Stylish Television – Death And Other Details

I love a good murder mystery. And when the mystery is a string of murders, taking place on the most beautiful, Art Deco cruise liner (based on the Normandie maybe?), then I am totally sold. Add a beautiful, glamorous cast, a fiesty heroine, and a brilliant tongue in cheek performance from Mandy Patinkin, who I totally loved as Sol in Homeland, and you have the unmissable ‘Death and other Details’ something that has filled my ‘Only murders in the building’ gap this early Spring.

The premise of Death and Other Details is initially quite simple. A cruise ship that is packed with specially invited guests is the scene of the murder of a particularly boorish oaf, Keith Trubitsky. This killing, however, turns out to be anything but simple, as Keith Trubitsky is actually Danny Turner, a private detective who was the assistant and best friend of Rufus Cotesworth, a detective who used to be “the world’s greatest detective” and is now working for the wealthy Chun family who are guests on the ship. Rufus and Danny had once investigated the murder of Kira Scott, a friend of the Collier family, who are also travelling on the ship, with Kira’s daughter, Imogene, also on board. Imogene felt that Rufus had let her down when he failed to uncover her mother’s killer, but it turns out that Danny’s death may just be linked to that earlier killing, and so Rufus and Imogene team up to uncover the truth.

This is one hell of a twisty ride. Nothing, and no one, are what and who they seem to be, and as the body count rises, you are drawn further into the tangled web of every single guest. It is a story Agatha Christie would’ve been proud of, and is just so stylishly done, from the exquisite design of the cruise ship itself, to the immaculate wardrobes of the cast, to the elegant bobbed hair of Violett Beane as Imogene Scott, who is a perfect Christie heroine and has a fabulous chemistry with Mandy Patinkin as Rufus, who initially seems grizzled and world weary, but is anything but.

I loved this first series, that was commissioned by Hulu, and, as it clearly left it open for a second series, I am a little gutted that it has been axed. Hopefully someone else will see the potential and put series 2 into the works. (Come on Netflix!).

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