Mystery Summer

Again going along with PBS's programming schedule, we bring you another of our favorites:

Inspector Lewis which is airing on Masterpiece Mystery this month.

It doesn't take a whole lot of viewing experience to get used to the key ingredients of classic British detective stories. One important element is setting, which for many mystery series is the only constant amid a flood of constantly changing characters. In this case, Oxford is a main character in itself, with both victims and perpetrators inhabiting a world where academic stardom is the first order of life. The ancient university, its hallowed halls and looming secrets provide more than enough material to keep the series varied and interesting.

Next, there's always the chief detective and his sergeant.  In virtually every inspector + sergeant partnership we've ever seen, there is some major incongruity between the two characters which provides enough personal tension between them to keep things interesting while at the same time fueling each individual's creative and deductive powers. Inspector Lewis is a working-class bloke with intelligence to spare but no patience for the head-in-the-clouds lifestyle of his academic neighbors. Sergeant Hathaway is his opposite in every way, educated at Cambridge, he studied theology until an existential crisis turned him away from the priesthood and toward a career with the police. But despite (more likely because of) their differences, Lewis and Hathaway make a formidable team. 

 As mysteries go, Inspector Lewis strikes that perfect balance between dark and light... the stories almost always have some gravity to them, but there's enough lightness and humor to keep you from getting depressed (Unlike Inspector Lynley, a similar series with many of the same standard elements which, by the way, didn't make the cut for our summer selections). Lewis is enjoyable and definitely worth the time. 

One tiny little side-note: some of you may remember Lewis as Sergeant Lewis, Inspector Morse's protege from the earlier TV Mystery Inspector Morse. We didn't include Morse in our summer series either mainly because, well, we've never watched it. But anyway, I figured if I didn't mention it that I'd hear about it from all you Morse fans out there.