MIDSOMER MURDERS
HAPPY FAMILIES
DETAILED SYNOPSIS
Victor Karras has been at the helm of Karras Games for
over 50 years, transforming the family run business which create
beautifully handmade board games. Since the Karras family have made
their fortune in games, Victor's pregnant wife, Eleanor, decided that
to celebrate her husband's 70th birthday, it only seemed fitting to
build such a celebration around a game and so arranged a murder
mystery weekend. Gathering at Hulton Manor, a sprawling edifice on
its own island, a storm rages outside adding to the immersive
experience of the fictional murder playing out in front of them,
until Victor tumbles down the stairs, and is impaled by a life-size
Egyptian figure, killing him for real.
As Barnaby and Winter arrive to investigate, Fleur
informs them that Victor was not killed when impaled by the Anubis
but was dead before he hit the ground; he was poisoned with cyanide.
With this, the team reason that it was likely administered in
something he ate or drank in the 30 minutes before his death, giving
them their window. As Fleur returns to the mainland with Victor's
body, the violent storm washes away the chain ferry, the only means
of transportation off the island, marooning Barnaby, Winter, the
remaining family, and most importantly the killer.
With no way off the island and no way of knowing when
the storm will subside, Barnaby and Winter gather the group and
declare this does not mean that the investigation will cease.
Interviewing the group reveals several rivalries and potential
motives. Karras Games are struggling, and Victor's greedy daughter
Danni was desperate for her father to step down, while Victor had
also recently fired his accountant brother-in-law, Paul. Is this
about power? Or revenge? With a seemingly endless number of motives
and family feuds, the phone lines go down, and with little signal,
Barnaby and Winter find their usual methods of detection are no
longer at their disposal. The duo must work to puzzle this case out
on their own like never before.