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Wednesday 30 November 2011

Masterpiece Mystery - Case Histories

I recently enjoyed watching the first season, three two-hour episodes, of the detective drama Case Histories on PBS's Masterpiece Theater.

Jackson Brodie is an Edinburgh ex-policeman turned private detective. Not only is he good at his job, he's good period, a tough guy with a heart of gold who finds his personal values tested by all the cases that come his way. A traumatic childhood incident haunts him and deeply affects everything he does.

Based on novels by award-winning British author Kate Atkinson, the episodes were filmed on location in Scotland. I found this series a perfect blend of quirky characters, unpredictable mystery and atmospheric locale, and look forward to the next season.

Trailer for the series:



--Cat

Monday 16 May 2011

Pretty vs Gritty

Yes, it's time I left a post.

If only life and other things did not intrude.

Haven't read an engrossing mystery for a while. Must remedy that.

I do want to mention I've been watching Knowledge Network's airing of two long-running British series: 1990s episodes of A Touch of Frost, and early 2000s episodes of Dalziel and Pascoe.

No one does gritty police dramas like the British. (Cracker, I loved you!)

NYPD Blue came close. I watched it from first episode to last, 20+ years. There may be other American-produced shows that compete -- I don't watch them all. I find many are just plain pretty -- the people, the settings, the colors.

Not saying pretty is bad -- I watch a few of these shows. But, if I had to choose just one, I'd pick gritty.

--Cat