The Literate Kitty

Cozy mysteries are often not really my thing, in either book or TV show. They can be too cutesy, too predictable, too convenient, and too... well, basically cheerful (for me). But plenty of other people clearly love them, and that’s cool. ( Hey, there’s more than enough room in the pond for everyone’s tastes, which is as it should be .) Every now and then, though, something “cozy” grabs my attention, and I give it a try... like I did last week, with  Mrs. Sidhu Investigates  (streaming on Acorn TV, which is easy to get through Amazon). And, just like those blue moons, once in a great while I’m pleasantly surprised and delighted... as I was with  Mrs. Sidhu .     A middle-aged catering chef—who, for much of the season, seems to be capably running a one-woman operation ( from prepping and cooking, to delivering and serving the food! )—in the smallish city of Slough, England, doesn’t seem like the obvious choice of heroine for, well,  most  thin...

A single mom gets a call early in the morning, necessitating the unceremonious hustling of her so- not -a-boyfriend out of the apartment, followed by making a slapdash school lunch for her little girl, so that she can drop off said small human at said school, then rush off to work to put out whatever fire apparently needs her urgent attention. In this case, though, it isn’t an unhappy client or an impending deadline (or any of the other “normal” work crises most people have to deal with. Naia Thulin is a Copenhagen police detective (although she really, really wants to transfer to IT, so she can actually spend some time with her child), and her boss (who clearly has no plans whatsoever to let her go) wants her at the scene of a newly-discovered murder, now.  In addition, he’s saddling her with a temporary placement, one Mark Hess—someone who normally travels internationally working on high-profile cases, but who’s been ordered home for a spell (after royally pissing someone of...

After holding off for the longest time, I finally decided to plunge into (the ridiculously-named) Money Heist , last month. It’s not for wimps, time-wise—it took me the better part of July to stream, finishing late on the first night of August (although, with stay-at-home orders during the ongoing worldwide pandemic, time is something most of us have a hella lot more of, anyway)—but What. A. Ride. La Casa de Papel (the Spanish show’s actual name, which is far more elegant than the Americanized title) tells the story of a grand heist--conceived and orchestrated by a quiet genius called the "Profesor", and carried out by his hand-chosen band of merry men and women (each given the name of a city rather than using their own names to maintain some anonymity and separation... in theory ). In reality, though, that’s only part of the story; at its heart, this is a grand romance… or a series of them, actually. (And those romances? They run the gamut: intellectual, nerdy love; wild...

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 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 cast—Nei...

“ Witty, effervescent, charming, empowering, ‘60s-mod fun. " That’s my TL;DR take on Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries , for those impatient to just get on with the show. But, for anyone who has longer than 10 seconds… Although it’s an updated—set some 35 years after the original Australian series, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (itself based on a character created by author Kerry Greenwood)—spin on the spunky-female-detective-ahead-of-her-time story, the new Ms. Fisher, Peregrine (a niece of the missing-in-action Miss F) exhibits as much chutzpah and charisma as her unknown aunt, the incomparable Phryne. While certain tropes carry over—Peregrine regularly enlists the aid of a few good friends in the solving of each mystery, just like her aunt Phryne did, and also enjoys serious chemistry with a handsome police detective (who, like the original, always manages to get called out to the same cases that Peregrine winds up taking)—make no mistake that this is a rehash...

Whether police procedurals are strictly your “thing”, you need to check out Scott & Bailey (on Amazon), if seeing women depicted as smart, flawed, and entirely human, is . The British show centers around two detectives working on a Manchester police division’s murder squad: middle-aged Detective Constable Janet Scott (Lesley Sharp, in a splendid performance) and her younger partner, Detective Constable Rachel Bailey (the absolutely-spot-on Suranne Jones)—who, when the show begins, have been partners for about a year. Over the course of five seasons (33 episodes, in all), Janet and Rachel (along with the rest of the squad) solve a lot of cases… but just as importantly, we get to watch the ups and downs in their friendship, other relationships, family lives, and their careers. To say that Rachel is the “crazy” one (into casual sex, messed-up family, aptitude for flying off the handle) and Janet the “proper” one (married for a quarter-century, cautious, in the habit of th...

It’s our nature to be sympathetic to others—particularly when they’re going through something horrific. (We could have a big discussion about whether it’s really that altruistic of us, or if the truth is more that we’re just relieved it’s them and not us—which in turn frees us up to feel badly for them—but let’s just leave it as a basic human response for our purposes here.) The first season of “ The Missing ” (which originally aired on BBC One and Starz, but is now available to stream on Amazon) gives an intelligent, thoughtful look at what happens when a child vanishes… what the terrifying experience is like for the parents, how the police proceed, how the media respond, and how everyone else in the vicinity is affected. So, the basics: A couple from the UK, Tony and Emily Hughes, head off to France with their 5-year-old son Oliver for a holiday, in 2006. What seems like a fun little getaway for the threesome in a charming small town soon turns to disaster, though, when Oli...

For all that we like to bitch and moan about the Internet Culture we've been living in for the past couple decades-- misinformation and fake news, anyone? --it has undeniably broadened our world and made things available to us like never before. Case in point? Access to televised content from around the world! No longer are we relegated to "200 channels and nothing on" (because seriously, I've  never considered the presence of dozens of shopping, religious, ancient game-show, and telenovela channels as "having something on"). No, now we can just flip to one of many streaming sources, browse to our hearts' content, and (eventually) come up with something intriguing... which for me, increasingly, has included a lot of dramatic TV productions from abroad. Latest find? The French thriller, "La Mante" ("The Mantis").  [Mad props, by the way, to Netflix, for keeping track of what I stream, so they could pop up with an ad for "s...

Mysterious disappearances. Obsessions. Secrets. Time travel. Such are the essential elements of DARK , the Netflix Originals Series sci-fi/supernatural mashup set in a small town in the middle of the heavily-forested German countryside.   Although there will be the inevitable comparisons between it and STRANGER THINGS , the fact that both shows feature several adolescent characters, take place (at least, partly) in the mid-1980s, and involve strange phenomena is the extent of the similarities. STRANGER —with its cast of imminently-likable characters (juvenile an d adult) and coulda-been-shot-in-the-early-‘80s filmmaking style—seems like a lighthearted, feel-good romp when compared with DARK , which never once delivers any warm fuzzies.  DARK is, as the name implies, just the opposite: a brooding, tense, atmospheric drama, with nary a moment of levity. The forest is vast, dense, and all-encompassing. The rain—which seems to pour every day—isn’t just a polit...

There's a lot to be said for giving things a shot. That vegetable you think—for no good reason—you don’t like (because crazy Aunt Bonnie managed to massacre it into oblivion each Thanksgiving, and you vowed to never, ever let it pass your lips again)? It may be absolutely delicious prepared by more skillful hands. That book your workmates are raving about, which just isn’t "your genre"? Could prove to be as all-absorbing as the watercooler talk purports it to be. Or that guy/girl who, at first blush, isn’t really your “type”? Might turn out to be the one who values your worth and ends up stealing your heart. The point is, you just never know… which is why I always try to give things that don’t immediately hook me a fair shake. I’ll read sixty pages into a book I’m not enjoying if I have reason (say, trusty recommendations) to think it might actually be good. I’ll give a food I’ve never tried—or never experienced made really well—a shot, if it sounds or looks appe...