Midsomer Murders (TV Series) The Black Book (2009) User Reviews

Barnaby in the art world

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 26 June 2013]

Barnaby ventures into the world of fine art in "The Black Book," from season 12.

The episode starts with little old lady Felicity Law (Ann Firbank) bringing a painting into an antique store run by Prideaux (Anthony Bamber) who doesn't want to look at it. When he does, you can see clearly he thinks he's got something, so he offers her 50 pounds for the frame. Oh, she's thrilled. Then she says she's going to get an estimate from Causton Gallery.

Unable to dissuade her, Prideaux keeps upping the money, to no avail. He finally has to tell her she has a Hogson - he was an 18th century painter who painted a lot of scenes from the area. At auction, it brings 400,000 pounds, to the disappointment of the head of the Hogson Society, led by Patricia Blackshow (Sarah Badel), with Joyce as a member. They were prepared to pay up to 120,000 pounds.

Felicity announces that she will take a 2000 pound trip and the rest of the money is going to Matilda Simms (Susannah Harker), the daughter of an artist, who runs an art school for truant youngsters, and whose funding has just been cut off.

Then the murders begin, and Barnaby and Jones investigate. One of Matilda's ex-students, a known troublemaker, is immediately suspected of the first murder, but what the detectives uncover are people desperate to keep secrets and a frenzied search for a black book.

Really good story, with Barnaby quite funny as Matilda teaches him about art, and Barnaby and Jones see a nude female model posing.

Very good.

An enjoyable romp

[boxyfella · 8/10 · 6 May 2022]

I really enjoyed this one, something different. And I never guessed the identity of the killer, and to be fair, neither did Barnaby or Jones. It was only when they caught her husband with the shopping trolley that the penny dropped for them. The scenes with Barnaby and Jones at the art school with the nude model were funny.

There were some good performances in supporting roles: David Bamber seems to have a knack for portraying weasels, and he does so again here, effortlessly. Susannah Harker was great in her interactions with Barnaby, and Sarah Badel came across as deliciously evil in her final scene with Barnaby, lusting for the life she never had.

On the downside, again, WPC Stephens has little to do. It beggars belief that Barnaby could spot fakes after just a few hours' reading up, but the real flight of fantasy was how on earth did the blackmailer manage to switch the shopping trolley in full sight of DS Jones? As far as I could tell he never moved from the spot and had his eyes on it the whole time.

The. Price of Art

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 7 May 2016]

This episode begins with an art auction where a painting by a man who used Midsomer as his medium is sold for nearly half a million pounds. The painting was found in the attic of a local woman who announces that the proceeds will go to an art school which has recently lost its funding. The school is for artists who have fallen on hard times, including some with criminal records. It allows total creativity with work in many different forms. At the center, however, is the possibility of art forgers at work. The show delves into an intricate plot to deal with these sham paintings. Barnaby becomes interested in the works of art. His conclusions do tend to be a bit beyond the pale, especially an observation he makes about a breed of pigs. This is a fun episode because while there is murder, there is also a tongue in cheek element to it.

Barnaby tops the art critics.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 29 August 2018]

The Black Book is a very good episode from the twelfth series of Midsomer Murders, a story very different to any other, which sees Barnaby investigate the art world, displaying superior knowledge of the specialist field then any art critic. The story is very clever, very subtle, with more emphasis on the story then the killings. It's very, very well acted, with all doing their part, although I must say Susannah Harker really is a cut above, Such a natural actress, her scenes with Barnaby are so effortless, a highly competent talent. I like the touches of humour, Jones is at his very best. It's not a classic, but it is a very good episode, quite unlike any other. Enough twists to keep you guessing, and I have to admit I had no clue as to the killers identity.

Where's Fiona Bruce when you need her?

A twist in the tail, and further twists in the final 10 minutes!

[safenoe · 9/10 · 8 February 2016]

Usually the culprit is unmasked in the final 10 minutes of a Midsomer Murders but The Black Book turned that on its head with even more unpredictable twists!! And that's why I liked The Black Book because you were never sure of the motives of the key characters in the cut throat world of art. And Barnaby's knowledge of art in the context of solving the murder was quite impressive and all fit together.

Susannah Harker (who was in the original British series House of Cards) was stunning in this episode and displayed much poise.

One bit of trivia, there's one degree of separation between Midsomer Murders and Robocop (the original version). Gavan O'Herlihy, who is in this episode - well his father played "The Old Man" in Robocop! How about that?!

So Much Fun..

[susanhudek53 · 10/10 · 2 August 2020]

Let me preface this post by saying I love all Midsomers, from the subpar to the sublime. Loved seeing two actors from Pride and Prejudice, Susannah Harker and David Bamber again. I've been bingewatching for days and this episode I really enjoyed. I guessed from the beginning who the murderer was but that didn't ruin it for me. Getting to the conclusion was a fun ride. Being an American I enjoy most British series. This episode was worth every second of its 138 minutes. Just to compare..I could NEVER bingwatch Murder She Wrote...but this whole series is worth your investment of time. FUN episode!

Not a bad episode, but...

[pwebber13 · 6/10 · 30 March 2011]

...as the other reviewer mentioned, a little dull. Too many Midsomer's lately have been heavy on exposition and a sort-of character development, and light on the reason most of us watch: murder and mayhem. The higher body counts and the often downright wacky methods of killing people in earlier seasons made for, well, a lot of "fun." Still, it's an enjoyable show and miles ahead of most American cop/mystery shows.

Two questions for UK viewers: Are there any ex-pat American actors living in Britain? And do Americans affecting British accents sound as bad to you as Brits doing American accents? Gavan O'Herlihy (as George Arlington in this ep) comes pretty close, and kudos to him for doing a softer Southern accent. But really, find someone who doesn't sound completely stilted and affected when "speaking American." It always sounds like Graham Chapman from Monty Python doing his outrageously broad movie mogul voice: "You'rrrre fi-errred!" (And no, we don't all say "goddammit," "bullshit," and "ass" every time we speak, either.)

A painting to die for

[mirkobozic · 7/10 · 12 March 2020]

Finally a plot that's more captivating than the boring countryside feuds we got used to: art forgery. Barnaby turns to libraries to solve crimes and it's great to see it takes a bit of intellectual expertise to find the culprit, instead of the usual ivestigation. The main suspects are more or less dull, and the Hogson collector looks like Richard Branson. Jones was always kind of dull, and his character really needs a bit of direction, because he doesn't seem to be anything more than an assistant, with an occasional pun or side-story. All things considered, not really the top of the pile, but not a wasted time.

'Midsomer Murders', art and forgery

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 15 February 2017]

As has been said by me a number of times, 'Midsomer Murders' is one of my most watched and most re-watched shows. It is nowhere near as good now and the Tom Barnaby-era wasn't alien to average or less episodes, but when it was on form or at its best boy was it good.

Season 12 got off to a decent start with "The Dogleg Murders", and this promising standard continues with "The Black Book". "The Black Book" is not a 'Midsomer Murders' classic like ("The Killings at Badgers Drift", "Written in Blood", "Death's Shadow", "Dead Man's Eleven", "Judgement Day", "Ring Out Your Dead", "The Green Man", "Hidden Depths" and "The House in the Woods". It's also not one of the worst like "Second Sight", "Shot at Dawn", "The Electric Vendetta", "Blood on the Saddle" and "Night of the Stag" (remember disliking "Incident at Cooper's Hill" too).

"The Black Book" does suffer somewhat from too much padding, enough of it drawn out enough to make some of the pacing drag badly, and while most of the exposition is revealing and interesting not all of it is necessary. The killer's motives are agreed rather mundane, the motives for some episodes did become quite toned down in later seasons, and will probably the first person to feel that the killer's identity was not that much of a surprise due to a couple of foreshadowing moments (like at the auction).

However, the production values as always are just great, the idyllic look of it contrasting very well with the story's grimness, and quaint and atmospheric photography. The music fits perfectly, with some lush jauntiness and sometimes an ominous quality, and the theme tune one of the most memorable and instantly recognisable of the genre.

There are some thoughtful and humorous moments in the script, which is generally well structured and crafted with a great balance of humour and drama. The supporting characters are pretty good. The story has enough twists and turns, that keep coming even at the end, to make it absorbing. The intricacy of the atmosphere was nice on the most part and things don't get too confused thankfully.

John Nettles and Jason Hughes are both superb, individually and together (their chemistry, and the chemistry with Daniel Casey and John Hopkins before Hughes, being a huge part of their episodes' charm). Can't fault the supporting cast either, particularly Susannah Harker.

Overall, another decent episode to Season 12. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Not that great episode pf Midsomer Murders.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 16 May 2010]

Midsomer Murders: The Black Book starts as an elderly lady named Felicity Law (Ann Firbank) walks into an antiques shop run by Anthony Prideaux (David Bamber) with a previously unknown painting by famed Midsomer landscape artist Henry Hogson. The painting called Bishop's Drift is put up for auction & Texan art collector George Arlington (Gavan O'Herlihy) wins it for £400,000 amidst fierce competition. After the auction Felicity announces that she is going to donate the money from the painting to a local art school for troubled teenagers called the Arnold Simms School of Art run by her close friend Matilda Simms (Susannah Harker), however that night Felicity realises that her house has been broken into & phones Matilda shortly before she is murdered. DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) is on the case & becomes a bit of a Hogson expert & uncovers an elaborate forgery scheme that centers on a black book that it seems Felicity was murdered for...

Episode 2 from season 12 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by series regular Peter Smith & is strictly average, not the worst episode out there for sure but yet again another pretty ordinary one with little to distinguish it. The Black Book revolves around around the shadowy world of art collecting & forgery where big money is to be made although I don't really understand why the forger would create a black book that would expose him & his forgeries if it was ever discovered, the series has featured this sort of plot before & here it just feels like it's there to pad out time between the murders. None of it is particularly interesting, there's an insurance scam that goes nowhere & the Midsomer Murders mainstay of blackmail which is what the whole episode boils down to, it's all about the money & very little else in the end. The later seasons of Midsomer Murders has the unwelcome trend of toning down the bizarre & memorable motives that once graced the series & certain episodes with The Black Book a good case in point feeling rather mundane. At over 90 minutes you need to listen carefully as there's lots of exposition & while it all comes together reasonably well at the end the final ten minutes are a little hard to take seriously as a two million pound ransom drop in a library goes wrong & the entire Midsomer police force are outwitted by an old woman.

The Black Book is one of those episodes where there isn't a murder until after the twenty odd minute mark & as such there's a lot of exposition & character set-up to get out of the way first which gets a little dull as I tend to sit there waiting for something to happen. There are three murders in this one, none that graphic but the third murders crime scene is pretty bloody as they have had their throat slit. In the space of one afternoon Barnaby becomes an art expert & in particular a Henry Hogson expert, in fact he becomes so much of an expert he notices a couple of forgeries himself that the worlds foremost art experts have missed for years. This guy is just good. WPC Steven makes her final appearance in the series as a uniformed officer as during the next episode Secrets and Spies she is promoted to plain clothes. There's no real atmosphere to this episode, there are no dark woods or creepy old houses & the cinematography is unusually quite flat & bland here.

The Black Book is a below average Midsomer Murders episode, it's slow with a forgettable killer & motive & the idea that in an afternoon Barnaby exposed two Hogson fakes that have fooled the worlds foremost art experts for years stretches credibility.

Series Not Aging Well

[sornum · 6/10 · 7 May 2023]

This episode was enjoyable, but only up to a point. I second what others have said here: the last thirty minutes or so was just sloppy and lacked the cleverness we've come to expect from Barnaby. There are several episodes in the last two seasons where it is almost as if the writers gave up and decided they had to wrap things up quickly without a care for continuity or sense. It is rather insulting to the long time viewer. I'll also say it is starting to get a bit offensive to see Barnaby leering at other women. At this point I am only hanging on to get to the end of the John Nettles era. Due to the shoddy writing I will not continue on with the series.

A fine episode.

[harrykivi · 6/10 · 6 November 2022]

"Midsomer Murders" is one of my favorite series, but the 12th season is not one of show's best. It is not bad, just fine. "The Black Book" is a decent episode, which is not that bad place to be in.

Let's start with the good aspects, shall we?

. The production values of the episode are great as usual. The direction's solid and so is the music. The acting is pretty good too. John Nettles and Jason Hughes are wonderful in the leads, so charming. Out of the guest stars Sarah Badel and especially Susannah Harker fare the best.

. The story of "The Black Book" has some good twists, turns and humor here and there. The murders are very brutal and the characters are interesting for the most part.

But...

. The solution to the mystery is quite mediocre. The identity of the killer (Patricia) was not a shock and the motives felt dull at best.

. There is also a quite a bit of infodumping here and there (especially towards the middle), which is not that compelling to be honest. It is safe to say: The writing could have been stronger.

Overall, a fine episode.

6/10 HK.

Ruined by the last half hour

[rickd24 · 4/10 · 12 September 2021]

My wife and I normally really enjoy Midsomer Murders, but not this episode. Several things happened in the last half hour that made Tom and Ben just look like idiots the way they were fooled. Behavior from some of the other characters didn't make sense either. Why did Tom just stand there watching Matilda burn the rest of the book instead of taking it away from her? Why didn't he call for backup when driving to Matilda's art school when she was presumably in danger from the Texan? Why didn't Patricia transfer the money from translucent plastic bags into suitcases before getting on the plane? Why did she and the Texan assume that they could destroy the fakes without anyone noticing and that the Causton police wouldn't say anything? Wouldn't releasing the black book, which would prove the forgeries, accomplish the same thing to make the real ones more valuable? Why would Tom let the Texan walk off with the black book when it was prime evidence in the murder? There seemed to be no concern about chain of custody or getting fingerprints.

It would be one thing if the show never cared about such sloppy writing but it usually isn't, that's what made the sloppiness stand out.

Also, the nudity seemed pretty gratuitous. Not that I've normally got anything against that but it seemed very out of place on Midsomer.