Midsomer Murders

It's a good day for the Hicks family, as the name of Tommy Hicks - who was executed during World War I for "cowardice and desertion" - is added to the list on Midsomer Parva's war memorial. Tommy's son Lionel and grandson Dave, mayor of Causton and whom Barnaby does not like (owing to dodgy building work by the mayor's company), are thrilled, but the snooty Hammonds are decidedly less pleased. Henry, the patriarch of the Hammond family, is particularly riled by his insalubrious neighbours, and has nurtured a long-running feud with the Hickses. But the evening after a battle re-enactment in the village, Henry is murdered - and Barnaby must delve into the history of the two families to find the killer, discovering a web of fraud, lies, and hidden truths.

Barnaby and Jones are in Dunstan to investigate the deaths of a reclusive couple. As they try to establish whether Ron and Libby Wilson were murdered or died of natural causes, their attention is drawn to a dispute raging between a local builder and road protesters nearby. When another death occurs, the detectives learn that there are plenty of dark secrets and fierce hostilities in this apparently idyllic village. Will Jack Purdy's quick temper lead to violence? How far would the protesters go to prevent the bypass being built? And do current events somehow relate to the death of Michael Wilson many years earlier?

When the body of Londoner Charlie Finleyson is discovered in woodland near Midsomer Sonning, Barnaby and Jones find themselves investigating employees at local Midsomer Life magazine. It turns out the dead man was married to the ex-wife of Guy Sandys, the wealthy owner of the publication. As the detectives become aware of a feud between Guy and the proprietor of the Morecroft Hotel, tensions are also heating up between the locals and visiting Londoners. Soon Barnaby and Jones find themselves to trying to piece together the truth about the murder, and learn that someone might be trying to conceal something in their past.

A children's magic show goes horribly wrong when one of the performers dies during a trick. Barnaby and Jones discover that the victim was poisoned with a rare toxin extracted from Ecuadorean poison frogs - so the hunt is on for a particularly ruthless and imaginative killer. The detectives soon learn that a feud is raging between local occult practitioner Ernest Balliol and famous writer Aloysius Wilmington. While some of the villagers - such as Ernest's daughter Isolde - believe that powerful magical forces are at play, others think the reasons for the bloodshed may have their roots in the distant past. Barnaby and Jones soon find themselves delving into the occult, magic, and ancients books of power, to determine what happened, and soon sense a mixture of both might be the motive for the murder, when a book shop owner is killed with shattered glass, laced in the same poison.

Barnaby and Jones are forced to take part in a team building exercise and Tom has plenty of problems dealing with the young, new, acting Chief Superintendent, John Cotton (Nick Fletcher). Following an explosion in a truck that had been stored in a truck depot, a body is soon discovered in a nearby lake, which turns out to be Alec Grainger, who had been seen arguing with James Parkes (Joseph Millson), the son of Colonel Matt Parkes (Tim Pigott-Smith). James appears to be involved in shady business deals and is blamed by his grandmother Caroline Halsey (Judy Parfitt) - and others - for the suicide of a woman he got pregnant two years before. Barnaby and Jones find themselves delving into a mixture of fraud, smuggling, and lies, trying to piece together the truth.

When two couples vanish into thin air in the village of Monks Barton, Barnaby and Jones hear rumours of haunted woods and witchcraft. Barnaby remains sceptical of this, even when an unidentified body is found in a shallow grave and the missing start turning up dead. He soon has to determine if ghosts, criminals, or something else, is behind the abductions and murders.