Midsomer Murders – The Dagger Club

Midsomer is back for its seventeenth series, and we begin with a tale of crime and crime fiction. ‘The Dagger Club’ is a fun and typically Midsomer episode, a strong opener that could maybe have benefitted from a tighter plot and reflection on how it deals with the diversity firestorm.

Artist Suzie Colebrook is electrocuted by a roulette wheel shortly after discovering a break-in at her home in Luxton Deeping. DCI Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) and DS Nelson (Gwilym Lee) investigate and discover a connection to the famous local crime writer George Summersbee, responsible for the Jed Dagger thriller novels, who died a few year’s prior in mysterious circumstances. Colebrook was responsible for illustrating the novels and was working on a newly-discovered manuscript, which has gone missing. After the discovery of a second body, killed in identical circumstances, the detectives find that the deaths were copied from Dagger novels. Is the motive to be found in the Dagger club and the mystery of Summersbee’s death, or is there something else going on in Luxton Deeping?

Despite the suggestion of the title, ‘The Dagger Club’ gets off to a good start with a number of inventive murders (I was reminded of the Agatha Christie novel The Big Four with the first two). If you can suspend your disbelief that two people would immediately use the roulette wheels as they are shown to do, the electrocutions are suspensefully shot, as is a particularly dark and foggy murder in the nearby woods. The motives for the deaths felt a little iffy to me, particularly one involving a printing press, but this is Midsomer and we’ve certainly heard stupider.

When we got the solution, I’d almost forgotten that it was even a question

‘The Dagger Club’ boasts a mostly strong guest cast – Una Stubbs appears against type, playing up her ditsy side while secretly being one of the village’s most devious people. Georgia Taylor gets a lot to do as Bella Summersbee, George’s daughter, and she shines, particularly as her father’s secrets are revealed. I also enjoyed James Lance and Simon Kunz (as a neurotic author and a slimy book publisher respectively), but they don’t feature too much or have any real impact on the plot.

However, not everyone is so strong. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is a bit one-note as Rob Mead, Bella’s husband, and his storyline takes up far too much of the episode for too little pay-off. That his sizeable but insignificant supporting role comes after the Midsomer diversity storm is likely to fuel rumours that diverse characters are being introduced just to box-tick – hopefully this situation will prove a one-off, but it’s worth stressing that this is unlikely to ease the concerns raised after True-May’s comments. Meanwhile, the clue that solves the mystery of the missing manuscript is a little too throw-in, and the whole subplot seems to vanish about halfway through the episode – when we got the solution, I’d almost forgotten that it was even a question.

The other recurring Midsomer elements are here, and they shine as strongly as ever. Dudgeon and Lee’s chemistry has developed since last series, and we have the sweet subplot of Barnaby being a new father. In the past, Dudgeon and Sarah Dolman (as Sarah Barnaby) have sometimes struggled to convince as a couple, but the introduction of a child (coupled with the ever-adorable Sykes the dog) really help to make it work. And, after nearly twenty years, the cinematography and the settings remain as exquisite as ever – although the world of Midsomer may be a lethal one, it’s certainly a good looking one too.

‘The Dagger Club’ is a strong opener to the show’s seventeenth series, showcasing the show’s strengths with a twisty mystery and a good supporting cast. It’s hard to divorce it from the diversity comments that came before, and it doesn’t seem as if the show has reacted in the most positive way, but the proof will be in the rest of the run.