The Literate Kitty

My latest streaming recommendation is—not surprisingly (if you know me)—international, but—more surprisingly— not from Great Britain or any of the Nordic countries. Instead, this very enthusiastic pick is from a land Down Under (hint: the one associated with a lovely, fuzzy fruit, not the one with adorable-fluffy eucalyptus-munchers). The Brokenwood Mysteries might be described as the antipodean second-cousin of Midsomer Murders (the looooong-running mystery series set in the British countryside)… but if so, it’s the charming, wry, witty, non-uptight cousin. As in  MM , TBM is set in a small (New Zealand) town which also covers the rest of the county, wherein a shocking number of murders (and other shenanigans) occur. Both shows also share a light touch; there’s always at least one murder—and usually more—but the tone is never grim, because the focus is always strongly on the personalities. And for me, that’s where TBM really shines. First, there’s a fantastic main cas...