Death By Bok Choi

Here I am, all bleary-eyed, hooked on yet another television series on Netflix.  Do you have any idea how long it takes to watch 26 episodes which were originally spaced out over two seasons?  I don’t either, because I forget when I started watching this.  I do know that partway through my fascination with the show,  Netflix experienced streaming problems and apologized for the inconvenience of almost two days of inability to load.  That was brutal.  Almost made me want to demand my eight dollars back for the month.  But they got it fixed and I forgave them.

The Killing  is an American crime show based on the Danish television series Forbrydelsen  (The Crime.)

This is a little two season synopsis from Wikipedia, where there’s lots more info if you’re curious –

Season 1 (2011)
The first season covers the first two weeks of the investigation of the murder of local teenager Rosie Larsen and has three main storylines: the police investigation into Rosie’s murder, the Larsen family’s attempts to deal with their grief, and the fluctuating electoral fortunes of a political campaign that becomes embroiled in the case.

Season 2 (2012)
The season resumes the investigation into the murder and reveals secrets about the Larsen family as well as a possible conspiracy within the campaign race and the Seattle police department. The Larsen murder case gets closed with the discovery of those involved in it.

And when they say ‘those’ involved in it, they really do mean more than one bad guy.  The two detectives assigned to the case take two whole seasons to get to the bottom of this mess.  Just when they think they’ve got it narrowed down, new information sends them in a different direction with suspects all over the place.  Everybody has a secret or is withholding information or is basically clueless or simply an idiot.  Over all it’s a good story and well acted and I didn’t need much encouragement to start watching season three.

But there were some pretty hard to believe scenarios.  For instance, when a candidate for mayor gets shot, almost dies, is paralyzed from the waist down, weeps about it a couple of times and then hops into a wheel chair and continues on with his campaign.  Come on.  I know politicians are a bizarre bunch, but that bit was a real eye-roller.  Sorry to give that away if you haven’t watched it.

Nowhere in the first two seasons was there any mention of bok choi.  And I don’t believe anyone could actually die from an overdose.  However, if you could, W is the guilty party here.  He doesn’t eat it, but he keeps buying bags of it, every time he goes shopping.  And I keep trying to figure out ways to use it up before it goes soft and mushy and its leaves shrivel up.  I put it in soups and salads and smoothies and sometimes even eat it raw like you would celery.  Some of it unfortunately ends up in the compost bin.  And then he notices there’s only one bag left and off he goes to buy another one.  And the cycle continues.  This is not a long or interesting enough story to dedicate an entire blog post to, so I’m adding it to the end to explain the weird title.  So far it is unclear which one of us is going to die.

 

Murder on the Beach

Yellow crime scene tape flutters and flaps in the cold wind off the lake.  Shutters click,  red lights flash.  The detectives unblinking eyes sting and tear, mesmerized by the bludgeoned body lying face down in the sand.  Seagulls slowly circle and cry.

 

Written for Yeah Write # 156 Gargleblaster – 42 words – Who Dunnit?

For Flavia de Luce Fans

And if you’re not yet a Flavia de Luce fan, here’s how to become one.  It starts with this book.

It continues on with these:

Then just when you think you know all there is to know about Flavia, out comes another great mystery by Alan Bradley in this excellent series.

On Goodreads:  From award-winning author Alan Bradley comes the next cozy British mystery starring intrepid young sleuth Flavia de Luce, hailed by USA Today as “one of the most remarkable creations in recent literature.”

Eleven-year-old amateur detective and ardent chemist Flavia de Luce is used to digging up clues, whether they’re found among the potions in her laboratory or between the pages of her insufferable sisters’ diaries. What she is not accustomed to is digging up bodies. Upon the five-hundredth anniversary of St. Tancred’s death, the English hamlet of Bishop’s Lacey is busily preparing to open its patron saint’s tomb. Nobody is more excited to peek inside the crypt than Flavia, yet what she finds will halt the proceedings dead in their tracks: the body of Mr. Collicutt, the church organist, his face grotesquely and inexplicably masked. Who held a vendetta against Mr. Collicutt, and why would they hide him in such a sacred resting place? The irrepressible Flavia decides to find out. And what she unearths will prove there’s never such a thing as an open-and-shut case.

It’s a mystery to  me why these mysteries are so appealing to a non mystery lover such as I have always been.  Although I suppose when I consider how much I’ve grown to love Flavia, it’s not such a great mystery after all.  I read this latest addition to the series yesterday, and it was like sitting down to have a long friendly chat with an old friend.  Except that Flavia is barely twelve at this point.

The last line in this book (an eye rolling, teasing groaner of a sentence if there ever was one) has to be a promise that there is more Flavia to come.  So while we’re waiting for that, there’s time for you to read this delightful series (or re-read it, it’s that good) and get ready for the rest of the story.