Someone has driven a car through the village green and worse, vandalized every garden in the village. Well, Agatha's is more of a work not quite in progress; but she has every hope of winning the competition: the first incomer (new resident) to do so. Better, all is not well between James Lacey and Mary Fortune. Matter of fact, someone has murdered Mary by strangling her and planting her upside down in a giant plant urn. Bill Wong suspects Lacy but he claims to have seen someone wearing red shoes hanging about Mary's house. Meanwhile the rest of the village is trying to repair the damage done to the gardens. Agatha's zen garden has a long, long way to go if she hopes to have a chance. Turns out no one in the village actually liked Mary who had managed to insult just about everyone. Not Bernie Spott who says she was always sweetness and light to him as they just talked and shared music. A surprise to everyone is that Mary had a daughter: Beth Fortune, whose fiancé wears red shoes. Agatha insists that Roy find out everything he can about Beth, especially if he expects help from Agatha in the future. But Agatha has to get into Mary's house to do some looking about; the police may have searched but they are only men and don't know what to look for. Beth seems to believe that James was going to marry her mother; but James says marriage was never mentioned as he found her cold and detached. Aggie is sure Beth did her mother in and accuses her in front of everyone only to find out her pet theory is rubbish. Maybe then Berenice Chiton killed her with a guitar string. Nope as Mary had never said anything negative to Berenice, but who had Mary talked to about Berenice? Who else loved music. Who cares. The really big case is solved by Aggie: she helps Bill find the speed mad vandals. And the winner of the best garden is being announced. Is that a tear in Aggie's eye. She couldn't have won? Well, she may be winning James' affection and that counts for something.
3 Reviews
It is a plant
Prismark109 July 2016
A green-fingered mystery as on the eve of the village's best kept garden contest a lot of the gardens are sabotaged and a fast car is running amok while plying techno.
James's new girlfriend, Mary Fortune is found dead planted upside down in a flower pot. Her garden was untouched. James is distraught and Agatha springs into action thinking the fellow contestants might be the suspects and later thinks it could be her spoilt, brattish daughter. James later tells Agatha that he had split up with Mary because she could be so catty.
A better balance of comedy and mystery, some of the supporting cast were right on the button. The show also decided to give Midsomer Murders a two fingered salute as we had two black members in the cast this week including the return of the padre from a few episodes ago. Any more and the English Defence League will have to organise a march through the village!
James's new girlfriend, Mary Fortune is found dead planted upside down in a flower pot. Her garden was untouched. James is distraught and Agatha springs into action thinking the fellow contestants might be the suspects and later thinks it could be her spoilt, brattish daughter. James later tells Agatha that he had split up with Mary because she could be so catty.
A better balance of comedy and mystery, some of the supporting cast were right on the button. The show also decided to give Midsomer Murders a two fingered salute as we had two black members in the cast this week including the return of the padre from a few episodes ago. Any more and the English Defence League will have to organise a march through the village!
Promising, more than delivering
skinnybert15 April 2024
As always, there's a lot to like in terms of color, energy, and the well-timed comic moment. And then -- all too often -- there's the odd turns and incompletions. Beaton likes to have her characters be odd ducks, without wishing to look into **why** they are odd, and so the result is necessarily rather superficial -- like the plots. This one is a fine example: beginning with torn-up gardens, but we never do find out who is tearing them up. Then there are the night-time car destructions, which we DO find out about -- but there is no follow up. As is too typical for the genre, the murder solution seems almost random, with red herrings that do nothing, but so it goes.
The principal actors do fine with what they have, but guest actor Antonia Clarke comes off as a model who mistakenly thought she could act. Sasha Frost does very little but sings nicely. Abubakar Salim shows promise and subtlety; no surprise if he went on to better roles.
The principal actors do fine with what they have, but guest actor Antonia Clarke comes off as a model who mistakenly thought she could act. Sasha Frost does very little but sings nicely. Abubakar Salim shows promise and subtlety; no surprise if he went on to better roles.
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