Death Comes Softly

The body is found in Sophie McQueen's attic, and the old lady never quite recovers from the shock. She sinks into a depression so deep that she turns to her young teenage helpers for assistance, and then the killer strikes again. Sophie has seen something she cannot put into words, and the depression takes her over. Taggart and Jardine start with the obvious suspects: Sophie's daughter and her husband. But the second victim is another elderly person, and the link between the two deaths refuses to show itself. No obvious motive, no burglary gone wrong. The neighbours heard nothing.

The connection, when it comes, is a quiet one. A Post Office worker who also moonlights in a retirement home comes to their attention, and WPC Jackie Reid joins the team to help pull the threads together. It is the sort of case Taggart does well, the kind that builds slowly and then clicks into place. Nobody here is shouting, which is what makes the reveal feel earned rather than staged. You can see why the killer thought nobody would notice, and you can also see why they were wrong.

Glenn Chandler and Julian Jones wrote it, Laurence Moody directed. Mark McManus's Taggart leads, with James MacPherson's Jardine alongside. Eve Pearce plays Sophie McQueen, David Rintoul is Alistair Balmain, and the supporting ranks include Iain Anders's McVitie, Robert Robertson's Dr Andrews, Harriet Buchan's Jean Taggart, Georgine Anderson as Lena Henderson and Russell Hunter as Fred Scott. It is a cast that does its work without fuss, much like the episode itself.

This one moves at a measured pace, and that suits the material. Killers who hide in plain sight among the elderly deserve a case that takes its time, and Taggart gives them one. The quietest murders are often the ones that need the most digging.