Caroline Graham

Badger's Drift is an ideal English village, complete with vicar, bumbling local doctor, and kindly spinster with a nice line in homemade cookies. But when the spinster dies suddenly, her best friend kicks up an unseemly fuss, loud enough to attract the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby. And when Barnaby and his eager-beaver deputy start poking around, they uncover a swamp of ugly scandals and long-suppressed resentments seething below the picture-postcard prettiness. In the grand tradition of the quietly intelligent copper, Barnaby has both an irresistibly dry sense of humor and a keen insight into what makes people tick.

The Killings at Badger's Drift

Sarah Sammis

The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham is the first of seven mysteries in the Chief Inspector Barnaby mystery series. It's also the title of the first episode of the long running show, Midsomer Murders. I mention the show because it was my introduction to the books.

In Badger's Drift, there's a rare orchid and two elderly ladies have been going head to head to spot occurrences of it. Miss Emily Simpson has the honor of finding it this year (1987 in the book, 1997 in the television show). She has the misfortune of spotting "something nasty" (to borrow the phrase from Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (1932) in a nearby copse. What she sees leads to her being followed and murdered in her home later the same day.

Liz Carpenter

Agatha Christie levels of place, plotting and characterization, just taking place in the late 80s instead of the 30s. Graham really has a talent for entertaining descriptors.

The Killings at Badger's Drift

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