The Lions of Causton

A death at the local rugby club gives Barnaby a chance to relive his former sporting glory, which is probably the last thing he wanted. The investigation drags him and Jamie Winter into a muddle of rucks, old grudges, new romances and artisanal chocolates, and the club turns out to be less about teamwork than about who owes whom. The death is a shock to the club and the village, and the inquiry has to work out how a place built on togetherness produced a killer.

The club's social fabric is tangled enough to hide several motives. Jake Galpin, Bill Viner, Mark Adler, Guy Bevan and Neville and Debbie Gallagher all have their place in it, and the death stirs up years of accumulated feeling. Barnaby's own rugby past gives him a way in that most of his cases lack, and the clubhouse crowd is happy enough to talk to one of their own, even in the middle of a murder inquiry. The clubhouse crowd, we gather, has long memories about the game and about each other.

The case moves between the pitch and the quieter corners of the clubhouse, with the chocolates providing a running oddity. Old romances surface, old scores get settled, and the police work has to keep pace with a community that would rather reminisce than cooperate. Barnaby, for his part, seems to be enjoying the nostalgia more than he lets on, and Winter gets to watch his boss in his element.

Nicholas Hicks-Beach and Caroline Graham wrote it, Matt Carter directed. Neil Dudgeon and Nick Hendrix lead, with Fiona Dolman and Annette Badland in support. Aaron Cobham plays Jake Galpin, Don Gilet is Bill Viner, Nicholas Goh plays Mark Adler, Julian Lewis Jones is Guy Bevan, and Michael Maloney and Shereen Martin appear as Neville and Debbie Gallagher.

It is properly plotted and properly silly, and it wears its warmth lightly. And it is good to see Barnaby get a case that lets him enjoy himself a little, even if the price is a murder at his old club.