Beekeeper as Murder Suspect

Last night we watched the last episode of the second season of Vera, a series of mystery films made by ITV in Britain. In this episode, titled A Certain Samaritan, one of the suspects is a beekeeper. Actually, in the opening sequence of the movie, some beehives are vandalized, so we were hooked from the start to follow the bee-related thread of the story. While the beekeeper isn't the main character, he's an interesting supporting character, and the varroa mite becomes a metaphor in the story.

Oh, and as a special bonus for fans of Downton Abbey, the actress who plays Mrs. Hughes has an important role in this episode as the mother of the murder victim. It was fun to see her in a modern-day role.

In general, this is a great series of made-for-TV movies starring Brenda Blethyn as a police inspector in the north of England. Toward the end of the episode last night, I was saying it's too bad there aren't more episodes to watch! But there are two sets of dvds available in the US, and a third series of episodes will be available one of these days, too.

If you like thoughtful mysteries, I think you'll like Vera.