LES PETITS MEURTRES D'AGATHA CHRISTIE: MURDER PARTY (FRANCE 2)

Marlène reads a weird newspaper ad announcing a "murder party". It tells that a murder will soon be committed at the stud farm of Leticia Salvan. There, a strange robbery attempt ends with the death of a caped criminal.

Alice Avril is now a full-time reporter. Commissaire Laurence meets THE woman.

« J'ai peur des chevaux. On ne peut pas leur faire confiance. Dans Autant en emporte le vent la petite fille monte, tombe et meurt. Et pourtant c'était un tout petit cheval. C'est tellement triste... J'ai peur des vaches aussi mais on ne monte pas sur des vaches.
- Revenons à nos moutons. Vous n'avez rien contre les moutons, Marlène? » 

 
Murder Party is the eleventh episode of Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie ("The little murders of Agatha Christie") with the Laurence/Avril/Marlène trio. Directed by Eric Woreth, it is adapted from Agatha Christie's novel A Murder Is Announced (Un Meurtre sera commis le... in French) by scriptwriter Sylvie Simon. Samuel Labarthe is Commissaire Swan Laurence. Alice Avril is played by Blandine Bellavoir and Élodie Frenck plays Marlène Leroix. This episode was mainly filmed at the beautiful haras de Blingel, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. 

« Personnellement j'aime les femmes féminines, douces, chaleureuses. Certainement pas des dominatrices, donneuses de leçons, un tantinet aigries. Et qui s'affichent avec des petits minets pathétiques.»

Laurence is surprisingly impressed by the new female pathologist of the Lille police station. The sophisticated and sarcastic Docteur E. Maillol is played by Natacha Lindinger (Hard). We learn what the "E" stands for only at the end, much to the hilarity of Avril and Marlène. The secretary gets a little jealous because of the interest of her boss for the newcomer. She decides to become "competent" and prepares her certificat d'études.

« Ah oui mais pour ça il faut du flair. Et même si je vous enfonçais la tête dans une poubelle vous seriez incapable de sentir quoi que ce soit. »

Who's behind the newspaper ad and who killed the robber? A colleague of Alice has a problem with her typewriter. Someone has a very peculiar relationship with a horse. Swan needs a little help from Alice and Marlène can be a mean girl. Oh, Donald Duck dies too. Murder Party was originally called Un Meurtre sera commis le... (like the novel) and this definitive title is terrible but the episode has Sylvie Simon's standards of excellence and even an echo to Jeux de glaces, the first Laurence, Avril and Marlène (« Son cerveau a été privé d'oxygène. »)

« Pleurez. Vous pisserez moins. »

The music of Stéphane Moucha sounds like 60s John Barry and his work for Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie definitely deserves a CD. There's also a gay couple and a Rosa Klebb moment. Italian actress Valéria Cavalli (Leticia Salvan), Blandine Pelissier (Odette), Juliette Plumecocq-Mech (Greenblat), Christine Bonnard (Henriette), Annabelle Hettmann (Philippine Leroy), Honorine Magnier (Antoinette Combet) and Clovis Fouin (Marcel Combet) are the other guest actors.

« Je pense qu'une femme est une source d'emmerdements. Elle est parfaite en potiche ou en femme d'intérieur. » 

Dominique Thomas and François Godart return respectively as Commissaire divisionnaire Tricard and Alice's editor-in-chief Robert Jourdeuil. Although Avril's rival Raoul Gredin isn't in Murder Party the character, played twice by Thomas Baelde, is mentioned. Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie is produced by Sophie Révil for Escazal Films with Pictanovo (Witnesses), Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the participation of France Télévisions, TV5 Monde and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. The characters of Laurence, Avril and Marlène were created by Sylvie Simon and Thierry Debroux. 

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/blingel-un-episode-des-petits-meurtres-d-agatha-ia653b16326n2880200