On The Mark: Outstanding whodunit shows always entertain

I’m not a TV watcher. Movies are often too long for that last hour before falling asleep. In recent years, we’ve watched two whodunit series, available on Netflix, that stand out for their excellence in conception and stylish, culturally embedded filming: “Death in Paradise” and “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.”

A whodunit generally dispenses with the act of murder, culprit unseen, in the first five to seven minutes. They spare sensitive people like me the dread, even terror, of many police and detective genres. Instead, these dramas follow one or more investigators as they debate methods and motives and question multiple plausible perpetrators. We viewers ponder the clues and personalities of suspects, often delighting as the narrative twists and turns.

Before leaving to visit our nephew — then running a dive shop in Carriacou in the far southern Caribbean — we took up his suggestion to watch “Death in Paradise,” a TV series co-produced by the British and French that also ran on PBS in the U.S. Filmed on the Island of Guadalupe, “Death in Paradise” features a team of four, three of them locals (one a woman), working under an imported British detective, played sequentially over the years by three excellent British and Irish actors and overseen by the occasionally intervening Commissioner of Police, played by the marvelous Don Warrington. Team members’ personal dilemmas are subtexts at various times.

What I’ve loved about this series is how the action is fully embedded in local culture. Lots of music and dance, lots of watery settings (from ocean to pools to sailboats), lots of poor people (and a few rich ones), and dabs of local politics. The eighth season of “Death in Paradise” will be released on Netflix this coming September, and prior seasons are still accessible there.

Our other favorite is “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries,” a three-season Australian series filmed and shown on TV between 2012 and 2015. The series was inspired by Kerry Greenwood’s mystery novels set in the 1920s, a flapper era down under, as it was in the U.S. The lead character, with the amusing name of Phryne Fisher — played by a vamping and very smart Essie Davis — lives independently in Melbourne, in a roomy mansion where she takes in wayward girls and turns their lives around. Whether the murder venue be a waterfront, circus, theater, mansion, church or the poorest neighborhood in town, the costumes are stunning and Phryne’s driving is fast and competent.

A charming feature of the series is the ongoing competition and budding partnership between Phryne and Detective Inspector Jack Robinson. At first, Jack is unwilling to work with Phryne, who seems always to pop up at every fresh murder venue. She’s very smart, fearless and able with a hand pistol, and quite free to skirt police regulations, always to solve the mystery. Over time, Jack comes to value her undeniable skills, courage and results. By the end of the series, they act like they might become a couple.

We loved these two series so much that we’ve watched them twice over the last few years. We’re delighted to know that a new season of “Death in Paradise” will be released on Netflix in September. A feature length film, “Ms. Fisher and the Crypt of Tears,” will be released in Australia in 2020 and likely come to the U.S. soon.

Ann Markusen is an economist and professor emerita at University of Minnesota. A Pine Knot board member, she lives in Red Clover Township north of Cromwell with her husband, Rod Walli.