The Sandhamn Murders

Great characters, cast, scenery, plots. We are about to run out of epidodes and would love more. We even learned some Swedish. Beautiful detective series set in the Stockholm archipelago. Spans several years of the characters' lives as they go through many changes. Ranges from serious and thought provoking to lighthearted and humorous. Great performances by a wonderful cast set in the idyllic village and harbor setting of Sandhamn island. Based on the Viveca Sten novels. Comprises individual mysteries of varying length within an overarching story of several intertwined family stories. A pleasure to watch. Recommend. Great vibe.

Swedish summer murders on an idyllic island sounds familiar, doesn't it? The everyday mysteries in this series are well plotted and believable. Like Midsomer, Sandhamn has an amazingly high murder rate per head of population but there's something else at work in this Swedish series, a life lesson playing out from seasons 1 to 9.

A prosecutor with a house on the island, Nora is an attractive, sympathetic and likeable lead. The always reliable Par, with his sartorial individualism, is also very likeable as her assistant in her work life. But her love life! That's another story. Perhaps the real story. The Norwegian police detective is a breath of fresh air after the rather dull Swede, Thomas. For each love story, there's the will they or won't they game as events manage to interrupt their interludes together.

Cruellest of all is how the message - to take risks, be true to your feelings and seize the day - is finally driven home to us. With the presence of death in each story, we are reminded to live life.

Everyone in the series seems to be nice and pleasant. Even the murderers don't seem to be truly evil. There's nothing in Viveca Sten's universe that offends. People we know barely nothing about are the ones who die and subsequent crimes are always attempted murders of characters we've got to know a bit about and are generally saved from death in the nick of time.

There are back stories to the main characters whose lives mesh seamlessly with each other although true romance is always an on/off affair. They have their problems, of course, but these don't generally interfere with the denouement of the plots.

The setting in the archipelago is stunning. I've only been there a couple of times and the series makes me want to go back again one day. It's all so perfect just as Sweden is portrayed abroad.

I've seen all seven seasons and am eagerly awaiting an eighth. It's absolutely not Scandi Noir, more Rosemary and Thyme, but that's not a reason to be critical - the genres are different, that's all. I like them both and this series is a great example of an easy watch that holds the attention.

A very unusual policeman never shooting even in the most dangerous situations. A wonderful place where peace is menaced by a series of murders. Love relationships intertwined with door to door investigations. Quite different from tough cops and screaming sirens! Enjoyable!

This is a miniseries in three episodes that is based on the novel "I de lugnaste vatten" by the Swedish detective writer Viveca Sten.

The series is professionally made. It utilises the idyllic scenery of the Stockholm archipelago to good effect and the cast does as good a job with the script as they can. The main performers, Cedergren and Rapaport, do have some chemistry, even if the former is overdoing the "manly-male-who-suffers-in_silence" thing.

The let-down is in the plot, however. It is a rather cliché story featuring a silent cop who keeps on breaking all the rules of policing and yet never gets suspended. His young side-kick still has to learn that a real cop goes by gut feeling and does not bother with methodical work with such boring stuff as, ehm, evidence? By simple elimination the viewer can soon figure out who is the culprit, if only because the plot does not present enough possible candidates, which is deadly for the suspense. Hence, the story very soon fails to engage.

In Sweden the series was a success nonetheless.