives with news that Ida's husband Hubert is too distraught to come to identify the body and has sent a photograph instead. Doyle, who is shadowing Murdoch with Inspector Brackenreid's permission, visits Dr Hubert Winston who appears very uncooperative and resentful of his wife's involvement with the Toronto Paranormal Society. Murdoch and Doyle meet Frederick Waters, the head of the TPS, who is sad at Ida's death, but recalls her as one of the less convinced members of the TPS.

Doyle suggests holding a séance, either to glean more information from Ida about her killer, or to prove Sarah a fraud. Brackenreid likes the idea, but Murdoch has misgivings. At the séance, Sarah fails to contact Ida, but instead sees a vision of a woman in red in a park, and a silver horse, and says she has a message from Liza, for Murdoch. Liza is the name of Murdoch's fiancée, who died a year before. Murdoch is outraged, and starts looking again for what is causing the effects. He finds a cord, and follows it to a closet, in which he discovers a young man Lisgar Gall, hiding. Gall confesses to being Sarah's confederate, who investigates people who come to her séances, in order to provide her with information she can use during them. He found out about the body through eavesdropping at the TPS, during which he saw a man emerge carrying a heavy object wrapped in a carpet. He followed and later saw the man burying the object in a wood, and discovered that it was a body. Murdoch understands how Sarah operates, and says she should be ashamed of profiting from the grief of others. She retorts that she is no fraud, as he, of all people, should know.

Murdoch and Doyle visit the TPS headquarters, late that night, and discover the crime scene. Murdoch tries to identify the place the shooter was standing, and thus finds the missing bullet, lodged in a book. Later the two of them meet Conrad Hunt at the TPS, and tell him Ida was killed there. He is astonished.

Murdoch is troubled by the memories of Liza that Sarah has stirred, especially as he has a strong memory of Liza in a red dress in a park, and goes back to speak to her. In a private séance, Sarah channels Liza, who tells William the time has come for him to release her. As someone whose Christian convictions and scientific understanding do not permit him to accept the revelations about his dead fiancée at face value, Murdoch is so troubled that he makes an excuse to visit Dr Ogden, so that he can run things by her. She listens, and offers a few possible ways in which Sarah might have misdirected him.

Murdoch goes to question Gall again, to ask him if he has left anything out, and he confides that he overheard something that revealed Ida Winston had been having an affair with Frederick Waters. Waters admits it when quizzed by Murdoch. Murdoch calls in on Ida's widower, Hubert, who says he knew of the affair, but Ida had said it was over, and she was returning to him.

So, can Murdoch see through the tissue of lies to the truth about the killing of Ida Winston? Is Sarah a fraud, and if so, what can Murdoch do about her? Can Murdoch find a way to be at peace with his memories of Liza? And, tantalisingly, can Inspector Brackenreid inspire Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to resurrect his hero Sherlock Holmes in a new tale about the Hell Hound of the Highlands?

This episode features a good mystery, overlaid with sub plots about Conan Doyle feeling a prisoner of his own creation, Sherlock Holmes, about Murdoch's lost love, Liza, about the ways in which so-called clairvoyants ply their trade, and about the boundaries between the normal and the paranormal. All of these elements are deftly combined to tell a good story. And like some other episodes in the series, there is one unsolved mystery left at the end. I shan't reveal it here, but see if you guess before the end.

Murdoch Mysteries: The Knockdown (2008) Season 1, Episode 3

A Tangled Web of intrigue in the world of professional boxing

[8/10 · 14 December 2016]

Amos Robinson, a professional black boxer, is found shot dead in his hotel room. It is the night of Queen Victoria's birthday, and a fireworks display is in progress. Murdoch's initial assessment is that the shooter stood within a couple of feet when the gun, apparently a Derringer pistol, found in the room, was fired. While surveying the crime scene, Murdoch is interrupted by a commotion in the corridor, as a black woman wearing bloodstained clothing is arrested by Constables, protesting her innocence. Based on what he has seen so far, Murdoch tells Crabtree he believes the woman is indeed not guilty of the shooting.

The woman is the boxer's wife, Fannie. Her experience of white policemen leads her to be defensive, but Murdoch tries to allay her fears, and tells her he believes she is innocent, and needs her help to get to the truth. Brackenreid is happy that they have caught the killer, but Murdoch explains why he believes Fannie is innocent. Just then, Ozzie Beers, Amos's manager, arrives at Police Station 4, and tells Murdoch Fannie didn't do it. Beers has been with Amos his entire 12-year career, from a boy who won his first 40 fights by knockout to a womanising, hard drinking has been who lost as many as he won. Even though Amos chased other women, Fannie has been loyal to him since they were kids together.

To test his theory, Murdoch makes Crabtree wear a dress and shoot an already-dead pig. A blood spatter pattern does indeed appear on Crabtree's dress. Brackenreid isn't convinced, and says a jury would very likely convict Fannie.

Murdoch conducts an experiment at the hotel to see if the desk clerk could have mistaken the gunshot for a firework, but the gun proves much louder, casting doubt on the clerk's account, and causing him to admit he was away from the desk for a time, which helps Murdoch to pin down when the shooting occurred. He then goes to interview the defeated boxer, Bob Sullivan, who claims that the fight had been fixed for him to win, but Amos had ignored the fix.

Murdoch next visits Jeb Cutler, whom Sullivan said had fixed the fight. Cutler admits to losing $2,000 on the fight, but he also stood to gain in the long run, as he had agreed to buy Amos from Beers. Beers admits that he had sold Amos to Cutler, but didn't tell him before the fight. Fannie is shocked to learn about Beers selling Amos, but supposes that if Amos had known, it could have given him reason not to throw the fight.

Dr Ogden confirms that Amos died from being shot through the heart, and gives Murdoch the bullet. The two of them discuss what attracts women to men, with quite a lot being conveyed by looks and pregnant pauses: something appears to be stirring between them.

Back at Police Station 4, Murdoch examines the bullet,and finds that the cartridge had been modified by removing some of the charge. The bullet would still be deadly at close range, but the sound of the shot would be very much less, so the clerk may not have heard it, even if he had been at his desk. This seems to narrow the field of suspects down to Fannie once more, yet Murdoch still doubts her guilt. Brackenreid wonders if she has turned Murdoch's head; it wouldn't be the first time a pretty woman had beguiled a detective... Murdoch sends Crabtree to the hotel to search for more evidence. He himself does more digging too.

At the hotel, a bloody footprint made by a Police-issue boot convinces Murdoch that Amos was shot in a different location from where his body was found. Crabtree obtains a ferret to trace the blood trail, to find where the shooting took place...

So, will the ferret find the murder scene? If so, will that point to the killer? Several people seem to have different motives, including revenge, greed and jealousy, but did any have enough of a motive to kill Amos? Will Murdoch discover who did it?

This episode is not just a murder mystery. It also portrays, albeit with a light touch, the realities of a society in which colour prejudice can often lead, either by accident or by design, to oppression. The mystery itself is well crafted, with the evidence being weighed methodically.

I am surprised that another reviewer rated this episode as one of the worst of all, based on perceived political correctness. Personally, I think the characterisation and performances in this episode are such as to evoke empathy for some and distaste for others. I think the plot shines through without too many unnecessary distractions, which is one of the strengths of the show's writers.

Murdoch Mysteries: Power (2008) Season 1, Episode 1

A good beginning

[9/10 · 12 December 2016]

This is the beginning of the regular series of Murdoch Mysteries, in which Detective William Murdoch of Toronto's Police Station 4 uses his keen amateur knowledge of science and his talent for creating new technologies to solve the crimes that beset his city. Murdoch's boss, Inspector Thomas Brackenreid, is a gruff Yorkshireman who calls a spade a bloody shovel and is often the bad cop to Murdoch's decidedly good cop. Murdoch is frequently assisted by Constable George Crabtree, enthusiastic, but somewhat easily distracted, especially when a case involves anything out of the ordinary; he also seems to have an astonishing number of aunts who shared all kinds of wisdom with him while he was growing up in Newfoundland. The Police work closely with Dr Julia Ogden, a pathologist pioneering the cause of women in an age of few openings for them; she admires Murdoch's zeal for science and his integrity, a quality related to his devout Catholicism.

This first episode is set in the context of the competition between the rival alternating and direct current methods of supplying electricity. DC was the earlier technology promoted by Thomas Alva Edison, while Nikola Tesla was trying to get people to adopt his AC system.

A public demonstration is held in a Toronto park by supporters of the Edison system, who hope to convince people that AC is dangerous by passing AC through a dog, thereby to keep the electricity supply contract. Protesters against cruelty to animals are in the crowd, as is Tesla himself; Edison's man, in charge of the demonstration, is Allen Fawkes. Alice Howard, reigning Miss Toronto Electric & Light, is electrocuted as she throws the switch; AC is indeed a killer.

Murdoch quickly finds the switch was sabotaged by inserting a block of rubber in the mechanism, but the mystery is why the rubber grip on the switch handle didn't save Alice. Before the demonstration, the switch was stored at a TE&L station; Murdoch sends Crabtree there to investigate security, and Crabtree suggests he might also call on Edna Garrison, the leading protester. As for Murdoch, he is off to find Tesla, whom he asks for help.

Returning to Police Station 4, Murdoch learns from Crabtree that an alarm was triggered at the TE&L station in the early hours of the morning, but nothing was taken or tampered with. Also, He has brought Miss Garrison in, so Murdoch asks her if she had any part in what happened. She denies doing anything, and says she was home at the time of the TE&L burglary; asked if anyone can vouch for that, she says her landlady locks the front door of the boarding house at 10pm. Later, with Tesla helping, Murdoch uncovers the ingenious way by which the switch handle was tampered with; there is no doubt that Alice was murdered.

At the morgue, Dr Ogden confirms that Alice was electrocuted, and tells Murdoch that the post-mortem showed Alice was five weeks pregnant. Murdoch tells Brackenreid that in light of the new information, the best suspects seem to be either Alderman Edwin Dodd, who is on the Street Lighting Commission, or Daniel Pratt, millionaire owner of TE&L - in either case, the revelation of an illicit pregnancy could be ruinous. The Inspector asks Murdoch if he has considered Allen Fawkes, but Murdoch discounts him, as he has so much less to lose than the others. Murdoch interviews Petunia, Alice's roommate, learning that she had a number of gentleman friends, but was always very discreet, so she couldn't offer any names, indeed she had only ever spoken to one on the telephone once, and all she could say was he had a pleasant voice.

Murdoch visits Pratt, who initially denies any impropriety with Alice, but caves in, and says he and she did have an affair, but it was over weeks previously. Any suggestion that he was the father of the child was impossible. Meanwhile, Constable Crabtree calls on Edna to invite her dog for a walk. Edna goes along as a chaperone.

Allen Fawkes calls by Police Station 4, to say he has heard from a very flustered Daniel Pratt, following Murdoch's interview; if Murdoch believes Pratt was trying to kill Alice, he must be mistaken, since Alice was a last minute replacement for Alderman Dodd, who had been due to throw the switch. Murdoch then visits Alderman Dodd, who mistakes him for a prowler, and comes after him with a shotgun. Dodd says he is jittery because someone tried to electrocute him . He doesn't have any idea who or why. Brackenreid ponders who might profit from what has happened, and looks at stock prices in the Toronto Gazette: Niagara AC's share price has risen in one day from 76¢ to 95¢, an astonishing 25% gain. It seems obvious that the fix was in from the AC people, says Brackenreid. Murdoch goes to see Tesla, who says he doesn't bother with business matters. Brackenreid obtains a statement of Dodd's bank account, showing he has taken a $20,000 bribe.

George, Edna and the dog are two minutes late returning to her rooming house, but Edna gains access to her room via an open window, and she invites George to join her for a pot of tea. While there, George discovers that Edna has a blueprint of the generator used in the demonstration. Meanwhile, Murdoch and Brackenreid go to see Pratt, but find him electrocuted in his office.

So, are the killings linked, if so, who is behind them and why? Was Alice the target, or was it Dodd? Is George becoming involved with the wrong sort of woman?

This is a promising start to the series, with many of Tesla's scientific ideas showcased well, not to mention those of Murdoch himself. We begin to get to know the main characters and their strengths and weaknesses. More, please.

Murdoch Mysteries: The Ghost of Queen's Park (2013) Season 6, Episode 7

It is said that men sweat but ladies glow. Both are true in this tale.

[9/10 · 11 December 2016]

It's late evening at Queen's Park, the Provincial Legislature building. Reginald Chilton, a Member of Provincial Parliament, is startled to hear his Christian name whispered loudly by a woman's voice, and hurriedly prepares to leave his upstairs office. The night watchman, Howard Briggs, sees a woman, glowing blue-green, and tries to follow her. (The building has a reputation for being haunted by several female ghosts.) Making his way along the corridor, Chilton again hears his name whispered, and speeds up his walk. Briggs, pursuing the glowing woman, reaches Chilton's floor, just in time to see her push Chilton over the railing to his death, several floors down. Next morning, the MPPs and their staff find themselves mingling with the Toronto Constabulary and Dr Grace, who are there to investigate. Constable Crabtree is captivated by the prospect of investigating ghosts, of course, and tells Murdoch that he believes that ghosts are tortured souls unable to find rest because someone in life did them a terrible injustice. Murdoch is exasperated by this.

Samuel Jenkins, a reporter with the Toronto Gazette breezes into Police Station 4, offering Murdoch information. For quite some time he had been looking into Chilton's corrupt dealings in real estate and his attempts to gain from his position in the Provincial Legislature. He suggests there may be a connection with Chilton's mysterious death.

Crabtree can't resist encouraging Briggs and the women in the typing pool to tell tales about the building's ghosts. One typist called Lorraine says she saw the glowing woman the previous evening. Murdoch is far from impressed with Crabtree's report, and sends him to Dr Grace who says Chilton's injuries are consistent with a fall backwards over the balcony. George then shares his theory that a ghost did it, and Dr Grace, smirking, encourages him to pursue the line of enquiry, despite Murdoch's disapproval.

Following up Jenkins' lead, Murdoch has discovered that ownership of the land he mentioned is indeed concealed by nested shell companies. He asks Crabtree to look into the historic ownership of the site. Before doing so, Crabtree insists Murdoch and Brackenreid hear his theory. He has learned that the Legislature was built on land formerly occupied by an insane Asylum for women, which explains the ongoing haunting of Queen's Park by female ghosts. His superiors tell him to stick to tasks he is given, and send him off to City records.

Crabtree visits Dr Ogden to enquire if she has information about the old women's Asylum, and she points him to the archives. He returns to Police Station 4 carrying a large wooden box, hiding it under his desk before reporting on the land. Decades before Chilton owned it, it belonged to a farmer called Herbert G Marshall who passed it on to his daughter Abigail. She married Thaddeus Walsh, the Provincial Secretary, who inherited it when she died. It was Walsh who sold it to Chilton. Murdoch and Brackenreid visit Queen's Park to question Secretary Walsh, who is extremely annoyed by the implication that he was involved in Chilton's death. The Inspector sends Crabtree to research the shell companies, looking for the names of Chilton or Walsh in the papers.

Both Dr Ogden and Dr Grace call in at Police Station 4 and ask George if he is making progress with his ghosts, but he tells them he has been ordered to desist. Dr Grace feels he should persevere, since she found so much adrenaline in Chilton's bloodstream that it suggests he had suffered an extreme shock shortly before death. "As if he had seen a ghost?" George asks, and Dr Grace concurs, going on to suggest the two of them should maybe spend a night at Queen's Park, ghost hunting. Crabtree has a better idea: Murdoch's time-lapse camera keeping watch. While they are there, an elderly man asks them for directions to Walsh's office. Moments later, they hear a scream, and race to find him dead on the stairs. In his pocket is a note inviting him to meet Walsh, and to tell nobody of the arrangement.

Next morning, Murdoch questions Secretary Walsh, who denies knowing the dead man or writing the invitation. Crabtree is delighted when it seems that the camera did indeed capture a picture of a glowing figure. Fortunately, perhaps, his conversation with Murdoch is interrupted by a woman reporting her husband missing. At the morgue, she identifies the man: her husband, Dr Ansel Fraser. Back at Police Station 4, Crabtree tells Murdoch that Dr Fraser used to work at the old Asylum, so Murdoch gives in and asks him to look through his box of Asylum archives for any connection with Chilton.

So, will Crabtree finally identify the ghost? Or will Murdoch prove that the glowing woman is no ghost at all, but a real, live, flesh-and-blood person? If so, how is she making herself glow? Is this affair about crooked land dealing, or is George right that there is a tortured soul unable to find rest until a past injustice is put right?

This story is a wonderfully different kind of mystery for Murdoch and co. to solve. Real science will once again be at the heart of his detective work. The scriptwriters really are to be congratulated again for their creative vision and ability to convey complicated matters of science in accessible ways.

This episode shows all the main characters being true to themselves throughout, and would be an ideal taster for anyone new to the show.

Murdoch Mysteries: Murdoch and the Cloud of Doom (2013) Season 6, Episode 6

A dog killer must be stopped from becoming a people killer

[9/10 · 11 December 2016]

Murdoch is summoned to see the Mayor and Chief Constable Giles. The mayor has received a film of a man killing a dog with poison gas, accompanied by a demand for a ransom of $10,000 not to release the gas Toronto. The mayor is hoping it us a prank, but Murdoch thinks the film appears genuine, and the use of toxic gas is certainly feasible. This isn't what the mayor wanted to hear, especially as CC Giles takes the threat seriously.

The investigation starts with tracing the street boy who delivered the film. He is quickly found, but can't help with the description of the criminal, on account of being blind. Constables Crabtree and Higgins are tasked with examining the film for any clues. Meanwhile, Inspector Brackenreid draws Murdoch's attention to a newspaper story about a murderess called Mary Knowles, who is due to be hanged the next day in the nearby women's prison, and comments that the world is changing, getting crazier, what with women being hanged and cities threatened with poison gas. Murdoch visits noted chemist, Dr Sanjay Prasad, to learn from him if poison gas could be a viable weapon of mass destruction. Dr Prasad says gases are more deadly in confined spaces, so if this film is genuine, the fact that it works outdoors would mean it's a most terrible weapon.

Back in Police Station 4, the Constables have not been able to find anything in the film, apart from a long shadow cast across the ground and up a wall. However, once Murdoch identifies what is making the shadow, he deduces where the film was shot, and visits the site with Crabtree. They find a scene of devastation, with dead rats lying all round, and plants dead and devoid of colour. Murdoch brings Dr Prasad to the site, where they observe that plants have been destroyed even at 100 feet from the point where the gas was released in the film. As to what the agent was, there are several candidates, so the appliance of science is necessary. Dr Grace dissects one of the gassed rats, and finds that its lungs had ruptured, confirming what Dr Prasad had said about the potency of the gas. It is, he thinks, a mixture of other gases, but to find out what the components are, Murdoch needs to test something else that the criminal left at ground zero, a glove. From his examination, he proposes one of the precursors may be sodium hypochlorite, commonly found in bleach. He and Dr Prasad are just trying to work out what could combine with that to produce toxic gas when Murdoch is again summoned to the mayor's office.

Another note has been delivered, specifying how the money is to be paid, otherwise Cabbagetown will be gassed. Murdoch reports the devastation at ground zero. CC Giles wants to make evacuation plans. Inspector Brackenreid advises the mayor not to pay, to avoid encouraging others with malice in mind. Dr Prasad asks the blind street boy if he smelt anything unusual from the man. He did, something sweet like rotting fruit. Dr Prasad realises chlorine or something derived from it is probably the toxic gas, and that can be made from bleach and ammonia. Murdoch traces a huge delivery of ammonia to an empty warehouse where there is evidence of chemicals being made up, together with timing devices.

Mayor Clarkson tells Murdoch that the city will pay, but that he wants Murdoch to do all he can to catch the criminal. Murdoch makes arrangements for the ransom drop, including appointing various Constables in plain clothes to observe the pickup discreetly, but the money is not taken. Instead, Murdoch receives a phone call, giving him eight hours to raise a million dollars. Mayor Clarkson and CC Giles are outraged, the former because it is impossible to raise the money in the time, and the latter because he assumes Police Station 4 bungled the handover. Worse, the mayor voices the suspicion that someone in the Police may be working with the criminal, severely annoying Inspector Brackenreid. Murdoch, on the other hand, suggests that the criminal knows it is impossible to pay, and then the others realise that the criminal intends to go through with the gas release. Then a canister and its attached timer are found, having been left unattended in a public place with the clock ticking.

So, can the ticking canister be prevented from releasing it's cloud of doom? If the city must be cleared, will there be enough time to do it? Who is behind this dastardly scheme, and how can s/he be prevented from doing this wherever else s/he pleases? Can the perpetrator really have so little conscience that s/he would kill potentially thousands of innocent people?

This episode is spot on, with a good mystery that requires real science to make progress, as well as the inspirational and open-minded Detective Murdoch. It makes a pleasant change from a murder to an extortion plot. There are one or two quibbles about the scientific dialogue, but the principles are there, even if the precision is not. Overall, highly recommended.

Murdoch Mysteries: Murdoch au Naturel (2013) Season 6, Episode 5

Going under cover without any cover

[9/10 · 10 December 2016]

Two boys curious about a nearby nudist colony find human remains in the Don Valley woods. Murdoch visits the colony, where he meets its leader, Helmut Lindeman, who knows nothing of the human remains, and bought the land in order to live in a collective with other naturists, wanting nothing more than to be left in peace.

Meanwhile, Dr Ogden has news for Murdoch. It seems that her husband Darcy is willing to divorce her, but needs evidence to bring to the court. She will check with her lawyer exactly what is required.

In the morgue, Dr Grace has reconstructed the skeleton and tells Murdoch that it was a man in his 40s who was shot through the heart. Murdoch decides to use the metal detector he created to search for the bullet, but instead discovers a prosthetic arm that seems to have belonged to the victim. Murdoch traces the prosthetic back to its maker, whose records reveal it was made for an American named Zachariah Marsh, a Pinkerton agent famed for catching and killing the notorious Rooster gang whose trademark was to deprive those they robbed of their boots, to stop them giving chase.

Dr Ogden tells Murdoch that she has found out that the legal requirements are rather complex, and says she will handle it all, so as not to burden him.

George is sent under no cover to the colony to gather information, which sometimes proves difficult as one of the house rules is that people are not obliged to talk about their past lives. He has an unexpected encounter with Dr Ogden, who has gone there for a day's painting.

Investigations reveal that Agent Marsh had a newspaper report of a robbery in Toronto where the robber took the victim's boots away, so Murdoch concludes that Marsh was in Toronto on the trail of a surviving Rooster gang member.

So, is there a Rooster in the colony? If so, who is it? Will Dr Ogden and Constable Crabtree ever be able to look each other in the eye again?

This is a very comic episode, dancing around questions of morality and etiquette, filmed with very carefully chosen camera angles, and needless to say, Murdoch is never out of uniform...

Murdoch Mysteries: The Great Wall (2010) Season 3, Episode 2

To find out who did it, first find where, how and why.

[10/10 · 9 December 2016]

The annual Police Games are just around the corner, so Inspector Brackenreid and Detective Murdoch are trying to motivate the Station 4 officers so that they win this time, having been defeated last year by their rivals at Station 5. Murdoch's strategy lecture is cut short when the telephone rings: it is Police Station 5, there has been a murder in Chinatown and they are asking for Murdoch to take the case. The dead man is Constable Cooper of Police Station 5, and as Inspector Davis from that station explains, their own Detective, Hamish Slorach, is off work sick. Davis assigns Constables Randall Townsend and Pete Holder from his staff to Murdoch, and the investigation begins. Chief Constable Stockton lets it be known that he wants a quick arrest.

Though it is their beat, Constables Townsend and Holder are uncomfortable in Chinatown and do not like much about the Chinese or their way of life. Dr Ogden's preliminary finding at the scene in Chinatown is that Constable Cooper died from loss of blood from a thigh injury. Murdoch notes that Cooper's watch is missing, while Crabtree finds some bloodstained shards of glass not far from the body. Crabtree finds that Constable Cooper had been due to meet Edward Chen, a Chinese businessman, so Murdoch goes to speak to him. Chen has two bodyguards with him, but also a black eye, which he claims was Cooper's handiwork. Chen says it was over a girl called Mai-Li, whose grandfather, Feng Choy, runs a local herbalist shop. Murdoch visits the shop, but all Feng Choy will say, via his niece, Ling, who acts as his interpreter, is Mai-Li us not there.

Murdoch learns from Dr Ogden that Cooper's leg wound contained fragments of broken glass as well as some unidentified dark threads, he also has strange bruising above the wound, and had swallowed opium. A search of Feng Choy's shop turned up Cooper's watch. Murdoch receives word that the killer has been caught. Arriving in Chinatown, Murdoch finds the officers of Police Station 5 have arrested Feng Choy, so he reminds them that CC Stockton has given him the case, so he will handle any arrests.

Back at Police Station 4, Murdoch questions Feng Choy, but gets no answer. Ling says Cooper was buying opium from them to treat back pain. When Murdoch asks Ling about Mai-Li, Feng Choy angrily claims she is innocent, but won't discuss her further. Crabtree discovers that Edward Chen runs a gambling den at Feng Choy's premises. Murdoch and several Constables raid the den, where Chen claims to have been giving Cooper a 20% cut to look the other way, and that Cooper hit him because he didn't pay, which Chen explains was because Feng Choy didn't pay him, and when asked said it was because of Mai-Li. Murdoch discovers that Cooper's hand was in many pockets on his beat.

Murdoch tests the glass from Feng Choy's bottles, and finds a match with the glass fragments collected by Crabtree, but it is different from the glass in Cooper's wound, which seems to be window glass. Dr Ogden then reports that the blood on the glass from the scene was not human. Murdoch concludes that the crime scene in Chinatown was staged, and Cooper's body had been moved from where he was actually killed, so he reviews the physical evidence he has, looking with fresh eyes, and finds some white powder on Cooper's uniform that had been overlooked. It is plaster dust, which leads Murdoch to a nearby plaster factory, and then to the true crime scene, where Murdoch discovers plenty of material to match what he already has.

So will knowledge of the true crime scene point Murdoch to the killer? As Constable Cooper wasn't killed in Chinatown, does that exonerate Feng Choy? Will Murdoch ever find Mai-Li and learn how she is involved? How will the tensions between Stations 4 and 5 affect the forthcoming Police Games?

This episode has a real mystery at its heart, and Murdoch feels the weight of peer pressure from his Station 5 colleagues, as well as the urgency from CC Stockton. Murdoch takes cultural differences in his stride, and connects with the Chinese in a much more benign way than anyone from Station 5. There are some big issues in this episode, and they are carefully dealt with.

Murdoch Mysteries: The Murdoch Identity (2010) Season 3, Episode 1

Murdoch comes to England

[9/10 · 9 December 2016]

Murdoch is in Bristol, without any idea of who he is. Two armed men chase him through the back alleys, and shoot him in the arm. He ducks into a pub, where Anna Fulford, the landlady, hides him from the chasers. He then explains that the first thing he remembers is waking up on a coal train in Montreal with a steamer ticket to England, which he used. The ticket was in the name of John Dawson, but the Detective doesn't believe that is his name.

In Toronto, there is great concern for Murdoch, and Detective Hamish Slorach from Police Station 5 has been seconded to Police Station 4 in order to lead the investigation. Slorach's approach and methods differ greatly from Murdoch. A body is found, with a hole straight through the head. It takes some effort to find the bullet, which has been fired from a very powerful gun. A man is arrested in possession of plans for the gun, and the Police learn that there was a team of three, of whom he was one, the dead man, Dawson, was the second, and a third man, Keating, has gone to England with the gun. Crabtree suggests that perhaps Murdoch has followed Keating, so the Toronto Constabulary alert the Bristol Constabulary that a man with a powerful gun is en route to England, and to ask if they have heard from Detective Murdoch.

In Bristol, Anna Fulford finds safe lodgings for Murdoch, thanks to her priest. Murdoch and the people pursuing him have several encounters, as a result of which he learns that there is to be an assassination at the Clifton suspension bridge. Murdoch escapes from the assassins, and takes his story to the Bristol Police, arriving at the station at the same time as the telegram from Toronto. When the telegram is read out, Murdoch realises he is the Toronto Detective named in it. The Chief Inspector at the station informs Murdoch that Queen Victoria and Lord Treadwell, her Secretary of State for War, are due to pass over the bridge very soon, and orders all his men to the bridge to prevent the attack. Murdoch, having seen the gun when he was talking to Keating, is convinced that the gunman won't be anywhere near the bridge.

So, will Murdoch or the Bristol Police find Keating and the gun in time to avert disaster? Will Murdoch regain his memory? Will he return to Toronto, or will Detective Slorach keep his office?

This is a refreshingly different style of episode, and it is so absorbing that the time just flies by. It's a clever plot device to have Murdoch lose his memory in the first episode of a new series, because the glimpses of Murdoch's life in Toronto not only move this story along, but would also provide a helpful way in to the series for any new viewers.

London Has Fallen (2016)

Oh Dear...

[2/10 · 9 December 2016]

This film is totally irredeemable.

I awarded two stars instead of one because it did have the power to evoke a response. It made me angry as I watched.

It isn't just the carelessness with facts that so many contributors have noticed.

It isn't just the special effects that defy the laws of physics.

It isn't just the cars that drive themselves while the occupants move around inside them

It isn't just the weirdly empty streets and tube stations devoid of any staff

It isn't just the fact that the terrorists are so well coordinated, while for most of the movie the relevant British authorities are totally absent

It isn't just that in the middle of all the action the good guys and the bad guys stop to talk to each other

Unlike some reviewers, I don't think this is the worst film ever made. I think it's a misconceived idea carried out so badly as to be an insult to practically everyone portrayed in it, everyone who has any idea of what London is like, and anyone who might watch it.

Murdoch Mysteries: Murdoch Takes Manhattan (2014) Season 8, Episode 5

A honeymoon to remember

[9/10 · 8 December 2016]

This episode features two entirely separate stories that are happening at the same time. In one, a man's body has been found on a Toronto street with tyre tracks on him to show that he has been run over by a motor car. In the other, the newly-wed Murdochs are honeymooning in an upscale New York hotel when they find their plans repeatedly overturned by other people and events.

In Toronto, it doesn't take Dr Grace long to determine that the dead man was run over more than once, because his body has two different types of tracks on it. One of the drivers was very easy to trace, because he abandoned his car a few feet from the victim. Once he has been apprehended, he has very little to say for himself, on account of being so drunk in charge of his vehicle that he can't remember anything of the incident. Meanwhile, Constables Crabtree, Higgins and Jackson have clubbed together to buy a car for $50 from a woman who seems only too happy to see the back of it.

In New York, Detective Murdoch is shocked to find that even though he had reserved the Honeymoon Suite, it was not available, and whilst Julia is happy just to have any room, so long as they can be together, William's frustration is clear, and only gets worse when the bell hop complains about being given a gratuity that isn't real money, as it's Canadian. Still, at least he can spring the surprise of escorting Julia round the Museum of Natural History, except he can't, because it's a public holiday (Decoration Day, whatever that is).

Meanwhile as they take their new car for a spin, Crabtree arranges it so that they drive by the home of Edna Brooks, allowing him to invite her for a drive, to which she readily agrees. Back at the morgue, Dr Grace tells Inspector Brackenreid that the dead man was already dead before being driven over, twice: splinters in a head wound mean he was hit over the head with a heavy wooden object, on top of which his rosy skin indicated that he had been poisoned. Brackenreid muses that someone must really have wanted him dead.

A muffled voice on their hotel room telephone tells Julia that the bear will bleed and the red arrow will drop at noon. William sees some shifty armed men in the hotel lift, and begins to worry. A hotel security man is very indiscreet about a special guest. Noises in the room above theirs only serve to convince the Murdochs that something is very wrong.

In Toronto it becomes apparent that the car bought by the Constables actually belonged to the dead man, and his wife only sold it to spite him over a dalliance with another woman. Dr Grace sacrifices several rats on her way to identifying what poisoned the man, and she is very keen to accompany Inspector Brackenreid in a dash to catch up with the three Constables and their car, which has been entered in a competition in order to work out which of several candidates might be the killer. It all ends up in a white knuckle ride at the limits of the cars' speeds.

William sacrifices Julia's hand mirror and some hotel plumbing to build a periscope to look into the room above, and the sight of bloody bodies forces the two of them into a race against time to save the life of President Roosevelt. It's just as speedy and urgent as the race in Toronto.

So, will the Murdochs be in time to save the President ? Look away now from your history books if you don't want to know the result... More importantly, will the Toronto Constabulary get the killer?

This is a superbly funny episode with all of the main characters relishing some off-duty moments.

Murdoch Mysteries: The Green Muse (2009) Season 2, Episode 5

Low morals in high society

[6/10 · 6 December 2016]

A cab pulls up outside the Weston Music Academy, and a smartly dressed man goes inside, where there is loud and energetic piano music playing and plenty of well-to-do men enjoying the company of young women. Suddenly, a fire bomb is thrown through a window, starting a blaze in the building. People hurriedly leave, while the manager of the establishment checks to see all her women are accounted for. One of them, Cora Devereaux, has not come out, so Ettie Weston goes looking for her, and discovers her dead on a bed, having been garroted.

When Murdoch arrives, it is clear that he and Ettie Weston know each other. She tells him about Cora, who had been with her for about six months, since arriving from Montreal, where there had been some trouble with a customer who had been violent towards her. When Murdoch asks if there has been any similar trouble in Toronto, Ettie says Cora was very popular with the customers. In fact only one customer, a local painter called Arthur Webster, had been any bother, through becoming a bit obsessed with her, which usually spells trouble. In fact she had thrown Mr Webster out a couple of hours before the fire.

Webster seems heartbroken to be told that Cora is dead, and even more taken aback when Murdoch asks if he uses turpentine, which naturally he does, to clean his brushes. Webster had been saddened when Cora let it be known that her feelings were for someone else, Judge Mitchell Wilson, who flatly denies any involvement with Cora or the Weston Music Academy. Meanwhile, Levi Beecher of the Temperance League calls on Inspector Brackenreid to demand that the Music Academy be shut down, only for the Inspector to firmly assure him the Police know their job and are doing it.

At the morgue, Dr Ogden tells Murdoch that the dead woman had taken an anise-based drink shortly before death, to which Murdoch replies that he had seen absinthe at her bedside. Dr Ogden, having noted the familiarity between Ettie and Murdoch, asks how they know each other, and Murdoch explains they had met on a previous case where a prostitute had been killed. Dr Ogden tells Murdoch that there were no defensive wounds, but Cora did have wounds from possibly having been whipped, though these seemed too extreme to have been from playing out a fantasy sex game.

Paul Wilson, son of the judge comes to visit Murdoch. He had earlier overheard his father claiming to have been at home the previous evening, but he knew that was not true, as the judge had recently started staying out to all hours. Worse than that, after his father came in the previous evening, Paul had discovered bloodstained clothing at the back of his closet.

Murdoch brings the judge in for questioning, and eventually he admits seeing Cora at the Academy. They were drinking and then he passed out. When he awoke, he found Cora dead, and himself covered in blood, but cannot explain what happened.

Murdoch questions Ettie once more. She says that when she went back into Cora's room, he found the judge there, holding Cora and crying. She saw to it that he was taken home, being sure that he hadn't killed her. When Murdoch asks if any of Cora's Toronto clients liked using whips, she says only Webster. Sure enough, when Murdoch searches Webster's apartment, he finds whips. Webster explains that it was Cora who used the whips on him. Moreover, he knew of the judge's interest in Cora and was sure it was good and wholesome. However, the judge's son was much more difficult to deal with, and had accused Cora of just being interested in the judge's money, once he found out that his father was planning to marry her.

Murdoch is summoned to Webster's studio, where the artist has been discovered hanged, having painted "forgive me Cora" across one of his many portraits of her. Dr Ogden confirms the post-mortem results are consistent with suicide, which troubles Murdoch somewhat. However, out of the blue, Murdoch invites Dr Ogden out for dinner, and she accepts.

So, what splendid establishment will Murdoch be taking Dr Ogden to? Is the judge really in the clear? Did Webster really kill himself, or was it staged? Is there any connection with past events in Montreal, where Cora Devereaux had survived a garrote attack? Is Paul, the judge's son, really keen to see his father exonerated, or is he playing a different game?

This episode is notable for the way the relationship between Dr Ogden and Detective Murdoch progresses. And the mys is a bit more shallow, to accommodate that

Murdoch Mysteries: The Annoying Red Planet (2008) Season 1, Episode 13

Strange things in the sky and on the ground

[10/10 · 5 December 2016]

An elderly couple walking across farmland in the Rouge Valley see a neighbour, Henri Gaston, hanging in a tree. However, Constable Crabtree observes that there are no footprints leading to the tree, and while the field was ploughed the previous day, the man has only been dead a few hours. Dr Ogden confirms that Gaston was killed before being hanged.

Murdoch interviews Gaston's sister in Jerseyville, who says that while his business was failing, she never expected him to hang himself. Murdoch and Crabtree visit Gaston's woodworking workshop, where they discover Gaston was making observations both of the heavens, in particular Mars, and the local landscape.

Following up on a letter found in Gaston's papers, Murdoch visits the Rouge Valley Lands company and learns from the land agent, Terrence Meyers, that RVL was trying to buy Gaston's land, in order to dam the river, and build an electricity generating station, but Gaston would not sell, so they changed the planned location of the dam, moving it upstream.

Brackenreid suggests that Murdoch look into who else would lose from Gaston's decision. The MacIsaac brothers have a plot of land downstream from Gaston, where they operate a blacksmith's forge. Gaston's refusal to sell meant that RVL withdrew its offer on their land, though they maintain they did Gaston no harm. In fact they had been a bit worried about him recently, because he always seemed to be uneasy about goings on in his cornfield.

Investigating in the cornfield, Crabtree sees some tracks which he is sure must be Martian footprints, and as they explore the cornfield, they discover some unnatural clearings in the midst of the field. While Murdoch busies himself trying to recreate the crime scene at Police Station 4, Constable Crabtree asks people around the area if they have seen or heard anything strange recently, and soon has quite a catalogue of strange lights and sounds.

When Murdoch returns to Jerseyville, he discovers Dr Ogden has travelled on the same train, having received a telegram from Crabtree asking her to come and perform a post- mortem on a cow, which has a very strange injury. When Crabtree shows Dr Ogden the cast he made of the strange footprints, Murdoch recognises a pattern he has seen before, at the MacIsaac forge, and goes to arrest the brothers.

Meanwhile, Chief Constable Stockton visits Police Station 4, accompanied by Terrence Meyers, with a request to keep Meyers' name out of things. So, when Murdoch's questioning of the MacIsaac brothers gets to the matter of whether or not they were working for RVL, Brackenreid steps in to end the interrogation. Just then, Constable Higgins has news of another death in the Rouge Valley, this time a man with a suspicious injury. The policemen show his picture round, but nobody recognises him.

Dr Ogden confirms the man has similar injuries to the cow, and that he was wearing a false moustache. Once that detail is known, the man's local lodgings are found, along with fake papers and a disguise kit. Brackenreid then realises that he is a confidence trickster wanted by the North West Mounted Police.

Due to a mishap on the railway, Toronto's finest are forced to stay overnight in the Rouge Valley, and they pair off, the Inspector with the Constable, and Murdoch with Julia. They spend the evening discussing the case and the great mysteries of life, only for their discussions to be abruptly ended by a weird noise, shortly followed by the sight of an illuminated flying object in the sky above them. Murdoch decides they must follow the craft, though he has no idea of how to proceed if they find it.

So, what is the link between the crop circles, the cow and man with weird injuries and the unidentified flying object? Who killed Henri Gaston and why? What influence does Terrence Meyers have over Chief Constable Stockton?

This episode's mystery takes a long time to be solved, with many zany features. We see just how easily Crabtree is led away on flights of fancy, and how even Murdoch takes the opportunity to poke gentle fun at him because of it. Nevertheless, the four principal characters all bring something unique to the task of solving crime. This is a very suitable series finale, with much promise of more to come.

Murdoch Mysteries: Child's Play (2008) Season 1, Episode 10

A factory boss supports a children's charity while exploiting children in his factory

[7/10 · 5 December 2016]

Howard Rookwood, wealthy industrialist and philanthropist, co-owner of the Rookwood and Watt Glue Factory and Tannery, is hosting a fundraising event for the Baker House Children's Charity, which specialises in settling waifs from England's most deprived districts in new homes in Canada. After his speech, Rookwood says he must be off, which gives Peter Watt, his business partner, an opportunity for some barbed comments. As he is preparing to leave, Rookwood is seen in animated discussion with Calvin Baker, the Director of Baker House.

Back at his office in the factory late at night, Rookwood notices a disturbance in the stables and goes to investigate. He recognises the person who has disturbed the horses, and this person strikes him on the back of the head.

Next morning, Murdoch is demonstrating his latest invention, which he calls a circumscope, to Constable Crabtree; it is a set of field glasses incorporating an extension tube which enables the user to see over walls and round corners. During the demonstration, Constable Higgins arrives with a message from Dr Ogden, asking him to attend the glue factory, where she shows Murdoch the body of Mr Rookwood, and tells him that death was caused by a blow to the back of the head, after which he was trampled by horses.

Murdoch interviews Watt, who says nobody has a bad word to say about Rookwood, though he does recall an argument that Rookwood was having with Baker at the fund raiser. When Murdoch interviews Baker, he explains that it was just a discussion about the plans for a children's dormitory. He can't imagine who would want to harm Rookwood. When pressed, Baker recalls that a servant, Miles Gorman, was dismissed a while ago at the Rookwood residence.

Constable Crabtree has found a spade in an alley near the factory. Upon inspection, blood and hair are found on the back of it. At the morgue, Dr Ogden says that if the spade is the murder weapon, then an overhead swing would seem to be the way Rookwood was killed, though Murdoch notes that the blow is rather low down, suggesting a short attacker. Dr Ogden acquires a number of watermelons, which Murdoch kills during an experiment to find a likely height for the killer, and they conclude that the killer is about 5ft 4in tall.

Constable Higgins has been collecting shoe prints at the crime scene, and many of them have a strange characteristic in that the heel impression is deep, relative to the sole. Murdoch deduces that children, wearing hand-me-down adult shoes would leave such shoe prints. He goes to the factory with Constable Crabtree to interview the children but they all run off, apart from the one who steals Murdoch's bike to make his getaway. Murdoch makes an Identikit image of the boy who seemed to be the ringleader and, believing him to be a factory worker, goes to see Peter Watt. Under pressure, Watt admits that boys do work in the glue factory, but says Rookwood made all the arrangements, but in the end, refers him to Calvin Baker, who runs a boys home in Peterborough.

Murdoch goes to question Miles Gorman, who turns out to be of short stature. When challenged over the reason he was sacked after four years service, he denies any involvement in a series of thefts, saying that there was a boy loitering, and confirming that he looked like the boy in Murdoch's image. At the Rookwood residence Mrs Rookwood identifies the image as Charlie, and her daughter Eva recognises him as her brother Charlie Dunlap. Mrs Rookwood explains that Eva is her daughter by adoption, and her real name is Polly Dunlop. After the tragic accidental death of their first daughter Eva, who fell down the stairs in her house, Howard suggested taking Polly in from the Baker House Girls' Home, and when they adopted her, they renamed her Eva. Mrs Rookwood has only seen Charlie in pictures. After crossing the Atlantic to Canada, Polly and Charlie were split up and sent to different homes. Eva/Polly says she hasn't seen Charlie since they were split up.

Crabtree finds out that Charlie spent eight months at the Baker House Boys' Home before being placed on a farm, from which he absconded about six months previously, at roughly the same time as the thefts started at the Rookwood residence.

Murdoch decides that another visit to the crime scene is required, to make sure they have collected all the shoe prints. He returns to Police Station 4 with the print of a horse shoe, which he wouldn't expect to see on a horse due for rendering at the glue factory. It seems that the factory was rendering healthy, stolen horses. Watt again says the plan was Rookwood's idea. Crabtree has been collating reports of horse theft and found 16 within a couple of miles of the factory, each occurring 10 nights apart. As it is 10 days since the last theft, Crabtree suggests a stake out to catch the thieves in the act. This gives Murdoch an opportunity to use his circumscope, and they catch children bringing horses to the factory.

So who killed Rookwood and why? Was it to do with the horse stealing racket, or something else? Will Murdoch ever see his bike again?

This episode features a mystery that unfolds very slowly, with so many people telling so many lies. But it is also notable for the way the relationships between the four principal characters move forward: Crabtree shows he has learned something of detective work from Murdoch, Brackenreid does something that really impresses Murdoch and Dr Ogden is quite unashamedly flirting with him. And, despite what another reviewer has written, there is nothing preachy at all on the subject of child abuse in this episode, though some positive suggestions are made to Calvin Baker about the charity's responsibility to those in its care.

Murdoch Mysteries: Let Loose the Dogs (2008) Season 1, Episode 6

Family reunions don't always go well

[5/10 · 5 December 2016]

There is a ratting competition at the Manchester Terrier pub, and one of the spectators doesn't like the outcome, so a fight breaks out. Later, John Delaney, the major prizewinner, is attacked and killed on his way home, with his body in a river, and his winnings taken. A short distance away, a drunkard, the one most aggrieved at the fight, is discovered. The drunkard is Murdoch's father, so Murdoch asks to be released from the investigation, but Brackenreid expresses every confidence in Murdoch's professionalism.

Murdoch starts by interviewing Vincent Newcombe, landlord of the Manchester Terrier, who thinks it a great pity that Delaney is dead. It was, he says, a normal evening until the incident with the drunken fellow, who was unknown to Newcombe, and as far as he knows, also a stranger to Delaney. Philip Delaney, the victim's son, who works at the pub and who found the body is rather taciturn, but unusually precise about the time his father left the pub, 9:47, and when he left, 10:04. He knows the times because he has been given a pocket watch by Jess Lacey, so that he can keep track of things in his head. He found his father's body at 10:22; after that, it took him 1 minute to recognise his father, he cried for 2 minutes, thought for 1 minute about what to do, and then took 11 minutes to run back to the pub. Jess Lacey helps out at the pub and does a little cooking there, while her husband Walter does odd jobs for Newcombe. Jess has a soft spot for Philip, and hints that John Delaney was unkind to him.

When interviewing his father, Murdoch finds his patience tested. Harry Murdoch staunchly maintains that he didn't kill Delaney but that he also cannot remember anything about the night before. The experience unnerves Murdoch and stirs in him a memory of him finding his mother, drowned in a river.

Dr Ogden confirms Delaney died from three blows to the head, and that he was dead before being placed in the river. This chain of events leads William to wonder if that is what his father did to his mother. At any event, he knows his father was thrown out of the pub at 9:35, and Murdoch is seemingly convinced that Harry did it.

While Brackenreid distracts Newcombe in the bar, Murdoch checks the place the dogs are kept, to see if there is any evidence of fixing. He finds bottles containing laudanum, chloroform and cocaine, from which Dr Ogden concludes that Harry was right about the dog fights being fixed.

Murdoch interviews Harry again to find out how the fix is put in. Harry, now more sober, regrets not taking more interest in William, and thinks it a terrible thing when a son distrusts his father, like William does. William tells Harry that they both know what Harry is capable of doing when drunk. With Harry still protesting his innocence, Murdoch returns to the Manchester Terrier to ask Lacey why he is drugging the dogs, and how the punters would feel if they found out. He says the doping scheme was developed by Newcombe and Delaney. Murdoch asks Philip if he saw Newcombe and his father after the fight, and Philip says he saw them arguing at 9:45, and that Newcombe left the pub at 9:56.

Back at Police Station 4, Murdoch charts the time-line based on the details supplied by Philip.

So, who could have killed John Delaney? Where is the money Delaney was carrying? Will Murdoch ever see any good in Harry? What do the long looks between Murdoch and Dr Ogden mean?

The Murdoch Mysteries are just getting into their stride, and this episode is notable for what it tells us about Murdoch's background. The mystery element of the episode is not as strong as in some other episodes, but then the writers only have 45 minutes to play with.

Murdoch Mysteries: The Tesla Effect (2010) Season 3, Episode 13

Old adversaries, new problems

[10/10 · 4 December 2016]

A man is in a room, seemingly making feverish preparations to leave. Suddenly, electric light bulbs explode and he screams in agony. A short while later, the Constabulary arrive, and begin to investigate. Dr Ogden can find no sign of external trauma, but says that the corpse is unusually warm, and there are blisters on the man's hand. There is a commotion outside the door as Mr Nikola Tesla arrives, saying that his assistant, Morris Garbutt, had asked him to come, and that it was a matter of life and death.

At the morgue, Dr Ogden tells Murdoch the cause of death was that the man had been cooked, seemingly from the inside outwards. The two of them talk about a job Julia has been offered in Buffalo, and about how rare such opportunities are for women.

In Police Station 4, Nikola Tesla is telling Inspector Brackenreid that he received a telegram from Garbutt two days earlier saying he needed to discuss an unspecified urgent matter. Garbutt and another assistant, Josef Karnaki had left his employ six months previously. Karnaki, in particular, was brilliant and a great loss. On the way to the crime scene, Tesla says he had been experimenting with the transfer of energy carried by high frequency radio waves, which are effective in air, but easily absorbed by water, causing it to heat up and boil. Human bodies are mostly water, which is how Garbutt met his end.

At the crime scene it is possible to trace the course of the energy ray by the trail of desiccated vegetation. Murdoch and Tesla do this, tracing the ray's point of origin to an isolated building, but that building is empty. Tesla is taken aback. For an energy transfer machine powerful enough to kill to be small enough to transport easily would require advances in metallurgy and miniaturisation that are well beyond Karnaki. The only man known by Murdoch to have the requisite skills is James Pendrick, but he is in jail awaiting execution. Murdoch gains nothing from talking to him.

Terence Meyers, the Canadian Government agent, turns up in Brackenreid's office, letting it be known that he is aware of the development of a terrible new weapon, and demanding to be kept up to date.

Murdoch discusses with Tesla how the energy transfer device affects the earth's magnetic field, and proposes that an array of compasses could be used to triangulate the location of the weapon, as it builds up the charge. Doing that leads Tesla, Meyers and the Police to a building belonging to James Pendrick,but too late they realise it is a trap. Quick thinking from Murdoch saves the day, but the weapon is still out there, as is Karnaki and whoever is financing him.

So, will Murdoch and Tesla be able to find Karnaki before some foreign power buys the weapon from him? What part has James Pendrick played in the conspiracy? Does Terrence Meyers have access to sufficient funds to acquire the weapon for Canada? Will Murdoch be able to persuade Dr Ogden to stay in Toronto and settle down with him?

This episode features plenty of interesting scientific ideas. It also shows a great deal about the pressures both Julia and William feel themselves living under. Some doors may be closing, but there are also some loose ends left dangling tantalisingly. It makes for a great series finale.

Murdoch Mysteries: Anything You Can Do (2009) Season 2, Episode 13

A dead butterfly can provide a vital clue

[10/10 · 3 December 2016]

This hilarious episode is full of teases, with a story told in many flashbacks which gradually converge with the normal timeline.

A man called Humphrey Brean is found dead in front of his Toronto house, clutching a butterfly net, apparently having fallen from the top floor window. Murdoch arrives at the scene only to find a member of the North West Mounted Police, Sergeant Jasper Linney, already there, conducting interviews. When Dr Ogden arrives at the scene, Murdoch briefs her that Brean apparently died by accident when trying to catch a butterfly, only for Linney to jump in and declare it no accident. Murdoch disputes this, based on the lack of any evidence of breaking and entering etc. Linney sticks to his version, saying that Murdoch has ignored the other victim. Exasperated, Murdoch asks which other victim, to which Linney replies that the butterfly was also murdered.

Back at Police Station 4, Linney explains that he is investigating the death of Uriah Doakes in British Columbia. Doakes had died when he was run over by a train. Two things stood out about the death, first that the Coroner recorded that Doakes was drunk when he died, though Doakes was a teetotaler, and second, he was carrying a business card belonging to Detective Murdoch, though Murdoch says he never met him. Doakes had been hired by Humphrey Brean to evaluate an ore sample. Both Inspector Brackenreid and Constable Crabtree quickly note remarkable similarities between Murdoch and Linney, not only in their mannerisms, but also in the way the approach their investigations. Linney heads off to the morgue, where Dr Ogden confirms that the butterfly was dead before it was placed in the net. After finishing the Police business, Murdoch tries to speak to Dr Ogden about matters of the heart, but is interrupted.

Linney and Murdoch visit Brean's business partner, Oscar Vanderlay, who confirms that Doakes had been hired to look at an ore sample from the Arkona Mines operation in Pringle Creek, British Columbia, but there was nothing special about the sample. As the officers leave Mr Vanderlay, so a smartly dressed man who looked as if he was heading for the Vanderlay office suddenly turns away and instead calls next door, only to be sent away by the brusque woman within, who does not want the services of a ratcatcher. At the Toronto office of Arkona Mines, Eldon Fremont has not heard of Uriah Doakes, nor is he aware of any activity in Pringle Creek, though they are a large company, with interests in many places.

Back at Police Station 4, Linney and Murdoch examine a map of British Columbia, but can find no trace of a town called Pringle Creek. Inspector Brackenreid has been digging, and has found that Accidental Al, a hired killer whose trademark is to stage the murders so that they appear to be accidents, is back in Canada. Accidental Al, says Brackenreid, often poses as a tradesman to gain access to his victims. Linney and Murdoch recall the ratcatcher from earlier, and rush back to Vanderlay's office, to find him dead under a fallen bookcase, clutching a copy of the collected works of William McGonagall, famed writer of some of the most abysmal poetry ever. Since nobody would voluntarily reach for that book, Linney and Murdoch chalk another murder up to Accidental Al.

Returning to Police Station 4, Inspector Brackenreid is convinced that Arkona Mines is involved in a conspiracy. Constable Crabtree has found that Arkona Mines have bought large tracts of land around a small watercourse called Pringle Creek, and he has found other individuals who have also been buying land in the area. Crabtree shows Murdoch the list, which includes the name Harry Murdoch, the Detective's father. Both Linney and Murdoch travel to British Columbia in search of Pringle Creek, Murdoch's father, and the resolution of the mystery.

Brackenreid has Fremont brought to Police Station 4 for questioning. He suggests Arkona Mines are involved in a land swindle, but Fremont claims that they know there is no profit to be made at Pringle Creek, and have already refunded all their investors, so nobody loses.

So, what will Linney and Murdoch find at Pringle Creek? Is there anyone else on Accidental Al's hit list? How, exactly, is Murdoch's father involved? Will Murdoch ever get to finish his conversation with Dr Ogden?

In this episode, we learn a lot about Detective Murdoch, especially about the way people close to him think about him. The shifts in the time line do make the story more exciting,though at the same time, they do disorient the viewer at the beginning.