The 2024 series offering, Murder in a Small Town on Fox , feels like stumbling onto the Hallmark Channel. Episode one looks and sounds like a refugee from the romance capital of America. Granted, it is a romance as well as a murder mystery, but it seems out of place on the Network that gave us The Grinder. Fox also gave us Justified, just saying.
The Story
A big town cop comes to small town Canada to become a police chief. He comes to get away from “big” crime. Murder, it turns out, has no geographical boundaries. The cop meets local librarian through a dating app. They share their first murder.
The Main Cast
Rossif Sutherland is Police Chief Alberg.
Kristin Kreuk is Cassandra Lee Gibson Librarian.
Mya Lowe is new Corporal Yen. Another big city transplant.
Aaron Douglas is Sgt Sokolowski.
Special Guest Star AKA Suspect of the Week
James Cromwell is George Wilcox.
Hallmark or Just canadian
Murder in a Small Town does indeed feel like a Hallmark runaway. However, it may well just be down to the fact that it is a Canadian production. The first episode is low key interesting.
The key phrase here is “low key.” The characters, not the storyline, are interesting. Actors here deliver. While Sutherland’s pedigree shines, he is beaten by Cromwell in terms of bona fides. However, it has to be pointed out that Cromwell is the guest star here.
Taken from the Alberg series written by L.R. Wright. Murder in a Small Town is set in Gibson; a small seaside town in Canada. The police chief is another detective who has a speciality. In his case, he is an artist who notices “balance.” Or lack thereof.
Does this work though
There are a number of detective police “procedural” shows on offer. Across the pond we have Murder in Paradise, perhaps the English Rolls Royce of murder mystery shows. In America we have Longmire. The Cadillac of cop whodunits, if you will.
Add to this list, Monk, Murder she Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, et al and you have an almost exhausting list of crime shows. Not wanting to put down Ms Wright’s offering, I have not read her books, so I do not want to pass judgement.
In terms of mediocre entertainment, however, this works. Not on the same level as say, the 1980’s Canadian cop show Night Heat with Detective Giambone.
*For reference the show was shot in Toronto, standing in for New York. But in terms of “feel” Night Heat is Canadian through and through.*
Beyond Paradise in Canada
Murder in a Small Town can be seen as the Canadian answer to Beyond Paradise from across the pond. *Sans personal favourite Kris Marshall.* This offers an interesting plot, focussing on the problems of dealing with small town crime.
Sutherland, with his off kilter delivery of dialogue will make or break this one. Kreuk lights up the screen every single time she appears. The burgeoning romance aspect will be interesting.
The verdict
Murder in a Small Town earns a shaky 3.5 stars. If it can shake its Hallmark feel, this could turn into another Beyond Paradise. This one airs on Fox and streams on Hulu 24 hours later. Check it out and see what you think.
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