Poirot "Murder in the Mews" #1.2 (1989) (TV)

"What is the world coming to Miss Lemon?", 3 July 2015

A woman is found dead in her locked room. Poirot and Company must discover if the gunshot was self-inflicted or if it was murder.

Murder in the Mews is the second installment in the long running Poirot series. If anything, it's even more enjoyable than the first and may be one of the best of the first season. While I found the solution to the mystery in the first fairly obvious, this one is much more interesting. It's a rather unique twist on the old suicide made to look like murder plot we've all seen. It held my interest throughout.

The acting is, once again, outstanding. Suchet and other regulars are as good as you'd expect. They work well together. The scene with Poirot and Miss Lemon discussing the Chinese laundry made me laugh out loud - and I've seen it before. Juliette Mole and David Yelland add a lot to the episode in their respective roles. Mole, in particular, gives a memorable performance.

One more thing before I end this - I honestly think these early episodes do a better job of paying attention to period details than the later episodes. There seems to be more of an attempt to provide depth to the period atmosphere. The scenes in the garage, at the golf coarse, and with the fireworks are instances where the producers could have trimmed to save a buck, but didn't. And Murder in the Mews is a more richer experience because of that.

8/10