QUEENS OF MYSTERY – created by Julian Unthank – (minor spoilers)

Matilda Stone, played by Olivia Vinall in Season One and by Florence Hall in Season Two, was born circa 1991. Her mother, Eleanor (Jemma Amos) disappeared when Matilda was 3 years 3 days, 3 hours, and 3 minutes old. (Just how the narrator can be so precise about that is unclear.) The girl was raised by her three aunts. all of whom are mystery writers of one kind or another, and one of whom runs a bookstore specializing in that branch of literature. Matilda spent her childhood reading mysteries and at the age of 18 she joined the police, and was Cadet of the Year in 2010. Her favourite food is pasta tuna bake. She has her first fight scene in the second episode, and actually tries to box with her opponent who (unsurprisingly) does not embrace Marquis de Queensberry rules.

In a video titled “Bonus: Behind the Scenes” released last November, the actors explain a bit about their characters.

— Aunt Cat is described by actor Julie Graham as a rebellious soul, who “…thinks outside the box, so she’s (kind of) not conventional in any way.” Cat, who writes graphic novels about music industry fixer Roxanne Parker, spent a year as a Hollywood stuntwoman, and in the 1980s was part of a new wave rock band called Volcanic Ash. She asserts she hasn’t been able to smell anything since 1984.

— Aunt Jane (Siobhan Redmond) is the bookshop owner. Redmond describes Jane as “a very clever woman for whom the physical and practical world is just something of a mystery…[and who] uses her body as a place to put her brains.” Jane has written several books about an android police detective.

— Aunt Beth (Sarah Woodward) is the author of a series of novels about an inner-city vicar named Iris Freeman. Says Woodward: “Beth is the Mother Earth of the family. She’s the maternal one…even though she doesn’t have children” and further describes her as “the sensible one of the three.”

Finally, Florence Hall describes the show’s central character, Matilda Stone: “She’s quite an independent character. A little solitary, quite bookish, and keeps to herself”, Hall explains, and showrunner Julian Unthank adds that Matilda has absorbed characteristics from each of her aunts, whom he likened to detectives Phillip Marlowe (Cat), Miss Marple (Beth), and Sherlock Holmes (Jane). Therefore, he concludes, Matilda is a detective much like Maigret.

Costume Designer Charlie Knight explains that the show’s costumes are colour-coded in parallel with characters in The Wizard of Oz (presumably Victor Fleming’s 1939 film). Jane’s colours are from the Tin Woodman, Cat’s are from the Scarecrow, and Beth is styled after the Lion (though she does not seem in any way cowardly). Matilda’s colours are those of Dorothy. Each of the main characters wears an entirely different outfit in each episode.

Wildemarsh is Matilda’s home town, and she returns there as a Detective Sergeant in 2019 with the idea of solving her mother’s disappearance. The most significant clues in Eleanor’s vanishing are:

— the remnants of two Bulgarian cigarettes in the ashtray, one of them still smouldering
— a large black feather in Eleanor’s safe deposit box.
— a haiku written in Eleanor’s hand on the nursery blackboard:

All three aunts know things about Eleanor’s disappearance and are determined to keep those things from Matilda. They did not tell her that Eleanor worked as a research assistant to a Professor Alexander Dragomir of the Edgar Allen Poe Appreciation Society. (“Dragomir” is a south slavic name meaning one who seeks peace.) Nor has she been made aware that a series of unsolved cat burglaries by someone known only as The Raven might be connected to the case. Matilda’s boss, Detective Inspector Thorne (Martin Trenamen, knows this stuff as well, but seems complicit in the concealing of it.

It may or may not be important that, in 1963, some twenty-eight years before the birth of Matilda, a Lord Blenning was killed while hunting on lands owned by Baron and Baroness Hiddledean. Nothing was ever proved, but rumour had it that Blenning and the Baroness were having an affair and the Baron shot him. (Lady Hiddledean, daughter of the Baroness, still lives in Wildemarsh and has, since 2005, presented an annual mystery-writing award called the Golden Pick-Axe.)

The town’s emblem includes a raven and a windmill. Wildemarsh actually does have a windmill and a strange man who engraves things lives there. The town also has a raven which appears conspicuously in various scenes and might, in fact, be the narrator of the story. (Juliet Stevenson voices the narration.)

Romance seems to elude the Stone family, at least in recent times. Cat Stone’s one true love was Nikki Holler (Chelsea Edge), the lead singer of Volcanic Ash who died a year after Cat left the band. DI Thorne has been in love with one of Matilda’s aunts for some time, but has never found the courage to approach her. Matilda is in love with Doctor Daniel Lynch (Andrew Leung) and he might well return her affections if given the opportunity. Police Constable Terry Foster (Michael Elcock) has been in love with Matilda since he first saw her more than twelve years ago.

Asked about the mystery of Eleanor’s disappearance, showrunner Unthank told Diane Snyder of TV Insider: “The truth will be revealed in the end.” A yet-to-be-announced third season would be required for that.

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All twelve episodes of QUEENS OF MYSTERY can be streamed on Acorn TV in the US and Canada, and on Apple TV in Australia. The show is also available on DVD.

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