Midsomer Murders - Dead Letters [DVD]

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Susan Bartlett – She was introduced to valerian after her pill and pill overdose and was abandoned in Setwale Woods. A suicide note was then sent from his computer and later that night he drowned in a nearby lake. We want to hear what you have to say but we need to verify your account. Just leave us a message here and we’ll take care of verifying you. New Causton DCI John Barnaby arrives in Midsomer county. Years earlier, the body of a renowned racing car driver had been found at the prestigious Darnley Park Girls School, apparently having committed suicide with a revolver. The school is now hosting a vintage car rally, but the event is disrupted by the death of one of the judges, a local celebrity DJ. Initially, his death is also presumed to be suicide, but Barnaby soon spots evidence suggesting that both victims had been murdered. The ninth season started off great with "The House in the Woods", but "Dead Letters" continues this season on a decent note. It's not as near as good as the previous entry, though it is still watchable. On a business trip to China, Alan King suddenly dies. The family firm, King's Crystal, is in financial uncertainty, with plans to close its factory in Midsomer Magna. Six months later Alan's widow Hilary and his brother Charles are married, much to the chagrin of Alan's son Ian. With family feuds and factory workers angered by the loss of their jobs, motives abound when Peter Baxter, the firm's accountant, is found dead, stabbed with a Masonic poniard, and Ian is fatally poisoned. Barnaby and Jones suspect a disgruntled employee is guilty. With so many things to investigate, they will need to explore both the Freemasons and the family, and find that the play of Hamlet may hold the key to the case.

Off-screen, Tracy married long-term TV director partner Richard Platt at the actor’s church – St Paul’s in London’s Covent Garden last July. “We had been together for 16 years and our daughters are 12 and eight, so we decided to get married. I think he was so romantic from home because of our work.” A 90-year-old feud between the male and female inhabitants of Broughton comes to a head with a Skimmington Ride event. When elderly Ms. Danvers is poisoned shortly before the event takes place, Barnaby and Jones must investigate whether her murder was related to the feud or another unknown cause. When the Rev. Anthony Gant is shot and killed whilst taking part in the traditional ride, and another murder follows, it seems likely that there are deeper secrets to uncover.Barnaby and Jones attend the Midsomer Abbas spring fair, a celebration of the village’s friendship with Midsomer Herne. After sampling the local cider, Barnaby becomes unwell, and moments later the body of Peter Slim is discovered inside the cider vat. Peter had been a tax inspector searching for illicit alcohol. The investigation reveals two very insular communities wedded to ancient traditions and suspicious of outsiders. When the bloodied fingerprints of the local cider mill owner are found on a wooden staff linked to the murder, the case seems solved. But Barnaby has his doubts. Meanwhile, the local vicar, the Reverend Conrad Walker, is appalled at plans to revive an ancient fertility rite known as 'The Stag,' and soon afterwards is himself murdered. Upon discovering that a local girl had been married to Peter Slim, the detectives realise that the motive for the killings is far darker than they had imagined. DS Dan Scott arrives in Midsomer as DS Troy's replacement. He is instantly involved in a case in the village of Midsomer Mallow, when a college secretary is found murdered. Soon after a retired doctor is also murdered during the village's annual garden open day. Barnaby and Scott investigate the connection between the two victims, and the murder of a homeless drunk give them the clue they need. Meanwhile, Cully organizes a reunion with a group of old school friends, with unexpected results. Detective Constable Gail Stephens ( Kirsty Dillon) (series 10–13)—a colleague of Tom Barnaby and DS Jones, who often helps them in their cases, sometimes providing valuable insight. Gail was transferred to Midsomer from Binwell. Gail is cheery but emotional, breaking down in tears when, after initially serving as a uniformed woman police constable, she was appointed as a plain-clothed CID detective. Throughout Gail's appearances, it is implied that she is on the point of having an affair with Sgt Jones, but when it came to the crunch he decided that he did not want to get too heavily involved with a colleague, after which Gail effectively snubbed him. Strangely, Gail has not been seen since "Fit For Murder".

When the archaeologists working on the dig in Midsomer Cicely unearth Cicely herself, this causes celebration. But shortly afterwards, the leader of the dig is murdered and found in one of the excavated trenches. DCI Barnaby and DS Nelson soon uncover many misdeeds in the village, and almost everyone has a skeleton in the closet that they would rather keep hidden. The truth will resurface but not before more murders take place.

An old pagan festival is revived in Midsomer Parva, with the burning effigy of a straw woman as its centrepiece. To the horror of the onlookers, the local curate, Alex Deakin, is found trapped within the effigy and burns to death. As the police investigate, a series of further deaths from apparent spontaneous human combustion follow. Barnaby and Scott soon suspect that someone is using the illusion of witchcraft to hide their true motives. Not everything works. The second murder is agreed shoe-horned in and didn't feel necessary, the motive is not as strong as for the other killings too. The local landlady subplot also feels like padding, hastily introduced, doesn't amount to anything and completely neglected, that irrelevant subplot could have been completely scrapped and it wouldn't have harmed the episode at all. There aren't enough red herrings, twists or suspects to me, and some of the episode plods as a result of some material not being as interesting or necessary as ought.