"Midsomer Murders: The Magician's Nephew" is from season 11 (2008) and has lots going for it: a magic show for children, a Halloween party for which Barnaby needs a costume, children named, of all things, Tristan and Isolde, an antique book, a fragile mother, a secret group, and incest. Add a couple of murders, and you've got yourself a nifty mystery.
A older woman named Jean Wildacre is killed on stage during a magic show as she works as a magician's assistant. She's been killed, it's learned, with a rare poison from a frog. Wildacre was a member of an occult group led by Ernest Balliol, who spends a lot of time fighting with an ex-group member, Aloysius Wilmington. Both men want an antique book that is somewhere in Aloysius' vast library. Balliol's children are Tristan and Isolde, and his first wife, Rosemary, drifts in and out of reality. Isolde is desperate to find the book, believing that in it is some sort of incantation or something that will help heal her mother.
There are two more deaths, one of which is from the poison. It takes Barnaby a while to figure out what the connection is among the victims.
Very good, with enough happening to keep one's interest, and good performances all around. For some reason, I've always liked it when Barnaby's home life is part of the story.
Someone here said the motives for the murders weren't clear, but I felt they were. However, these stories are never simple, and if you blink, you'll miss something.
Recommended, as is the whole series.
