8/10
Mystery fun in the sun
25 November 2021
I like Sally Lindsay as an actress. She's great at comedy, drama and comedy drama. I particularly loved her in Sky series Mount Pleasant. I also think she's great in the Madame Blanc Mysteries which she also created and produced.

In this show she plays Jean White, an antiques dealer whose husband has died in a car accident in the south of France. She travels to the village of St Victoire to initially pick up his belongings and do the usual after-death admin, but begins to suspect it wasn't a car accident. It also comes out that he may have been leading a double life whilst away seemingly on antique buying trips. Alongside this, Jean manages to get involved with the local Gendarme when various incidents - murders, theft, art forgeries and more occur in this beautiful French (actually filmed in Malta and Gozo but who cares? It makes for a beautiful sunny backdrop) village.

The supporting characters include Dom, a fellow Brit single dad who becomes her sidekick and friend, as well as a mixture of "Brits Abroad" - Sue Holderness and Robin Askwith as the posh owners of the chateau are particularly funny, the local garage owner and her son, the Irish pub landlord and his wife, as well as native locals all adding their quirks and dramas of their own to the mix.

If you're looking for gritty and dark murder drama this show isn't for you. To me its kind of a mix of Death in Paradise and Agatha Raisin, but also has its own thing going on. The mysteries are engaging enough, and there are some quite interesting twists, and there is plenty of humour mixed in along the way.

This show kind of slipped under the radar until I saw a promo for it whilst streaming another show from Channel 5 and decided to give it a go. I don't regret it. Its one of those shows that's just fun to watch and I hope we get more series.
37 out of 46 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed