Sherlock

I recently had the pleasure of watching both the first and the second seasons of the new Sherlock TV series.  Each season consisted of  [only!]  three 90 minute episodes.

Sherlock, produced for the BBC and the PBS Masterpiece anthology series, is the latest incarnation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective Sherlock Holmes.

This is a modern Sherlock, a distinctive Sherlock in that he is a self-described high functioning sociopath. Rare flashes of humanity are brought out by Dr. John Watson, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

The great consulting detective uses cell phones, the Internet, GPS, every latest gadget that he can. Dr. Watson writes his stories about Sherlock on a blog. There are familiar names from the original stories – Mrs. Hudson, DI Lestrade, Jim Moriarty, Mycroft Holmes, and the stories are loosely based on the originals.

The episodes are fast-paced, filled with action, and give us a fine picture of modern London. Fans, myself included, are happily awaiting the next season, slated for production in 2013. 

--Cat

Before we had The Mentalist, we had Poirot....

Death on the Nile

Agatha Christie's Poirot [filmed by the British company ITV in 2004]

The inimitable Hercule Poirot, played to eccentric perfection by David Suchet, embarks on a Nile cruise along with the usual assortment of friends, family, and strangers, all harboring deadly secrets. Passengers are murdered and Poirot takes charge of the investigation.

It's fun watching him delve into the psyches of those on the list of suspects. The inevitable meeting of all the interested parties, an Agatha Christie mystery staple, concludes with Poirot laying bare everyone's secrets and ferreting out the killer. A dramatic confession follows.

Filmed on location in Egypt, the show boasts stunning cinematography and artistic scenes. Some awe-inspiring moments.

– Cat

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

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

simple message

--Cat

Quick Review - MISSING

Missing by Karin Alvtegen
Published – 2000
Translated from Swedish by Anna Paterson

Though born to a wealthy family, Sybilla Forsenstrom has for 15 years been homeless by choice. She has no address, no identifying papers, and is invisible among the other homeless in Stockholm. Her one tie to her unhappy past is a monthly stipend she receives from her mother--providing she remains invisible. She has been scrupulously saving the money, for her big dream is to buy a small place of her own in the country.

With all her possessions and necessities in backpack and briefcase, Sybilla moves about the city and countryside like a shadow. She has learned all the tricks: how to travel free, where she can find washing facilities, places where she can warm herself during harsh Swedish winters. She resides for weeks at a time in cottages whose owners are away, and leaves no trace she was there.

Occasionally she dons her one good outfit and dines in an upscale hotel, acting as a businesswoman on the road, charming and conning male travelers into paying for her meal and room. For years the game has gone well. A good meal quells her constant hunger, a luxurious room ensures one night of warmth, a fragrant bath, and comfortable sleep.

Then her mark is murdered in his hotel room, his body mutilated. Sybilla was the last person seen with the victim. Her fingerprints are on his key card. This "evidence" combined with mental problems she had in the past makes her an easy suspect. The only suspect.

Too frightened to go to the police, Sybilla is on the run. When a second and then a third man is killed in a similar gruesome manner, she becomes the most wanted serial killer in Sweden. The story of her troubled youth screams from newspaper headlines and across television screens.

She hides in a school attic to rest and regroup, and there meets fifteen year old Patric, a similarly isolated loner. Over the course of several days they become trusted friends, and when a fourth murder is committed, Patric vows to help her prove her innocence.

Proficient using computers, able to hack into police files, Patric learns names of people who might be involved in the murders. He and Sybilla follow up on the leads, with Sybilla dipping into her precious fund to pay expenses.

As they get closer to the truth, Sybilla, worried about Patric's future should his involvement with her become known, strikes out on her own and bravely confronts the killer.

Deftly plotted, Missing is both suspenseful thriller and detailed psychological study of a gritty survivor. Sybilla's struggles are interwoven with flashbacks of her unhappy childhood trying desperately to please cold and distant parents, and the culmination of harrowing events that drove her to become one of the Missing.

Conclusion: I enjoyed reading Sybilla's story. I was fully engaged and admired her intelligence and her determination to overcome enormous obstacles and live free. Many books I read and soon forget; this one has stayed with me.

--Cat

Quick Review - Alone

Published 2005

Part police procedural, part dark psychological suspense, this well-written chiller kept me turning the pages. (Through most of the book.)

The two main characters dragged huge amounts of baggage through the story.

Massachusetts State Trooper Bobby Dodge is a member of the elite Boston STOP team. An on-the-wagon alcoholic, he's been struggling for thirty years with mother abandonment issues, brought on by his violent, hard-drinking father.

Catherine Gagnon was at the age twelve kidnapped and kept for weeks in a dark hole by a sick rapist. The experience shattered her young life and haunts her more than twenty years later, when she is trapped in marriage to a physically abusive man.

Called out to a domestic incident in a posh Boston neighborhood, Bobby shoots Catherine's husband Jimmy as he is about to kill her.

Bad move. Jimmy Gagnon's father, a wealthy supreme court judge, charges Bobby with murder. The resulting investigation probes deeply into Bobby's life and has him questioning his existence and his actions.

Despised by her father-in-law, Catherine is accused of using Bobby to get rid of her husband. Making matters worse, the judge also accuses her of trying to gain attention and sympathy by poisoning her four year old son, who has been mysteriously ill since birth.

Making matters worser (sic) the man who terrorized Catherine as a child has been released from prison. Using the name Mr. Bosu, he receives a list of names and a sum of money and gleefully embarks on a murder spree, systematically disposing of everyone close to Catherine.

The gripping story unfolds, bad piled upon bad, almost depressingly so. But as secrets are revealed my fascination with the story fell flat, and when I learned the why of it all, I was underwhelmed. I could not believe in the story any more. Nor did I believe in the characters any longer, except for Mr. Bosu, one of the better villains I've come across. His motives were clear; everyone else's made no sense to me.

Conclusion: taut, well-paced thriller that falls apart at the end.
--Cat