Well, that was a fun one! Peter Mitchell’s clever script had us comfortably sink into a cozy mystery tropefest, only to pull the rug out from under us at the end. Like they sang in last year’s Doctor Who – I apologize for mixing my fandoms here – There’s always a twist at the end. And this one makes you want to go back immediately and see which clues you missed.

One of my favourite things about Murdoch Mysteries is how it defies categorization and plays with genre expectations. The show is a genre unto itself; its episodes incorporate all kinds of genres and still feel very much like they belong in the Murdochverse. As long as there’s a body on the floor and William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) has a hand in solving it, it doesn’t matter if it’s a thriller or a comedy or a musical or a hard-boiled noir. At this point, possibly the only type of story they haven’t tackled is the rom-com – although you could argue that George Crabtree has had plenty of meet-cutes. And this week, Murdoch gets cozy.

Mrs Fletcher Meets Miss Fletcher

This episode announces its intentions right in the title. Murder, She Wrote (1984–1996) was the coziest of cozy mystery series, and this script leans into that lineage with relish. Nigella Fletcher (Sally Lindsay of The Madame Blanc Mysteries, certainly no stranger to cozy mysteries), second cousin thrice removed to Thomas Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) and spiritual cousin to Jessica Fletcher, arrives from England as an overeager mystery novelist and meddling amateur detective. She has written not just a penny dreadful, but a proper novel with the gloriously on-brand title The Glens Taketh. She’s read Murdoch and Ogden’s book and is thrilled to have the great detective himself as a source of inspiration.

From the minute she wriggles her way into the murder victim’s office – I’m with the detective – Miss Fletcher embodies one of crime fiction’s favourite tropes: the mystery writer who inserts themselves into an investigation. She’s delighted by nitty-gritty morgue work, happily offers theories over Violet Hart’s (Shanice Banton) shoulder, literally slides into the frame in the first round of interviews, and harasses suspect Samantha Leon (Tara Yelland) so badly she gets coshed over the head and then sent home by Brackenreid. The number of times she apologizes, only to do it again, is almost a running gag.

Tropefest

The murder at hand is pure trope as well: Mr. Trevor Addison (Robert Meynell) is shot at his own retirement party, and everyone seems to have a grievance. In fact, there are so many suspects that Murdoch almost runs out of room on his blackboard. Even so, Miss Fletcher is quickly convinced that Samantha Leon must be the murderer. Not Murdoch, though, and not me either: if there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching Murdoch Mysteries, it’s that if someone is pointing the finger so hard, they likely did it themselves. Of course, Samantha Leon getting murdered puts a stop to Miss Fletcher’s jumping to conclusions. And credit where credit’s due: she does eventually find the information that leads to the apprehension of the actual murderer.

And it’s in the aftermath of that reveal that the episode shifts from cozy homage to classic Murdoch. When Fletcher marches into Murdoch’s office – all bright-eyed, certain he’s summoned her to congratulate her brilliant deductions – the script leans fully into the genre she believes she’s living in. In her mind, this is the moment where the detective gently praises the meddling amateur sleuth and ties the final bow on the case. What she gets instead is a masterful interview scene in which Murdoch calmly, almost kindly, lays out the trail of evidence she thought she had so cleverly concealed. The truth dawns on us at the same moment it dawns on Fletcher, and Lindsay plays it beautifully. The warmth drains from Nigella’s face; the cozy writer becomes cold and flat-eyed as Murdoch remarks, Sometimes the eyes don’t lie.

Murdoch, She Wrote

It’s only on a second watch that you fully appreciate how many hints were hiding in plain sight. There’s a hidden story behind the main one, one you only see in retrospect. Looking back, there are plenty of hints, and they become less and less ambiguous as Nigella becomes an increasingly sinister presence. Upon meeting Murdoch, she immediately tells him she is sadly unmarried, and when she’s at a crime scene, she exclaims, this is indeed my lucky day. She over-identifies with the suspect: So you returned later, and in a fit of rage, you killed him. Oh, it’s certainly what I would have done, and Men rarely tell the truth when a lie could always get them what they want. Her little joke, those who can’t do, write turns out to be half true: not only did she write about killing, she also did it. She as much as tells us in her reading: Have you ever imagined killing someone who’s done you harm? Then all you have to do is turn your imaginings into reality.

Of course, Murdoch’s renown doesn’t stretch right across the pond and back again for nothing. So, long before he confronts her – and this is deftly done – we don’t just get clues about Nigella, but also about Murdoch’s suspicions and his investigation into the hidden story. He reads her book like he reads a crime scene, pencil in hand, writing in the margins. He goes to all her readings, not something he would usually spend his time on. And he receives a telegram from Julia. Now, we’ve been primed by last season’s episode Going Postal to go uh-oh when this happens, and I like how Mitchell uses this. As an aside, it’s wonderful to see that Murdoch and Ogden are still solving mysteries together.

Ticking the Murdochian Boxes

This may be a cozy mystery, but Toronto’s no Cabot Cove, and Murdoch certainly isn’t one of the dumb local coppers who need Jessica Fletcher’s help. Even while the script leans into its cozy influences, it still ticks all the boxes that make this show so distinctly Murdochian. The score leans into cozy vibes whenever Murdoch and Nigella share a scene; her fantastic blue outfits and hat make a nice visual rhyme with Murdoch’s own blue suit.

Threaded through the main plot are a series of character vignettes that add humour and depth. Henry Higgins (Lachlan Murdoch), Margaret Brackenreid (Arwen Humphreys), Iona Berger (Lucy Hill), and Teddy Roberts (Kataem O’Connor) are funny as ever, as is the tale of Teddy’s friend from back home, Joe Enns (Daniel Gravelle). Murdoch palming off Nigella to Higgins, then her saying Oh, I lost him about an hour ago, wasn’t much to it was hilarious. The running joke that no one believes Roberts is a real copper continues from Unearthing the Past, and there’s a sense that this might be laying groundwork for more Roberts/Berger developments down the line. Margaret, for her part, is reliably Margaret: delighting in Nigella’s success one moment, confessing that I never did trust her. She seemed sort of… ghoulish the next. I also liked Murdoch’s latest gadget (a steampunky blood detector), and, finally, all the faces Murdoch pulled in this episode are chef’s kiss.

A Cozy Final Flourish

True to its inspiration, the episode ends with a classic cozy flourish: a light, unrelated final beat after the emotional climax. Jessica Fletcher often wrapped up with a private little joke or domestic scene after the confession, and Murdoch gets something similar. After he explains the case to the Brackenreids – including the fact that Nigella is now cooling her heels in the cells while Sheffield police are summoned – Thomas’s only real complaint is that Murdoch has arrested a relative. Next time I have a relative that visits, he grumbles, please do not arrest them. It’s a neat tonal reset after the darkness of the big reveal.