England, 1925. Gerry Wade is found dead in his bed, an empty bottle of sleeping draught at his bedside. But his close friend Lady Eileen ‘Bundle’ Brent (Mia McKenna-Bruce) is not convinced it is suicide. Her suspicions are confirmed after the murder of Wade’s friend, Ronny Devereux, not much later. At the heart of this cosy murder mystery is a highly valuable formula for a metal that is indestructible.
As Eileen, an amateur sleuth, runs around attempting to uncover the identity of the murderer, the narrative begins to feel stale, predictable and downright dull.
I found myself waiting for the plot to thicken, as is expected of an Agatha Christie mystery. Spoiler alert: It never really does. The identity of the orchestrator of the murders is so shocking, it is ridiculous. It gets even more dubious when the reason for the individual’s crimes is revealed.
An Agatha Christie mystery is treasured for its intelligent plotlines and restraint. As a reader who grew up on the author’s brilliant books, the three-part series came across as underwhelming and somehow over-the-top at the same time. It deviates from the original in many ways — among them a dramatic train scene involving gunwielding murder suspects, a dead father and a different culprit. The dramatic climax is contrived and inauthentic.
Mia McKenna-Bruce as Lady Eileen feels too modern, out of place and vanilla. Nothing about her character or the way she carries herself reflects the time she lives in. We also never really get a sense of her personality beyond her interest in solving the murder of her friend.
I do think it is enjoyable if not viewed as an Agatha Christie mystery — laidback entertainment where nothing really stands out save for the performances of Helena Bonham Carter (who plays Eileen’s mother) and Martin Freeman (superintendent Battle).