Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries "The Blood of Juana the Mad" #2.8 (2013)

A perfect example of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries at its finest, 2 June 2017

Expecting to find the body of a recently deceased young woman, Dr Mac is shocked to discover the body of her colleague, Professor Katz, on the dissection table. Dr Mac asks Phryne and Jack to put aside whatever differences they may have to help solve the murder. Things are complicated when they discover a valuable manuscript missing from Dr Katz's wall safe.

The Blood of Juana the Mad is a perfect example of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries at its finest. The writing in here is very clever. I'm guessing that Phryne and Jack spend at least 75% of the episode trying to track down the missing book. The book turns out to be something of a false lead or red herring or a McGuffin or whatever you want to call it. The real clue to the murder is all but staring them in the face and no one recognizes it. Very well done.

Another really enjoyable aspect of this episode is the advancement of the Phryne / Jack relationship – or lack of a relationship. The way they try to investigate the same things without speaking or interacting with each other is brilliantly played. I especially like Phryne's discussion on how they should walk – should Jack be two steps ahead of Phryne or two steps behind? It's a hoot.

8/10