Expected Shipping Date 12/30/2009
Episode Guide:
- Death & Dust
- A Picture of Innocence
- They Seek Him Here
- Death in a Chocolate Box

Death & Dust
Synopsis
David Mostyn is shocked to find his mother Delyth in
bed with Dr James Kirkwood, senior partner in the Midsomer Market
surgery. Delyth, a beautiful divorcee, is delighted when James uses
the occasion to propose to her.
Her daughter Megan, James' practice manager, is
equally outraged, especially when Delyth tells her they are planning
to sell up and travel the world. James also has the difficult task of
telling Dorothy Hutton, his late wife's mother, who is still grieving.
James asks his partner Alan Delaney to check on
Dorothy later, lending him his brand new Range Rover for the journey.
But when Alan has to leave the car during a storm, a pick-up truck
drives into him at speed and kills him. Barnaby and Jones dig into
Alan's past and discover that James once accused him of stealing
£30,000 from the practice. But it was put down to clerical error
and the two doctors made up.
Delyth puts her cottage up for sale as Barnaby brings
in computer expert WPC Gail Stephens to trace the missing money. The
detectives realise James may have been the real target and race to
the surgery just in time to see a bucket of metal bolts thrown off
scaffolding, narrowly missing the doctor's head.
During a walk with the Midsomer Ramblers, Dorothy
confides her suspicions about Megan's lavish lifestyle. She is also
worried that Alan helped hasten her daughter's death and James killed
him to stop the truth coming out. Meanwhile David points the finger
at Clifford Rawnsley, a pig farmer infatuated with Delyth.
The detectives travel to Snowdonia to see Bryn
Williams, Delyth's friend and co-owner with her of Marchogwr Allt, a
disused slate waste pile. They also visit her ex, Huw, a once violent
man who recently suffered a stroke. He tells them David also called
by, asking him for £250,000 for a business venture.
On the way back, WPC Stephens phones. Computer records
show Megan used the money to buy cane furniture for David's shop and
he shared the proceeds by buying her a sports car. But did they kill
Alan or try to kill James?
As the Midsomer Ramblers gather in Snowdonia, Jones
joins the trek to protect James from potential killers while Barnaby
questions David about his financial misdeeds. But something David
says makes Barnaby realise James is at risk from a person they never
would have suspected &ldots; just as Jones realises the doctor has
disappeared from the mountain path.

A Picture of Innocence
Synopsis
Rivalry between traditional film
photographers and digital camera fans in the village of Luxton
Deeping reaches fever pitch at the annual photographic society
exhibition when snapper Steve Bright threatens black and white film
enthusiast Lionel Bell.
During the private viewing, Joyce
is shocked to see a print on the wall showing Barnaby caught in a
passionate embrace with another woman - Marion Bell, Lionel's wife,
who left him to live in Spain.
Photographer Headley Madrigal says
the image has been digitally manipulated - its two shots put
together. Joyce assumes it's a criminal getting revenge, then Barnaby
admits he had a brief relationship with Marion 30 years ago.
Lionel is photographing his
favourite oak trees in Luxton Wood when he is strangled with the cord
from his light meter. A memory card from a digital camera is found in
his mouth.
Police discover Lionel shared a
bottle of wine with a visitor the night before he died, but according
to his diary it was DCI Barnaby. Then the detective's fingerprints
are found on a wine glass at Lionel's home.
Barnaby realises someone must have
taken his wine glass from the exhibition to frame him but he is taken
off the investigation and replaced by irritating bureaucrat Martin
Spellman, who spends most of his time planning his forthcoming wedding.
The memory card reveals glamour
shots of a blonde woman. Before Jones can question Steve Bright about
it, he too is strangled. This time, a roll of black and white film is
found in his mouth containing more images of the mystery woman.
Behind Spellman's back, Barnaby
visits Lionel's daughter Philomena, who admits her mother returned to
England recently. Then Headley's son Seb invites him to his dark room
at night offering information about the blonde woman. He claims
Bright held sessions at his studio with glamour models, plus Lionel
and other middle-aged men.
Jones finally discovers who the
woman is - but her identity comes as a complete shock. Then Seb
invites Spellman to his darkroom for more revelations. With the
evidence mounting against him, will Barnaby be able to clear his name?

They Seek Him Here
Synopsis
A new version of 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' is being shot
in Midsomer Magna, but the atmosphere off the set rivals the battles
of the film. Producer Jack Braxton and director Nick Cheyney hate
each other, manor house owners Terence and Diane Charteris are broke
and their marriage is on the rocks, while there's a painful history
between their daughter Leonie and Cheyney.
DCI Barnaby and DS Jones get interested in events when
they tail known thief George Ince to a meeting at the manor with Jed
Norris, another ex-con. They are amazed to discover Norris is
employed there as a security guard.
Meanwhile Joyce arrives with a group of residents from
The Cedars care home who have been drafted in as cheap extras. Among
them is Gwen Morrison, an old friend of Cheyney's who now runs a
charity shop with Leonie.
Filming is disrupted when Raymond Clandillon, a
larger-than-life gay alcoholic actor arrives, begging for a role.
Cheyney casts him as an extra, much to the amusement of Neville
Hayward, the brother of Gwen's late husband Ted. At one point,
Raymond, Neville, Gwen and Ted were local actors known as the Four
Musketeers, but after Ted died, Neville's friendship with Raymond soured.
Leonie interrupts dinner at Magna Manor to warn
Cheyney to stay away from her son Josh. Diane also threatens him, as
does Danny, Leonie's partner. Cheyney laughs it off but, later that
night, Jed finds him beheaded by the guillotine, a film prop.
Braxton and Diane have alibis after they admit
spending the night together, while Danny reveals that Josh is
Cheyney's son, the result of a drunken night. And according to
Neville, Raymond blames Cheyney for ruining his career, while Leonie
suggests her father will stop at nothing to make money from Magna Manor.
With such a wide array of suspects to choose from,
Barnaby is sure young Josh is central to the case. Then Bullard
reveals Cheyney was drugged with morphine before he was beheaded.
As the complicated relationships of the Four
Musketeers start to emerge, there is another beheading. But who is
settling old scores and why?

Death in a Chocolate Box
Synopsis
Reformed criminal Ronnie Tyler
prepares to leave Midsomer Holm, a tranquil village and halfway house
founded by Lord Holm and detective-turned-psychotherapist Professor
Gina Colby. At the heart of the village is an historic camera obscura.
New arrival Eddie Marston takes
Ronnie's place, which DCI Barnaby is uneasy about. Meanwhile Gina's
husband Jack, a former DS at Causton, is having trouble sleeping,
haunted by the past.
Jack and Barnaby were close, but
Jack can't open up to his old colleague now. He left the force under
a cloud after Lord Holm was jailed for killing his unfaithful wife
Maria with the handle from the camera obscura. Maria's conquests
included the Friday Nighters - policemen who had sex with her in the
cells while Jack was on duty.
After the scandal, Gina had
resigned and retrained as a counsellor, and had visited Lord Holm in
prison. When he got early release, he invited her to expand her work
with offenders. Jack, now a probation officer, recommended Eddie for
Midsomer Holm, even though he was the cop who got him jailed.
Cully and Simon arrive for a
surprise visit, but Barnaby is called away when Jack's Land Rover is
found wrecked in a ditch, with Jack dead. Bullard says Jack was
murdered with a heavy iron bar.
The detectives learn that Jack was
upset by financial problems at Midsomer Holm and his mood changed
suddenly a month ago. Meanwhile Eddie Marston has disappeared.
Postman Lionel Poulter, one of the
Friday Nighters, intercepts an envelope sent by Jack to Barnaby,
containing newspaper cuttings and a threatening note. He phones Eddie
but is found by Barnaby and Jones and forced to admit that he's been
blackmailing Jack since meeting Eddie in jail. But what was Jack so
anxious to hide?
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