The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Pie In the Sky Mystery (Television) Series…

Pie in the Sky: Series One Here’s another British mystery “dramedy” (drama & light comedy) series that might have been “undiscovered” by many people outside of the United Kingdom. Pie in the Sky stars Richard Griffiths as Henry Crabbe, the main character of the series.

When we first meet Crabbe, we find out that he wants desperately to retire from the police force in order to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time chef in his very own restaurant. This is not to be!

Crabbe (deliciously portrayed by Griffiths!) is left to be a part-time chef and restaurateur, having to solve crimes while planning the menu, collecting the eggs from his chicken coop, and supervising his ex-convict sous chef. The name of his restaurant: Pie in the Sky.

Maggie Steed is perfectly cast as his wife Margaret, an accountant who eats to live, prefering numbers over the delectable fare Crabbe prepares at his restaurant. They make a delightful “opposites attract” couple. She simply does not enjoy food, even though they own a restaurant and he is a wonderful chef.

Bella Enahoro plays the detective who is assigned to Crabbe. Her purpose is to spy on Crabbe and keep his boss (Malcolm Sinclair) informed of everything Crabbe is up to. However, sometimes things don’t work out as intended…

Pie in the Sky is one of those detective series that is character-driven. There isn’t a fast chase scene in each episode, or a shoot-out that climaxes with several close-ups of the wounded. This is not to say that there is no plot!

My husband and I finished watching Pie in the Sky – second season. We think that the show improved with each episode, and that’s saying  a lot, since we both really enjoyed the first show!

We have yet to watch the Pie in the Sky third season, but are really looking forward to seeing it.

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British Mystery Mini-Series is a Mystery to Me!

Su just wrote in a comment the other day which I have decided to post as an entry. She has a question about a British mystery show that aired about ten years ago, and wondered if any of us know the name of the series.

“This is really a long shot, but maybe you mystery fans could help me remember the name of a British Television mini-series (or multi-part movie) that I completely loved and want to see in it’s entirety. It was maybe 10 years ago give or take a decade 😉
I can’t remember anything but snippets and bits of memories. So I thought I’d throw out those bits and pieces and see if anyone can put the clues together and figure out what show it is. A mystery challenge for you!

OK so here it is – these are all the things I can remember about the show.

The title of the show was a play on words.
The main character was a woman maybe in her 30s.
She ended up driving through Scotland searching for something – i think it had to do with her father.
There was a man she met who joined in the quest. The letter K suggests itself here.
The banter between them was such clever repartee that it reminded me of Robert Heinlein’s dialogue writing.

Now is where I get really confused. I remember a young side-kick who either was the same actor as the young Scot who played Merry in Lord of the Rings or looked a lot like him. But this may be from another show altogether. Double score if you can name both shows.”

If any of you think that you might know the name of the show, please feel free to send us a comment!

PS… Dominic Monaghan is the actor who played Merry in Lord of the Rings. The first time I saw him was when he played Hetty Wainthropp’s very young, detective side-kick on the Hetty Wainthropp Investigates series, which if you haven’t seen, you should definitely check out.

New Cozy Mystery Shows Coming Soon!

Good news, Cozy Mystery lovers! A site reader (Thank you, Alfred!) just told me about some upcoming shows on PBS… So>>> mark your calendars!

PBS is calling this the “Six by Agatha” event. It all kicks off with two new Hercule Poirot episodes (Hercule Poirot Series X) at the end of June. Of course, we wouldn’t want them with any other actor than David Suchet… And, lucky for us, he will be starring in them. Both of these Agatha Christie episodes are ninety minutes long:

June 21….. Cat among the Pigeons

June 28….. Mrs. McGinty’s Dead

And then on to four brand new Miss Marple (Miss Marple, Series IV) shows. This time Julia McKenzie will be starring as Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. If you were lucky enough to catch Cranford when it aired on PBS earlier this year, then you already know what an exceptional actress she is. These episodes are also ninety minutes long.

July 5….. A Pocket Full Of Rye

July 12…..  Murder is Easy

July 19….. They Do It with Mirrors

July 26….. Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?

Now that the major television stations have all run their two hour season finales, what better way to celebrate the summer than with some brand new Mystery! shows on PBS?

Thanks, again, Alfred!

Sir David Attenborough: Great Nature Shows

If you have yet to see any of Sir David Attenborough’s nature collections, then you have missed some of the rarest glimpses into our world’s environments. There is a very obvious reason that this Natural Sciences academic from Cambridge is world-renowned: He is one of the world’s foremost experts in his field.

Each of Attenborough’s BBC series take place in different kingdoms. Some of the series that my family has been able to enjoy are:  The Life of Birds,  The Life of Mammals,  Life in the Undergrowth,  Life in Cold Blood,  Life in the Freezer (Antarctica).

Attenborough travels the entire planet so that we don’t have to. While “there”  (wherever that might be!) he brings us truly remarkable sights. And, he is not without the youthful heart of a small boy at seeing something truly amazing. Attenborough’s sense of glee when he watches an elephant quite literally going bump in the night is infectious. His obvious enjoyment at watching an orangutan grab a cracked nut from him or his laughter at watching an albatross land is contagious. >>> Even those Grinches among us are not able to resist his enjoyment.

Did I mention the filming? The Attenborough series are simply spectacular. He has hiked through the hot, dry Sahara Dessert or the hot, humid Amazonian jungles so that we can enjoy the sights that he and his production crew have had to wait for… sights that we would most likely never have seen even if we had been in the dessert or jungle… sights that took enormous amounts of patience and time to capture on film.

I’m happy to let Attenborough and his production crews/experts do the work so that my family can enjoy these beautiful pieces of nature’s art work! The footage we see is absolutely incredible.

(As with most things in nature, some of these shows include scenes not suitable for young children.)

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