The Brokenwood Mysteries, Series 4

The bucolic town of Brokenwood is picturesque on the surface, but its idyllic façade harbours simmering passions that often erupt into grisly crimes. Having relocated from the big city, Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea) employs unconventional methods to solve the small town’s most gruesome murders with his partner, Detective Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland), and eager young DC Sam Breen (Nic Sampson). In these four feature-length mysteries, Shepherd and his team contend with the death of a skydiver whose parachute was tampered with, the killing of the eccentric owner of a Victorian reenactment village, farmers feuding over the rights to honey bees, and a nursing home full of suspects with dementia. Set against the gorgeous backdrop of the New Zealand countryside, The Brokenwood Mysteries has been hailed as “a droll New Zealand crime show with…a perfect pairing” of lead detectives (The New York Times).