Il principio del piacere

This ten part Eastern European crime drama opens with the discovery of a woman's body near Odessa; strangely one arm has been removed. Shortly afterwards signs of two similar murders are found in Warsaw and Prague. Of course being in three different countries means it takes some time before those investigating each crime realise there are other related cases. Suspects quickly arise but it is clear that powerful people don't want the truth to be revealed; those who might inform the police don't tend to last very long.

I thought this was a solid crime drama; the way it is spread over three countries only serves to make it more interesting. The investigators from each country were nicely varied. The case kept me gripped from start to finish and there are plenty of tense moments. The cast, especially the leads do a fine job making their characters believable. As others have mentioned when characters talk to those from the other countries they switch to English, which isn't subtitled, I personally didn't mind this to be a problem but understand that others might. Given the nature of the crimes there are some unpleasant sights; it doesn't shy away from showing the victims and the language is frequently robust. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of Euro-drama looking for something a bit different.