The Cozy Mystery List Blog

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

Hmmm… Rizzoli & Isles… What Do You Think?

OK, let me preface this entry by saying two things: I like Angie Harmon a lot AND If you are a fan of the show, please don’t continue reading this entry…

OK >>> If they are making a movie about Helen of Troy… a woman who could cause a war, a woman so exquisitely beautiful that ANY man would have to do a double-take… (or, any woman, either!) >>> the producer need not use his casting agent, simply call Angie Harmon. Yes, that is how beautiful this woman is!

So, since I don’t read the Tess Gerritsen mystery books that are the basis for this TNT show, I am not familiar with the facts of the books’ plots. Here are some questions I have for readers of these mystery books:

Is Rizzoli (Harmon) supposed to be as beautiful as she is, or is she supposed to be more “normal” looking? I mean, she spends a lot of time talking to her best friend (Isles) about the problems with dating…

Which brings me to my next question: Is Rizzoli supposed to have problems dating when it seems like there are a whole lot of men interested in dating her? (i.e. her Catechism childhood acquaintance/ex-boss, the FBI agent, a man in the bar she flashes her badge at…)

Is Isles supposed to be a female Monk who actually is so smart that she can’t talk normally with people… and always has to interject latin/medical terms when talking to non-medical professionals (or latin teachers!)?

Is Isles supposed to be a funny character, or simply tiresome?

Why are Isles and Rizzoli such good friends? They seem to have absolutely NOTHING in common… other than they both have jobs that enable them to chat at scenes of the crimes?

When Rizzoli “dresses up” for functions, is she supposed to be ill-at-ease… sort of like a tomboy in stiletto heels, or is she supposed to be the most gorgeous woman in the room?

Is Rizzoli supposed to look bad in the “normal” clothing they have her wearing? Let’s face it, Angie Harmon would look great in a dirty pair of two-sizes too large high-water jeans.

Are Rizzoli and Isles crime victims a lot of the time?

Is Isles the forensic pathologist… and if so, why does she go undercover as a cocktail waitress?

¿¿¿”Frog Face”???!!!???

Is Rizzoli’s new partner a computer specialist/whiz AND a detective?

Does Isles really meet her biological (big-time criminal) father through doing an autopsy on her unbeknownst-to-her half brother?

And, my last question is not only directed to people who read the Rizzoli and Isles books… It is about hiring such wonderful, accomplished actors to play Rizzoli’s parents (Lorraine Bracco and Chazz Palminteri) >>> Why are their screen times so limited?

Hmmmm… Just wonderin’…

Not Inspector Morse … Inspector Lewis: The Dead of Winter – PBS NEW Masterpiece Mystery! (Season 3)

Inspector Lewis (Kevin Whately) and Sergeant Hathaway (Laurence Fox) are back! Yes tonight, your local PBS station will be airing The Dead of Winter, the second installment of the third season of the Inspector Lewis mystery shows.

While the Inspector Morse mystery shows were based on the mystery novels by Colin Dexter, the Inspector Lewis shows are inspired by Dexter’s mysteries. I have to admit that I miss Inspector Morse, but perhaps, after as many years of having Inspector Lewis as the main focus, I will miss him as much. Time will tell…

Right now, however, we are able to enjoy the same Oxford-ish atmosphere that the earlier (Morse) series provided. And, The Dead of Winter will give us a little more information about Sergeant Hathaway’s past. So far we know that Hathaway is a Cambridge graduate, who started training for the priesthood…

Some of you will probably recognize Nathaniel Parker (from Elizabeth George‘s Inspector Lynley mystery shows) who will be guest starring… not as a Scotland Yard inspector!

Inspector Lewis : Counter Culture Blues – PBS NEW Masterpiece Mystery! (Season 3)

Masterpiece Mystery! will start airing Season 3 of Inspector Lewis – beginning this Sunday (tomorrow) night on your local PBS station. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Inspector Lewis, he used to be Inspector Morse’s side-kick. The Inspector Lewis 90-minute episodes are inspired by Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse mystery books. Counter Culture Blues is a 2008 ITV production. (This is its first airing in the USA.)

With the passing of John Thaw (Inspector Morse), we would have understood if the production of these wonderful television movie episodes had stopped. I am so glad ITV decided to continue making these really good episodes based on Colin Dexter‘s Inspector Morse mystery books. 

Instead of having Inspector Morse at the helm of the investigations, Morse’s sergeant has been promoted, and given a side-kick of his own. Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox are very convincing as Inspector Lewis and Detective Sergeant Hathaway. Lewis is a working-class bloke while Hathaway is a Cambridge graduate, and very much like Lewis’s previous partner, Inspector Morse.

This particular episode boasts the truly versatile Joanna Lumley. Lumley has such a diverse repertoire >>> She was terrific as one of Roald Dahl’s terrible aunts in James and the Giant Peach, fabulous as the aging drug and alcohol laden hippie in Absolutely Fabulous, and touchingly desperate in A Rather English Marriage. All in all, I cannot wait to see what she does portraying a dead rock star who, perhaps wasn’t that dead…

Hercule Poirot : Appointment with Death – Agatha Christie – PBS NEW Masterpiece Mystery!

Here’s another reminder… Appointment with Death, is the last of the first-run Agatha Christie episodes featuring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot this summer. After tonight’s showing, PBS Masterpiece Mystery! will be airing “encore” presentations of one more Poirot episode, followed by three “encore” presentations of Inspector Lewis, with Kevin Whately… who is absolutely fabulous in this role! If you missed those three episodes, I urge you to watch them (or record them) this summer. There will be one first-run Inspector Lewis episode on August 29. Terrific! I’m looking forward to it already!

Appointment with Death is based on the 1938 Agatha Christie mystery.  And yes, I do know that in the late 1980s, Peter Ustinov starred in a movie based on this Agatha Christie mystery. That version was yet another “Who’s Who” from earlier Hollywood movies: Lauren Bacall, Piper Laurie, Hailey Mills, even Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher)!

This 90 minute version of Appointment with Death will (of course) star David Suchet… AND Tim Curry… who happens to be wonderful in every role he undertakes.

Will Hercule’s little gray cells enable him to solve the mystery? Will Hercule sift through all of the clues and be able to reach the correct solution? And last, but not least (perhaps only for me!), will Hercule be the same Hercule we have all grown to love over the last few decades, and, incidentally, the same Hercule Poirot that Agatha Christie wrote about >>>OR Will Hercule be a different (albeit still very convincing Belgian detective), more soul-searching Monsieur Poirot?

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