Wild Harvest

Plot was seriously over-complicated and made what should have been easy viewing a real slog. Not what we want from MM. We want interesting characters, light-hearted banter and a murderer caught.

The story begins with a Mr. Stickland being tied up and eaten by wild pigs...yes, pigs! It's a gruesome sort of murder but it turns out he was set out for the pigs...smeared in truffle oil to attract them! Who did it and why? And what has all this to do with the restaurant which is renting space from Strickland? And, how come more horrible things keep happening at the restaurant?

This is a very good episode of "Midsomer Murders"...with a very interesting story (even though I did guess the criminal and their motivation) and characters. Well worth seeing...and also quite weird as I never imagined owning a restaurant was THAT dangerous!

When wealthy farmer Martin Strickland is discovered bound to a tree, doused in truffle oil and mauled to death by a wild boar, the investigation leads DCI Barnaby to tyrannical celebrity chef Ruth Cameron at the upmarket Wyvern House restaurant. However, secrets from the past surface after the murderer strikes again, and the repercussions are felt further than they were originally intended.

Solid episode with a killer using poison herbs and it's all linked to revenge, love and truffles. Hayley Mills stars and lends her charm to the proceedings. There's plenty of twists and layers of intrigue. The forest location is really good.

The cross-relationships in this episode were so convoluted, that I got about an hour into it and started over, keeping notes the second time to keep track of who was who. Despite that, I really enjoyed this episode. The setting of the restaurant was a nice change, and I thought the acting was great. Although I really liked John Nettles' Barnaby, I have to say I like this new one just a little better. The same goes for Jones/Nelson. It seems like they are giving this new DS a little more to do than just be the bumbling contrast to the DCI.

The only thing I didn't like about this episode was the (again) rather flimsy motive for murder.

This was a good solid episode. I like the fact that there were plenty of suspects. There are lots of plausible motives, that a lot that completely made Sense though.

Something the killer said about 2/3, 3/4 the way through for whatever reason made me guess who they were, even the motive. This was not an easy one to figure out though. Like I said a relatively good episode.

As is typical of Midsomer mysteries, the acting was good, the sets were good pretty. In all a solid outing.

Again, I recommend this episode to any mystery buff who is looking for a good one to try to solve, with a caveat that it's a difficult one to guess.