A Death in Hong Kong

Jessica Fletcher finds life imitating art (like always) when she visits a Chinese friend in Hong Kong. Before long, the friend's husband is murdered. Poisoned with cyanide at a banquet table in the well-worn murder mystery fashion, however Jessica is baffled at when and how the victim took the poison, but, of course, not for long. This is a decent entry with nice settings and location. The characters and the mystery is well done.

Season Ten opens with this entry, set in Hong Kong, four years before its 1997 transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China, an anticipated factor affecting its central storyline.

Emma Soon Dunbar (France Nuyen), a wealthy ceramic artist, welcomes her dear old friend Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) to Hong Kong, after vacationing with her in London, and visiting Cabot Cove with Emma's daughter, April Dunbar (Vivian Wu).

Riding with Emma's chauffeur, Chang (Calvin Jung), the old friends visit Hong Kong's business district, to browse the Jade Shoppe, operated by Mr. Li (Raymond Ma).

But when Chang enters to inform Emma that she has received a telephone call outside in the limousine, Chinese Kidnapper (Jen Sung Outerbridge) overtakes Chang and carts Emma away as hostage.

Jessica assists Chang to his feet and asks Mr. Li to notify the police, leading Inspector McLaughlin (David Warner) into the picture.

But when Inspector McLaughlin reports that kidnappings are everyday occurrences in Hong Kong (similar to murders in Cabot Cove), Jessica takes matters into her own hands, by telephoning Emma's husband Brian Dunbar (Barrie Ingham).

Brian Dunbar operates House of Dunbar Fashions, a business which his British family has conducted in Hong Kong for 110 years. Brian's assistants, Louise Walton (Teri Austin) and Mark Tower (James Sutorius) attend conferences and social events at Brian's side.

At the moment, Brian, Louise and Mark meet for a potential merger proposal with Kai Kuan (Soon-Tek Oh) and his son, David Kuan (Dustin Nguyen), who secretly goes with April Dunbar, against their feuding fathers' wishes.

So, Jessica has her hands full during this vacation, what with the kidnapping of her dear old friend, plus young love separated by feuding fathers, plus a murder by lime juice just around the corner.

But when Jessica returns to the elegant Dunbar mansion, Emma appears in her midst, along with Brian, Louise and Mark, as they nonchalantly plan to attend April's singing performance that evening after the rain (although for some reason, it doesn't rain on the hill which houses Dunbar mansion).

Emma, Jessica, Brian, Louise and Mark, indeed, attend April's show, at which April greets Jessica heartedly, and also David, backstage, as Brian walks into her dressing room to evict David from his daughter's life.

After another rainy day downtown, Emma, April, Jessica, Brian, Louise and Mark, as well as Kai and David, plus Inspector McLaughlin, attend the 110th Anniversary banquet of House of Dunbar, where the victim soon collapses at the table, after ingesting 100-year-old egg, topped with almond slivers dipped in lime juice, and laced with Cyanide. (The ones who don't receive the Cyanide somehow survive the menu.)

Jessica must now tie together a series of clues, including one wet windshield while the others are dry, a patch of yellow paint upon a tire which has touched against a curb (how and why workers paint curbs in the rain is anyone's guess), and figure a way for young love to blossom in the aftermath of "A Death in Hong Kong."

This episode represents the first of two "MSW" appearances for Vivian Wu, the second of two each for Barrie Ingham and David Warner, and the fourth of five "MSW" guest roles for James Sutorius.

This MSW story takes Jessica Fletcher to Hong Kong six years before the British lease is up on the famous seaport. Western owned businesses like Barrie Ingham's fashion design businesses are seeking to merge with Chinese companies. As we see when Chairman Mao could no longer fog a mirror the Chinese embraced capitalism with a vengeance.

Angela Lansbury's arrival is timed to Ingham's daughter Vivian Wu's abduction. It seems as though that's a common thing in Hong Kong. But when Ingham's poisoned with cyanide that's still a matter for the police in this case in the person of David Warner.

There's also an eastern version of Romeo and Juliet going on here with Wu in love with Dustin Nguyen the son of Ingham's rival Soon Teck Oh.

I have to say the solution was really pulled out of left field for this particular episode. Still good viewing.

A Death in Hong Kong was a good Murder She Wrote episode. I'm pretty sure the Dunbar home was the same home as the Governor's Mansion in the sitcom Benson.

Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.

"A Death in Hong Kong" is a decent start for Season 10 and indicative of Season 10 being a better one than Season 9, which on the most part it is. Much better than last season's season opener "Murder in Milan" (one of my least favourite 'Murder She Wrote' episodes and the weakest of the season openers). It's far from a 'Murder She Wrote' high-point and there's far better in the season, but it is a long way from being one of the show's worst episodes and there's worse in the season too.

The episode has a few points are deducted for the less than great (some of it is pretty bad actually) dialogue, the kidnapping subplot feeling under-explored compared to the other story elements and some of the support acting barely rising above the forgettable in sketchy roles (can't remember Soon Tek-Oh's character that much).

On the other hand, Angela Lansbury is terrific as always, while she gets very reliable support from Teri Austin, David Warner, Barrie Ingham, France Nuyen and Vivian Wu.

Production values are slick and stylish and the setting and scenery looks beautiful. The music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune.

Mystery-wise, "A Death in Hong Kong" is decent without being exceptional. It's not a dull one and it's neither simplistic or confusing, silly at times and some parts are better explored than others. However the corporate intrigue is intriguing, the murder is a clever one and the solution is surprising and plausible, although the motive could have been given a little more thought to.

In summation, not bad at all but not great at the same time. 7/10 Bethany Cox