(D)evil's Throat: Djavolskoto Garlo

As this Bulgarian series opens a body is found in a remote lake near the town of Smolyan; it quickly becomes apparent that this will be an unusual case... the man's eyes had been replaced by those from a sheep! Soon afterwards a second body is found; this one has been differently disfigured. Policeman Filip Chanov leads the case with his team. When it emerges that the two victims had been involved in helping refugees enter the country illegally they are joined by Mia Yazova, an officer in the security services who is concerned that there might be a terrorist element to the case. The pressure is on them; Filip's father, the local prosecutor with political ambitions, wants to use the case to help him become mayor and naturally everybody is worried there may be further murders.

I really enjoyed this series, the first Bulgarian series I've watched. The central mystery is intriguing; as the series progresses various suspects and motives emerge. We also learn more about the various characters as secrets are revealed. The setting is great with some really amazing scenery; if it weren't for the murders one might think this was made by the Smolyan tourist board, I'm sure it will inspire some people who had never heard of the place to pay a visit. The characters are a lot of fun; I particularly liked cops Pope, who is hilariously non-PC, and Donka, who is almost ready to give birth. The cast does a fine job bringing the characters to life. Of course no series is perfect; this would have been better without Mia's problems with her daughter who gets involved with a somewhat suspicious young local man. Overall though I'd certainly recommend this to fans of murder mysteries looking for something from somewhere new.

These comments are based on watching the series in Bulgarian with English subtitles.

This was a very entertaining watch. I did it over three nights so that shows you how it held my attention. I have friends in Bulgaria, and I have visted them several times over the last few years. The part of Bulgaria where the series is filmed is not all that typical, being a relatively rich tourist area. However, the series delivers some good plot twists and more or less believable characters. I could see how the series would end but there were enough twists to keep you guessing. It was obviously trying to capitalize on the success of Scandi crime series, but I would say that the whole thing was less brooding and more melodramatic. What you'd expect from a country like Bulgaria, where it's not hard to meet older people in the villages who wish they could return to Communist days, and which is run by Boyko Borisov, a leftover from the Communist era and who runs his own security company (if you know what I mean - look him up).

I would have given it a higher rating but I'm so sick and tired of spoiled brat teenagers who hate their hardworking police parents. Why does that have to be a feature of so many crime series? It doesn't add anything to a series. Please just stop it.

Rich storyline, great implementation of the beautiful nature in the mystery, fantastic camera and dynamic episodes. It deserves a good distribution!!!

ALL of the above . I can understand why one reviewer gave up after episode 5 as I almost did the same but I'm glad that I perservered to the end . Lots of twists and turns and an intriguing plot are somewhat let down by the outrageous overacting of the male lead but somewhat rescued by the female lead and some fine character acting by her supporting cast . The Prosectutor deserves a mention too for a menacing performance as the Patriarch ( would make a good Bond villains) . My rating of 6 is perhaps a little low as it is very close to a 7 but it doesn't ascend to the dizzy heights given by some reviewers , in my humble opinion. Definitely worth the watch if you can last past the first 5 episodes .