Murder of Innocence

A barrister is killed in Midsomer, and the obvious suspect is Grady Felton, a man with form: he's already a convicted murderer. The case should be simple. It isn't. But Felton produces a solid alibi, and Barnaby does what Barnaby does, which is refuse to believe any story that tidy. His line is simple. A guilty man with an alibi is still a guilty man, just with better company. He's convinced Felton is working with an accomplice. Then Grady himself is targeted in an arson attack, and the whole theory has to be rebuilt from scratch, and fast.

The Gideon family orbit the case, with Will, Mandy and Kyle Gideon providing the local texture, and Deirdre Denning, Susie Bellingham and Gareth Dunbar filling out the circle around it. Everyone has an opinion on Felton, and the opinions divide along the lines of who's afraid of him and who's sorry for him. Barnaby interviews them all with the same patient suspicion, because in this county the difference between witness and suspect is mostly timing.

Neil Dudgeon's Barnaby carries the stubborn end of the investigation while Jason Hughes's Jones keeps up, with Fiona Dolman's Sarah Barnaby and Tamzin Malleson's Kate Wilding in the usual orbit. Sam Callis plays Will Gideon, Lisa Dillon Deirdre Denning, Sharon Duce Mandy Gideon, Rupert Hill Kyle Gideon, Georgia Mackenzie Susie Bellingham and Jamie Michie Gareth Dunbar. Elizabeth-Anne Wheal and Caroline Graham wrote it, Renny Rye directed.

The pleasure here is watching Barnaby trust his instincts against the paperwork. A solid alibi is only solid until someone tests it hard enough, and the arson attack throws the whole case into a different light. It's the kind of hour where the drama stays in the case itself, which counts as a virtue. A steady, well-built episode, the sort that doesn't need gimmicks.