Product Description

Sharp-witted and warm-hearted as ever, the North Country’s second-career sleuth cracks six new cases
The BBC’s beloved matron of mystery returns to tackle her most challenging cases yet. Word of the Wainthropp Detective Agency has spread, and Hetty (Patricia Rutledge) finds herself taking on clients beyond the cozy confines of Lancashire. With her characteristic combination of shrewdness and compassion, she sleuths out truth in a Cumbrian iron mine, a stately country mansion, and even a historic coastal fishing village. As always, Hetty gets plenty of help from her able young partner Geoffrey (Dominic Monaghan, ABC’s Lost) and doting husband Robert (Derek Benfield, Rumpole of the Bailey) as she roots out crime and plumbs the mysteries of the human heart.

Amazon.com

The presence of a pre-Lost, pre-Lord of the Rings Dominic Monaghan may give British mystery series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates an unexpected boost in sales. The show certainly benefits from Monaghan's raffish charm as former shoplifter-turned-sleuth Geoffrey Shawcross, who balances nicely with the womanly middle-class authority of Patricia Routledge (Keeping Up Appearances) as Hetty herself. Anyone looking for thrills may be a bit disappointed; Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is assertively domestic. Hetty refuses to take on cases involving murder, insisting they are to be handled by the police--though one episode works in a murder case anyway. A missing woman at a heritage museum, an assault in a public restroom, mysterious barking in the night--these are the simple beginnings of these modest mysteries. This fourth season of six episodes may have lost some steam; the ongoing storyline of Geoffrey and his girlfriend Janet (Suzanne Maddock) has more suspense than the crimes under investigation. But fans of the series will most certainly continue to enjoy it, precisely because of the continuing subplots--Geoffrey wrestles with the prospect of moving in with Janet while Robert (Derek Benfield, Rumpole of the Bailey), Hetty's husband, pursues a career as a cantankerous columnist. The interplay of the leads is the show's true spark, and that's as enjoyable as ever. --Bret Fetzer, ISBN13: B000FGGWJW ISBN10: B000FGGWJW Material Type: dvd