Watch It or Pass?

While it’s unclear when “cozy mysteries” became a popular term, it’s widely used by streaming services like Acorn TV and BritBox to classify their mystery series. These shows emphasize creating a warm and appealing atmosphere with endearing characters, alongside intriguing mysteries that viewers can unravel alongside them. One standout in this genre is The Madame Blanc Mysteries.

Opening Shot: The scene opens on Sainte Victoire’s waterfront during the Christmas season. A father and son are having a tipsy argument about who will purchase the next bottle of wine.

The Gist: Frederick Delise (Pavel Douglas) and his son Christian (Philippe Spall) entertain the crowd with a puppet show along the waterfront, gaining particular enjoyment from the children. They often perform while heavily intoxicated. During one of their performances, Frederick steps out for a smoke break and is later discovered unconscious, bleeding profusely from an arm wound caused by a puppet. Inside the puppet were razor blades, and it was clear that whoever made the switch was aware of Frederick’s difficulty with blood clotting, leaving him vulnerable to severe bleeding from even minor injuries.

Jean White (Sally Lindsay) pulls up with Dom Hayes (Steve Edge) to the estate of Jeremy and Judith Lloyd James (Robin Askwith, Sue Holderness) to pay a Christmas Eve visit. They’ve been in a relationship for a little while, but want to keep it secret from everyone for a little while longer, just to keep this something that’s their own business for as long as possible.

Right before the two of them enter the mansion, Judith gets a note from a woman who was a bridesmaid at her wedding to Jeremy 37 years prior; apparently, the priest that married them turned out to be a fake, a con artist who is now rotting in prison and was recently shown on TV. Of course, Judith is horrified but hides this knowledge from Jeremy, instead confiding in Gloria (Sue Vincent). Jeremy eventually finds out from one of his groomsmen, and confides in Dom and Uncle Patrick (Tony Robinson) instead of telling Judith.

While at the Lloyd James’ house, Jean is called by Caron (Alex Gaumond), the police chief, to look at the puppet that was on the arm of Frederick Delise when he was found unconscious; by Christmas morning, Frederick has passed away and this becomes a murder investigation. As Caron and Jean investigate, Christian becomes a suspect because of a life insurance policy that was taken out shortly before Frederick’s death. But also there’s the matter of how Christian’s mother Joanna (Melanie Kilburn) left Christian and Frederick because of spousal abuse, and managed to get custody of Christian’s daughter Giselle (Cleo Quesne) for similar reasons.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Pick a “cozy mystery” series on Acorn TV (or BritBox, or PBS) and it will be similar to The Madame Blanc Mysteries. We’re talking shows like the various Miss Fisher series, to My Life Is Murder, to Agatha Raisin. Fans of Murder, She Wrote would also love this show.

Our Take: By now, you’re likely watching The Madame Blanc Mysteries because you like spending time with the main cast and watching Jean solve mysteries with the help of Dom, Caron, and the others. The term “cozy mystery” fits here because the feeling you get watching this show is supposed to be warm and familiar. It helps that the locale is always sunny and warm (we found out recently that the series is actually shot on Malta, which makes it even sunnier and warmer than the south of France, where it’s set).

The mysteries aren’t necessarily secondary to what’s going on with Jean and company, but they vary. The first episode’s mystery is engaging because it involves family drama. However, the second episode, where the Lloyd Jameses find a financier on a dinghy with a bag over his head and antique coins over his eyes, falls apart quickly because it’s hard to really care about the reasons why the victim was found the way he was found. In that episode, the b-story is much better: Uncle Patrick and Gloria try to catch two winemaking ladies putting fancy labels on inferior product because they think that Judith, who buys the wine at the pub where Patrick and Gloria work, doesn’t know the difference.

The b-stories that involve the Lloyd Jameses and other characters in Jean and Dom’s orbit can be a bit sitcommy, like Jeremy and Judith both knowing about the fake priest but not knowing the other one knows. But it speaks to how much we like these characters that we can give that kind of sitcomminess a pass. Even Jean and Dom’s secret romance is fun, even though it seems weird to see two fiftysomethings sneak kisses and handholds like they’re teenagers.

Sex and Skin: Any sex in the first episode is completely implied.

Parting Shot: Jeremy and Judith are brought to the pub and get a surprise: A wedding has been put together for them, so they can make their longtime marriage legal again.

Sleeper Star: Sue Vincent, who created the series with Lindsay (they also co-write all of the episodes), is appropriately perky as Gloria, who seems to be the town’s the jack-of-all-trades. She’s not only the town’s mechanic, but helps Uncle Patrick manage the pub.

Most Pilot-y Line: Judith goes to the garage to confide in Gloria, saying she needs to tell someone, but her bestie is in the UK and Jean is “at a crime scene somewhere.” Gloria sunnily replies, “Well, I’m very flattered to be your third choice.” Not sure if we would have been as positive as Gloria.

Our Call: STREAM IT. As long as Lindsay and Vincent want to keep making The Madame Blanc Mysteries, we’ll keep watching. Why? Because they’ve created a warm, inviting atmosphere and a group of characters that we enjoy spending time with. The mysteries themselves are hit and miss, but that tends to be the SOP for cozy mysteries like these.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.