Welcome to Saint Marie, the beautiful shining jewel of the Caribbean and home to a weekly revolving series of murders. While you're familiar with the adventures of Hercule Poirot, Sherlock, Veronica Mars or even Goro Akechi, you might have missed out on the adventures of the Honoré police department over the past eight years.
I figured with us now in the summer break, this is as good a time as any to dip into a fun, British export that you can binge watch for the most part on the summer nights. We're going to start with Season One and update the OT over time if y'all enjoy the show. Please don't post spoilers for later seasons.
Death in Paradise is set on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie. Unlike many other procedurals on television, it's an interesting blend of drama and comedy carefully wrapped in the clothing of an out-of-place British detective.
The whodunit nature of the show may be formulaic like all good murder mysteries, but it's the slice of island life vibe blended with sublime performances and character beats that'll bring you back by the season, whatever the weather.
Murder! On the island of Saint Marie, Charlie Hulme, a British detective inspector, has been found dead. Oh, he's found locked in a panic room too - what's that all about? The Honoré Saint Marie police department are unprepared to handle the task without a detective chief inspector at the helm — so a new one is dispatched from London to solve the case.
Enter Detective Inspector Richard Poole, a eccentric English copper with a distaste for the island life he's forced to live out is so out of place that he wears pure woollen suits every day in 86F heat. And sometimes, it gets hotter. Along with his team, can Richard solve the murder of the week and keep the rest of the inhabitants of Saint Marie safe?
Let's find out... starting with Season 1.
Richard Poole is a bore. He's un-charming, hates fun and doesn't want to be on Saint Marie. After being charged with investigating the murder of his predecessor DCI Charlie Hulme, Richard is forced to remain as the British inspector-in-charge of the Honoré police department. The perks? He gets to live in a shack on the beach with a lizard he's named Harry.
Method wise, he's a fan of determining the means, motive and opportunity of each potential suspect before revealing whodunit to all of the remaining suspects. Move over Poirot, move over Columbo - there's a new stuck-up inspector on the island. And don't get in the way of his afternoon tea!
A former undercover investigator, Bordey was assigned to Honoré Police when her cover was blown during DI Richard Poole's first investigation. She's the team's best investigator after Poole, and they didn't get along initially due to the culture clash between the Caribbean lifestyle versus the London lifestyle. Eventually they become friends but .... (spoilers)
The coolest cat on the island - Dwayne is also the longest-standing officer of the Saint Marie police force. He also utterly lacks ambition, but has complete faith in his seniors and perhaps too good an understanding of the criminal world on the island.
Dwayne often uses unlawful means to get his job done, and has an eye for the ladies - such is the island life.
Young and hard-working, Fidel is married to a woman called Juliette and has a daughter named Rosie who was born in the Series 1 finale. He is put forward for his sergeant's exams by his boss, DI Richard Poole, in series 2, in recognition of his hard work. He passes them, and officially becomes a sergeant. Fidel often gets stressed and sticks to protocol, whereas Dwayne is the complete opposite.
Nevertheless, the two eventually become great friends.
The island's police commissioner, who has risen through the ranks to become Saint Marie's top policeman, in charge of staffing. He advises the team on cases of particular difficulty or of political or social interest where the island's most notable figures are involved, ranging from asking Poole to be cautious about accusing a man with a particular reputation on the island to asking Poole not to disprove the idea that a notorious pirate hid his treasure on the island.
Episode 1: "Arriving in Paradise"
Charlie Hulme, a British detective inspector, is murdered in a locked panic room on the Caribbean island of Saint Marie. Commissioner Selwyn Patterson demands that a UK officer investigates Charlie's death, so DI Richard Poole flies out to Saint Marie to solve the mystery. Richard learns that Charlie was having an affair with Sarah, one of the residents on the island, providing Sarah's husband with a motive to murder. Richard is convinced he has solved the case, but then Sarah's husband is also murdered, forcing Richard to look deeper into the case, and search for a mysterious woman seen at the house on the day of Charlie's death.
Episode 2: "Wicked Wedding Night"
A bride is shot through the heart with a spear gun just minutes after getting married, in a room to which she did not have the key. Richard teams up with new sergeant Camille to work out who would want the bride dead; he learns that no one had entered or left the fifth floor of the hotel room during the celebrations, which leads him to believe one of the party guests must be the killer.
Episode 3: "Predicting Murder"
Richard is inclined to believe the death of a voodoo priestess is murder when she dies in the island's local school just hours after predicting her own death. Richard learns of an affair that took place years earlier in the school leading to the disappearance of a woman, and believes that the victim has a connection to the missing woman. He turns his attention to Nicholas, the prime suspect and Fidel's old principal, who was involved in the disappearance of the woman, but Nicholas has an alibi, leading Richard to question whether he is being set up or not.
Episode 4: "Missing a Body?"
Megan Talbot walks into Saint Marie's police station covered in blood, and confesses to the murder of her husband, Lucas. Lucas's body is initially nowhere to be found, but then a local boat crew hoist his body from the sea. Richard fails to believe Megan is behind his death, and as he interrogates Lucas's friends, his reasons to suspect one of them is the killer rises.
Episode 5: "Spot the Difference"
Richard is embarrassed when a prisoner is stabbed in the back whilst handcuffed to him. Realising that his career may be over if he is unable to uncover who the murderer is, Richard looks into the prisoner's criminal history and learns he was a fraudster. With many of the suspects wanting the prisoner dead, Richard turns his attentions to the widow of the victim, convinced she knows more than she claims she does. The breakthrough clue in the case is the unexpected death of Anne Hamilton, exposing who the original murderer is.
Episode 6: "An Unhelpful Aid"
Dwayne and Fidel unite to solve the death of an experienced diver who drowns in ten feet of water when Richard falls ill with the fever and Camille is in Paris. As they begin to investigate the diver's death, the pair are quick to establish the diver was murdered. DS Angela Young, a British detective on holiday, begins to intervene in the case and attempts to solve the mystery herself, but when she lacks progress in the investigation, Dwayne and Fidel go behind Angela's back and present Richard with all the evidence they have gathered, leading Richard to solve the murder before Angela.
Episode 7: "Music of Murder"
Dwayne takes the team to the concert of a reformed rock band, but the lead singer is shot dead and found on the stage inside a coffin prop just minutes before the planned performance. With all the suspects having an alibi, Camille, Dwayne and Fidel begin to believe that it was suicide, but Richard is not convinced. Richard uses the photographs of the photographer at the concert, and identifies one of the alibis as being improvised.
Episode 8: "Amongst Us"
Dwayne delights in showing off Nadia, a new lady he meets while on a night out. However, his happiness is quickly cut short when Nadia is found murdered in her bed the following morning, with coins shoved in her mouth, and the house ransacked. Richard discovers that Nadia, who was actually called Rose, was an informant about to expose a money laundering scandal. The team struggle to find evidence to catch Rose's murderer, until Richard looks more in depth at the evidence he is already aware of.
In the United Kingdom, you can watch Death in Paradise Seasons 1-5 on Netflix here.
In the United States, you can watch Death in Paradise Seasons 1-7 on Netflix here.
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