meganbmoore | Adela Bradley is clearly Phryne Fisher's favorite auntie. (Reply)

The just finished watching The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries, which sadly is only 5 episodes long, though one episode is movie length. Set in the 1920s, Mrs. Bradley (played by Diana Rigg) is a filthy rich middle aged British detective who spends her time jaunting around the countryside solving murders with the aid of her chauffeur, George, who may or may not be more than an employee (it likes making you wonder if there's more to their relationship, but whether or not they're getting frisky between mysteries is pretty much irrelevant to the episodes themselves). She divorced her husband decades ago for being boring but comes to his funeral to sprinkle cigars on his casket (he liked them more than roses) and ask after her daughter-in-laws health (to make sure no one is going to be calling her a grandmother anytime soon). She's very proud of her exceptionally checkered past and is on the lookout for ways to make it even more checkered. I very strongly suspect that Kerry Greenwood used her as inspiration for Phryne Fisher, and that's not a criticism.

The mysteries are a fair bit darker than what you'd normally expect for this kind of jaunty and witty period mystery series, ans they pretty much all strike home a bit brutally for either Adela or George. Adela also frequently breaks the fourth wall to offer commentary on society and customs, I suppose to get some of the internal narration from Gladys Mitchell's books into the show, and those are some of the best moments. Diana Rigg also introduces each episode and...well, TBH, PBS's intros on every episode of everything (on the DVDs, at least) irritate me (partially because a lot are very spoilery) but I usually like her's and she either did these in character or she and Adela have a lot in common.

In short, a good way to spend a few hours if you're waiting for the next season of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and/or want a good period mystery and/or lady detective series, and I fully expect Diana Rigg to show up in a MFMM episode as Phrye's favorite aunt. Probably one who likes to troll aunt Prudence.