No series can run as long as Midsomer Murders and not have its share of poor, fair, good, and excellent episodes. "Secrets and Spies" is fair, with many familiar elements.
A former spy, Brenda Packard, tells Barnaby that Allenby House is a safe house for agents. The house is owned by an ex-spy higher-up, Malcolm Frazer. A visiting agent, Larkin, has an argument with Frazer -- Frazer accuses him of treachery, which took place years earlier in Berlin.
Larkin has some sort of file called "Wolfman" which he threatens to expose, except he doesn't get the chance. He is killed, and in the beginning, it looks like a wild animal, the Beast of Midsomer (kind of a local legend), is responsible. Then Frazer's son Nicky is killed the same way.
Of course, none of this fools Barnaby for a minute, and he sets out to find the true murderer and the motive, which is the result of something that happened in Berlin twenty years earlier.
The atmosphere is as usual beautiful-looking, and I do like John Nettles, who is probably playing the world's oldest inspector at this point. Bad or good, I always like seeing these episodes. This one is slow in parts and not as involving as some others.
A former spy, Brenda Packard, tells Barnaby that Allenby House is a safe house for agents. The house is owned by an ex-spy higher-up, Malcolm Frazer. A visiting agent, Larkin, has an argument with Frazer -- Frazer accuses him of treachery, which took place years earlier in Berlin.
Larkin has some sort of file called "Wolfman" which he threatens to expose, except he doesn't get the chance. He is killed, and in the beginning, it looks like a wild animal, the Beast of Midsomer (kind of a local legend), is responsible. Then Frazer's son Nicky is killed the same way.
Of course, none of this fools Barnaby for a minute, and he sets out to find the true murderer and the motive, which is the result of something that happened in Berlin twenty years earlier.
The atmosphere is as usual beautiful-looking, and I do like John Nettles, who is probably playing the world's oldest inspector at this point. Bad or good, I always like seeing these episodes. This one is slow in parts and not as involving as some others.