Sunday 18 September 2016

Lazy Sunday: Death of a Loved One



This next Lazy Sunday Murder Mystery is familiar territory but falls into the Scandi-Noir genre and ia highly addictive watching. Back in 2014, my aunt and uncle introduced to me Swedish TV series about a female amateur detective.




Set in the 1950s Sweden, Puck Ekstedt, doesn’t conform. She gives talks about literature and is fascinated by murders. She wants a PHD and she doesn’t know if she wants children. There are only a precious 6 episodes in the Crimes of Passion series, based on the novels by Maria Lang and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they’ll be anymore. I became a little too obsessed with the series, re-watching them all on a loop on my ipad during my lunch breaks at work, but they were just so very good, plus the opening titles are brilliant.




I ended up watching the last three episodes first, as these were the ones that were taped by my family and I was so eager to watch more; I downloaded the rest of the series and devoured them. The terrible comparison that was mentioned was that the series was like ‘Mad Men meets The Killing’. This is completely wrong. The stories are set in the 50s and there are murders that take place. Nothing like either show. Just to be clear.




Apart from Puck, the main characters are Einar Bure, called Eje, who is dating Puck at the start of the series, and Christer Wijk, a police superintendent, womaniser and Eje’s best friend. Together, the three of them solve murders. 




The first episode, Death of a Loved One, is set on a remote island that can only be reached by boat the perfect place for a murder. Her colleague, Rutgar, invites Puck to a small party to celebrate Midsummer on the small island. She is persuaded to go after she hears that Eje, an old friend of Rutgar’s is going; he and Puck have started dating. But during the festivities, two old friends of the party show up uninvited. Things take a turn, as truths people wanted hidden start to creep out. The next day Puck discovers the body of one of the guests. She tells Eje and he contacts his friend, Chrsiter Wijk who is a detective in Stockholm. But once he arrives on the island, the body is missing.

The setting for this story is beautiful, a forest wonderland surrounded by sea, with a beach and perfect house situated in the middle. All the characters and suspects all seem to have motives and various secrets they wish to hide. Past heartaches and lies come to the surface, while Puck, the outsider takes note of everyone’s behaviour and remembers every detail. Catching the eye and admiration of Christer but all she and Eje seem to want is a few minutes alone together. 




There is even a nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None when someone comments that they’re getting picked off one by one. The death count for this story was actually quite low but nearly everyone comes out of this with wounds. An excellent start to the series.