(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural This story was originally published by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Call It What It Is: ‘Murder in a Small Town’ [1] ['Keith Roysdon', 'The Daily Yonder', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Date: 2024-10-17 Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, a newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, retrospectives, recommendations, and more. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox. I’ve never seen an episode of “Murder, She Wrote,” and I’m not proud of that. I’ve had 264 chances – that’s how many episodes of the much-beloved television series were produced from 1984 to 1996 (not counting four made-for-TV movies) – and I always somehow managed to miss it, which is odd for a guy who lived in a small city and regularly wrote about crime and, yes, murder. With that confession out of the way, I’ll note that I still want to watch some episodes of the Angela Lansbury-starring series, but, in the meantime, I’m checking out variations on the small-towns-are-murder theme. The latest of those is “Murder in a Small Town,” a weekly series on the FOX network that, so far, seems to adhere to the premise established by Jessica Fletcher of Cabot Cove, Maine, a small coastal town with more than its share of mayhem. An official trailer for ‘Murder in a Small Town’ (via FOX on YouTube). We haven’t yet reached the point where it’s become obvious that something is very, very wrong in the town of Gibsons (yes, plural), which appears to be situated on a picturesque spot along the coast of British Columbia, Canada. Two episodes in, the new police chief of Gibsons, Karl Alberg (as played by Rossif Sutherland, one of actor Donald Sutherland’s sons) is still adjusting to small-town life. Alberg is a tall guy whose salt-and-pepper beard, rumpled appearance, and reluctance to wear a police uniform or drive a police vehicle mean he’s mostly anonymous among the townsfolk. The first episode opens with a series of shots of small-town life on the beautiful BC coast, with the ocean at one hand and snow-capped mountains at the other. Gibsons has a marina and small downtown with a restaurant where seemingly everyone hangs out: when people are not at the restaurant, they’re at the library, where Cassandra Mitchell (played by Kristin Kreuk of “Smallville” fame) works. We learn that in Gibsons, like many small towns, your personal life can quickly become fodder for public discussion. That’s why, when Alberg and Cassandra begin spending time together, they’re reluctant to come out as a couple. Well, that and Cassandra’s concern that Alberg’s all-consuming job will wreak havoc on their personal lives. When I started watching “Murder in a Small Town,” I thought it would follow the model of some streaming series, slowly developing a mystery throughout the season. But the series appears to more closely follow the “one mystery, one episode” approach of “Murder, She Wrote.” Back to Basics We’ve noted how small-town crime fiction is where it’s at, from the hit Netflix action movie “Rebel Ridge” to many, many crime novels set in rural communities. That tradition goes back at least as far as “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” Arthur Conan Doyle’s third Sherlock Holmes novel, serialized in the Strand magazine in 1901 and 1902. In the story, the consulting detective and his friend John Watson leave the familiar territory of London for remote Dartmoor to investigate reports that a fearsome hound is haunting the latest generation of the Baskerville family. The small-town crime stories seen in books, movies, TV shows, and now podcasts represent a sizable subset of the mystery and thriller genre, and there are more sterling examples besides “Murder, She Wrote” all around the world. Beyond Sherlock’s trip to Dartmoor, there are hundreds of hours of British TV episodes alone, demonstrating the region’s talent for small-town crime. One of my favorites from the U.S. is author Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series of novels, nine books published from 1997 until 2010, the year of Parker’s death (the series has been continued by other authors chosen by the Parker estate). Stone is a former minor-league baseball player and LAPD homicide detective who washes out of the force in his mid-30s due to alcoholism. Stone ends up in Paradise, Massachusetts, when he’s hired as the town’s police chief. During the course of the books, Stone not only solves at least one murder in Paradise every installment but also must contend with interfering town officials – think of the mayor from “Jaws,” intent on not letting unfortunate incidents infringe on the town’s tourism potential – and the people of the area, who quickly realize the taciturn Stone is not only an outsider but an incorruptible one. A promotional poster for ‘Murder in a Small Town’ (Credit: Global TV via IMDB). Parker’s Jesse Stone novels are a real treat, often equaling the author’s Spenser and Sunny Randall books. If you’d like to see Stone’s world translated to the screen, there’s a fine nine-movie series for TV starring Tom Selleck (forever famous as “Magnum, P.I.”) as Stone. They capture the dour and darkly humorous tone of the books. “Murder in a Small Town” feels like it could develop into another Jesse Stone-like series. Like the Stone films, the new series is also based on a nine-book series, this one by L.R. Wright, a Canadian author who wrote about Alberg and Cassandra from 1985 to 1997. Wright died from breast cancer in British Columbia in 2001. Dropping In If you’ve seen promos for the first episode of “Murder in a Small Town,” you’ve probably noticed character actor James Cromwell is prominently featured. That left me thinking that Cromwell’s crusty old townie might play a recurring, season-long role. Things don’t work out that way, and that first episode – which wrapped up the mystery at hand in only about an hour – assured us that the series would be one that viewers could drop into for about any episode without fear of feeling lost. The second episode also offers a standard small-town murder mystery, and I’m hoping the series builds on not only the promise of weekly mayhem but also the deepening sense of trust between Alberg and his small police department as well as the relationship between him and Cassandra. Rossif Sutherland as Karl Alberg in ‘Murder in a Small Town’ (Credit: Global TV via IMDb). “In a small town, you get to be yourself,” Alberg says in an early episode of “Murder in a Small Town.” He finds that’s not the case, however, when it comes to conducting affairs of the heart alongside police matters. To paraphrase the Holmes stories, it seems like there’s something afoot regarding Alberg, his past, and his presence in Gibsons. We’ll see how much we learn during the rest of this season. “Murder in a Small Town” is good, dependable murder-of-the-week television, probably not dissimilar to how “Murder, She Wrote” was perceived for most of its run. There’s a long, proud tradition of the genre, and while the new series isn’t the equal of some more high-impact, boundary-pushing streaming series, it’s comfort food. And that’s a good thing these days. Murder in a Small Town is currently airing on FOX and streaming on Hulu. Keith Roysdon is a Tennessee writer of news, pop culture, and fiction. He’s the co-author of four award-winning true crime books published by the History Press and his fiction has been published by Punk Noir, Shotgun Honey, Cowboy Jamboree Press, and Slaughterhouse Press. This article first appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, recommendations, retrospectives, and more. Join the mailing list today to have future editions delivered straight to your inbox. 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