Seldarius

After the second death Inspector Leach finally comes out of his rut and begins to uncover one mystery after another. In fact he might work things out just in time to realise that he is being played and prevent another murder.

The third and final instalment turns into a full on police procedural. The stubbled, solemn Inspector Leach has been a more interesting character than most throughout and is now finally allowed to shine as he pieces things together, only to tear them apart again and start over and over until finally reaching the right conclusion. Unfortunately the intended third victim is not as sympathetic as in other versions of this story and their angry outburst at their would be murderer left me rather cold. As half the motive has been done away with the solution feels a little empty.

In the end all remaining characters leave Gull's Point in pairs, some more well suited than others and I finish it with a little disappointment. This is one of my favourite Christie stories and I am not convinced the extra runtime was really used to the advantage of the adaptation. Maybe instead of working in a sex scene on the stairs and an illegitimate offspring we could've stuck with the actual motive? Just a thought. Nevertheless this is a solid, beautifully shot adaptation of a very good book.

The second instalment sees the situations at Gull's point escalate. After a danced through afternoon at the nearby pleasure hotel with multiple partner exchanges and another troublesome newcomer in the form of a former boyfriend, Lady Tressilian is most displeased with her house guests and threatens to change her will. The love triangle at the centre concludes in two people having intimate relations in the stairwell of the house in view of everyone else, a scene that I guess was supposed to be erotic, but ended up more awkward than enticing. Soon after we (finally) get our first murder. Inspector Leach, who has survived his suicide attempt and strikes up an unlikely friendship with Sylvia, investigates the death and soon finds that things might not be as easy as they seem at first glance.

It all continues to be very pretty and glamorous, but by now the changes from the book become glaringly obvious and not all are good ones. The addition of a couple characters are fine, but the original characters suffer a little. Audrey in particular appears little more than a pretty distraction here. It's unclear why Neville seems unable to stay away from her to the point that he betrays his wife right in front of her nose - or why Audrey seems to have her heart set on prying him away from Kay after insisting on the divorce. Both of their motives for this love triangle have been done away with, leaving the central relationships a little flat in result.

Don't be fooled by this being an Agatha Christie story, this is not a classic whodunnit. The clue lies in the title and the opening monologue. Murder does not begin when someone dies, but when the motive is seeded and from there the story rushes towards the death, "towards zero". Only, this is a mini-series, so nothing rushes here.

Instead the entire first episode introduces us the characters and their backstories - and let's just say, there are plenty of motives around, so someone will certainly end up dead eventually.

There's Neville Strange, a professional tennis player, his second wife Kay, who he married right after his very public divorce from his first wife Audrey. All three have chosen August to visit Gull's Point, the splendid coastal home of Lady Tressilian, who happens to more or less be a mother figure to both Neville and Audrey and does not think them being there together an at all good idea. Then there's her companion Mary Aldin, who has become secret pen pals with banished Nephew Thomas Royde and has invited him against her mistresses expressed wishes, perhaps hoping for a little more than friendship. The family attorney Mr Treeves along with his troubled ward Sylvia, Neville's mysterious man servant Arthur MacDonald, and the depressed Inspector Leach round out the explosive group collecting at Gull's Point for the summer.

Soon, and as expected, the tensions run high. Despite the efforts of Lady Tressilian who tries to get the rowdy bunch under control by summoning them to her bedroom and scolding them into submission, the members of the group are at each others throats in no time at all.

Devon's coast looks gorgeous and moody, the costumes are fabulous and the acting is very good. It is a slow burn though and the first episode is little more than a family drama, so murder mystery enthusiasts might be disappointed.