Handlung

An elderly woman is found dead in her own cottage and DCI Tom Barnaby is convinced the death is not a simple accident.

When Emilyn Simpson is found dead in her house, DCI Barnaby's instincts all lead him to suspect murder. Although she was elderly and everyone seems to have liked her, it seems she may have seen something in the woods that she shouldn't have. There are numerous suspects: the local doctor who lies about his alibi, Iris Rainbird, the local busybody who seems to live beyond her means or her son Dennis, who is the local undertaker. Barnaby also receives information that a death the previous year may not have been an accident. When two other residents of Badger's Drift are murdered, Barnaby uncovers an illicit love affair that the protagonists must keep secret.—garykmcd

(Pilot episode) Popular retired teacher Emilyn Simpson fell to her death at home, actually pushed and moved, unable to report what discovery frightened her while looking for rare plants in the wood of sleepy Badger's drift in (fictitious) Midsommer county. Detectives inspector Tom Barnaby and his young sergeant Gavin Troy must look into the quaint neighbors, such as Dr. Trevor Lessiter and his squandering wife Judith who lie to cover up their adulteries, suspiciously rich gay bachelor undertaker Dennis Rainbird and his mother Iris, who blackmail people after observing everyone meticulously through well-posted binoculars. They soon suspect a link with the fatal hunting 'accident' of the first bride of wheelchair-stuck local landlord Henry Trace, who is about to wed Katherine Lacey, sister of painter Michael, both informally fostered since their father, his estate manager before present David Whitely, died in a car accident. After the Rainbirds are bloodily slaughtered at home, Barnaby doubts the murder knife being found in Michael's atelier and the confession of the hunting murder by that bride's spinster sister Phyllis Cadell, who commits suicide in jail, seeking answers from retired nanny Mary Sharpe and a mirror.—KGF Vissers

While out in the woods in Badgers Drift in the idyllic countryside of Midsomer, octogenarian Emily Simpson stumbles across something shocking. Later that day she is murdered in her home. On the case is DCI Tom Barnaby and DS Gavin Troy. The murder soon leads them to another murder, two years previously.—grantss