Fast Love

The title might be a riff of a George Michael song. Danny Meddon works in a Newcastle market stall. One evening after drinking in a pub he walks home. Danny is run over by a car while walking across a bridge in a quiet country lane. It seems he was deliberately run over.

The thirteenth series of Vera starts with a major cast departure. DS Aiden Healy has hopped it to Australia. He might have a better chance of promotion down under instead of waiting for his DCI to retire.

The moment has been prepared for. It marks the return of Joe Ashworth now a Detective Inspector who has come into observe Vera. It seems she might be holding back junior colleagues (which she is by not retiring) and not up to date with modern policing methods. Even her computers are old which to be frank, is nothing to do with her. Her bosses are responsible for IT procurement.

As for Danny he was popular in the market stall but he and his father might have been involved in counterfeit goods. It also turns out that Danny was adopted and the market inspector clearly has something to hide.

The formula for Vera is beginning to creak. As usual all the suspects have something to hide, a good amount of red herrings. I did wonder why Ashworth was so antagonistic with Vera at the beginning. Also why he was upset at a cold case of a woman getting raped being reopened. I don't think it is too much of a reach to go through the DNA database some years later to look for new matches.