Top Three Female Mysteries on Acorn for December 2023
Each month, we pick three of our favorite shows from our subscription services. We try to include at least one or two of the newer releases along with a favorite.
Favorites for December:
©France 2
Candice Renoir (France)
This French crime television series aired on France 2 for 11 seasons. It was just recently canceled. It stars Cécile Bois in the titular role as a mother of four who is a divorced police detective in Sète, a seaside village on the Mediterranean. Canice Renoir is one of the few crime fighters you will encounter who wears bright, fashionable colors and can still shoot someone. She is not a frump and enjoys wearing pink, while still being a standout detective. Only in France can one embrace fashion and crime-fighting. This show is refreshing while at the same time somber with some of the criminal subject matter. The ensemble cast works well together which makes the viewer care about all the characters, not just Candice.
©SVT
2. Detective #24 (Sweden)
This is a new show from Sweden, and, while it only has six episodes, it is well worth your time. It stars Malin Levanon (Drifters, Clark) as Tilda, a former police prosecutor who was fired and is currently working as the legal advisor at a migrant detention center near Uppsala. It is easy to see why Tilda lost her job; she cuts corners and unless something is extremely compelling, she will lose interest in a situation or a legal case. While it might seem like she deserves her fate, once we see her dysfunctional family life, we can empathize with her plight.
Things start looking up for Tilda when she has to help Ibrahinn (newcomer Nasir Dhagole), a migrant, and we learn, police detective from Somalia. He functions as the thinking half of the completely unlikely crime-solving duo. Ibrahinn is almost silent through the show and has razor focus, while Tilda bulldozes her way through any obstacle. Although Tilda passes Ibrahinn's ideas as her own, he is more concerned about getting asylum. While Tilda is most definitely an antiheroine, she is someone who you cannot help but enjoy watching as she constantly blunders through cases, leaving shocked co-workers in her wake. Not everyone dislikes her, she does have her fans and this helps to reinforce that she is human. This show also highlights the injustices that the migrants go through as they are bounced in and out of the Swedish legal system. Watch it. You will not be sorry.
©Red Production Company
3. Happy Valley (UK)
This is one of my all-time favorites and it took several years for all three series to get made, which is not uncommon for many European television series. While a total of 18 episodes might not seem like a lot for American and Canadian audiences who are used to more than that for one season, we guarantee that you will feel like you have gone through and shared all the emotional and physical trauma that Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) experiences in this anxiety-ridden, nail-biting, ride that Sally Wainwright has created.
While American audiences might not be as familiar with Wainwright if they have not watched her shows such as Scott & Bailey, Last Tango in Halifax, and Gentleman Jack in the United States on PBS, or if they do not stream, then they are in for a treat. Just don’t plan on being bothered as you binge-watch this masterpiece of female nurturing mixed with unmitigated anger at the criminal who caused Catherine’s daughter to take her own life and leave her with an emotionally stunted grandson to raise on her own. Throw in a recovering drug-addict sister and you will be grateful for the life you have, even if you feel it isn’t all it should be at the moment. For any Grantchester fans, you will never be able to see Sidney (James Norton) the same again. Make sure to have a lot of chocolate, cookies, cakes, tea, coffee and possibly wine as you hunker down for this series. It is required viewing for all females over 30.