LES PETITS MEURTRES D'AGATHA CHRISTIE:L'ÉTRANGE ENLÈVEMENT DU PETIT BRUNO

[Spoiler-Free] Someone threatens to kidnap Bruno, the young son of famous crime fiction author Eloïse Zennefort and her husband Hadrien Debaer unless they pay 500.000 francs. 

The demand is signed "Greg Atlas", which is the name of the character created by Eloïse.

« Cadeau d'une femme, j'imagine?
- Plusieurs. Elles se sont cotisées.  »

L'étrange enlèvement du petit Bruno is the twelfth 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 The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly by Jean-Luc Gaget. Samuel Labarthe is Commissaire Swan Laurence. Alice Avril is played by Blandine Bellavoir and Élodie Frenck plays Marlène Leroix. Natacha Lindinger returns as the sophisticated and sarcastic pathologist Docteur E. Maillol (« J'ai pratiqué une autopsie sur votre petit oiseau. »), who appeared in the previous episode as Laurence's potential love interest.

« Vous me prenez pour qui? Une débutante?
- Non, une plaie. La onzième. Après le furoncle.  »

Commissaire Laurence goes to the luxurious castle of Eloïse Zennefort. Avril too because she got an interview with the novelist. Swan requires uniformed backup but that's not enough to prevent the kidnapping of little Bruno. Marlène speaks in abbreviations and quotes her "Tata Gilberte", someone beheads birds, Alice visits the police station cells again, Françoise Giroud works for newspaper La Voix du Nord (or not) and wasps can't drive. 

« Et la liberté de la presse?
- Je m'assied dessus. Une fesse, puis l'autre.  »

Aired last friday by Swiss channel RTS Un (ahead of French pubcaster France 2), L'étrange enlèvement du petit Bruno reaches a new high for the popular series. Valérie de Dietrich is absolutely extraordinary as the "queen of crime novels" Eloïse Zennefort. The rest of the guest cast includes Fabio Zenoni (Hadrien Debaer), Vincent de Bouard (Gilles Vanberten) Victor Le Blond (Gaspard), etc. Dominique Thomas plays Commissaire divisionnaire Tricard, Alice's editor-in-chief Robert Jourdeuil is played by François Godart and Thomas Baelde is back as Raoul Gredin.

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. The music is composed by Stéphane Moucha.

« Mon mari m'a supplié de ne pas l'acheter, cette bicoque. Mais que voulez-vous, l'argent rend con.  »

The magnificent castle of this episode is in fact le château des Princes de Ligne at Antoing in Belgium. Some Eloïse Zennefort's Greg Atlas novels: Le Masque de Dieu, L'Amour est une illusion ordinaire, Une position inconfortable... « Cette affaire ça ferait un très bon épisode des Cinq dernières minutes, n'est-ce pas?  »

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/fives-voyage-dans-le-temps-pour-les-petits-meurtres-ia19b57395n2773446
http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/cobrieux-la-route-de-cobrieux-au-coeur-des-petits-ia28b50426n2773677
http://www.nordeclair.fr/info-locale/bully-les-mines-pour-ses-petits-meurtres-france-2-jna48b0n706014

LES PETITS MEURTRES D'AGATHA CHRISTIE: UN MEURTRE EST-IL FACILE?

Michel Loisée, a unionist at the Deboucke spinning mill of Armentières, is killed in an apparent accident. The rich Émile Deboucke, owner of the factory, wants to marry reporter Alice Avril. 

Josiane Lallin, a colleague of Loisée, insists on seeing Commissaire Laurence but she talks to his secretary Marlène instead. Avril can't stand the misogyny of her boss anymore. Laurence prides himself of being now reachable everywhere thanks to his new U.S. army field telephone.

« Fratricide. "Fratrie" pour frère et "cide" pour meurtre. Tenez si je tuais Avril, par exemple.
- Oh!
- C'est un exemple. Ce serait un "avrilicide". »

Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie ("The little murders of Agatha Christie") is a French adaptation of novelist Agatha Christie's stories as a period crime comedy-drama 90-minute series with a trio of local sleuths instead of her detectives: Commissaire Laurence (Samuel Labarthe, of the Comédie-Française), Alice Avril (Blandine Bellavoir) and Marlène (Élodie Frenck). They returned last week on Swiss channel RTS Deux, ahead of  French pubcaster France 2, in Un meurtre est-il facile? This brand new episode is adapted from the novel Murder is Easy by scriptwriter, director and actor Jean-Luc Gaget (Highly Strung). It is directed by Marc Angelo.

« Marlène, appelez-moi Le Louvre et vérifiez si Émile Deboucke leur a bien prêté un des couteaux de sa collection .
- Le Louvre de... de Paris?
- Non de Tourcoing. »

Jean-Luc Gaget returns at his best after his adaptation of Hallowe'en Party, the excellent Meurtre à la kermesse, last year. Un meurtre est-il facile? has some audiardesque lines (« Je vais m'occuper de son cas au petit Castor. ») and a deliciously anachronistic running gag about Laurence's "mobile" phone. Gaget's great characterization is served by a talented guest cast, like the extraordinary Philippe Nahon (I stand alone) as Émile Deboucke (« Rendez-vous au stock? On dirait un album de Tintin votre histoire. »), Anne Benoît as Marlène's cousin Annick, or Alexandre Steiger as the overambitious Jean Castor (« Mon directeur d'études m'a dit: Jean, de grandes choses vous attendent. Il avait raison, sauf pour une chose... J'vais pas les attendre. »)

Two women literally drop dead. Laurence's sports car, his magnificent Facel-Vega Facellia, attracts the interest of a protagonist and is involved in a chase with a big Jaguar. Alice enjoys the life of Riley. Marlène resigns and visits a cell of the police station. A dialogue between Deboucke and his intriguing butler, Baptiste (Pierre Kiebbe), gives a hint of more attention on the commissaire's past in future episodes. Last but not least, we learn Marlène's surname.

Emilie Wiest (Sabine Toulemonde) and Marcelle Fontaine (Josiane Lallin) are also in the guest cast. Dominique Thomas and François Godart return, respectively as Commissaire divisionnaire Tricard and Alice's editor-in-chief Robert Jourdeuil. Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie is produced by Sophie Révil for Escazal Films with Pictanovo, Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the participation of France Télévisions, TV5 Monde and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. 

The characters of Laurence and Avril were created by Sylvie Simon and Thierry Debroux. The music is composed by Stéphane Moucha. 

« J'ai appelé à Tourcoing et il n'y a pas de Louvre à Tourcoing. En tout cas à la mairie ils ne sont pas au courant.
- Mais enfin Marlène, Le Louvre c'est à Paris.
- C'est exactement ce qu'ils m'ont dit. »

http://www.pictanovo.com/
http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/bondues-le-chateau-du-vert-bois-devient-le-theatre-des-ia22b50033n2188782
http://www.nordeclair.fr/info-locale/bondues-le-chateau-du-vert-bois-devient-le-theatre-des-jna446b0n426876 

LES PETITS MEURTRES D'AGATHA CHRISTIE: MEURTRE À LA KERMESSE

A police operation against smugglers goes bad for commissaire Laurence when he temporarily loses sight. Later, a young girl is drowned in an apple bobbing bucket during her school fete.

Laurence wants to catch the murderer and hides his blindness. Only Marlène, his devoted secretary, knows the truth but Alice Avril quickly discovers it and wants to be his "eyes" on the case.

« Alors, avoir envie de tuer et le faire sont des choses très différentes. Moi, par exemple, j'ai toujours envie de tuer mademoiselle Avril ici présente. »

Meurtre à la kermesse is the fifth episode of Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie ("Agatha Christie's little murders") with the Laurence/Avril detective duo in the late 1950s north of France. Directed by Eric Woreth, it is adapted from Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Hallowe'en Party by scriptwriter, director and actor Jean-Luc Gaget (Highly Strung).

Samuel Labarthe, of the Comédie-Française, is commissaire Swan Laurence. Wannabe reporter Alice Avril is played by Blandine Bellavoir. Élodie Frenck, who plays Marlène, won Best Young Actress at the La Rochelle Festival of TV fiction in 2013 for her role. She's now in the title sequence.

« Un chien d'aveugle qui a son permis de conduire. Mais où je vais trouver ça, commissaire? »

To add to his predicament, the cynical and misogynist commissaire is forced to team up once again with Alice (« Vous pensiez quoi, Avril? Que j'étais assez bête pour tomber dans le panneau. Ce parfum de jockey. Je n'en connais qu'une qui s'en asperge. » ). Young Luisa Ortega, the daughter of a Spanish refugee, wrote a composition telling how she witnessed a murder. Then someone killed her during the school kermesse of a small town.

Laurence and Avril investigate against the backdrop of a political rivalry and a disabled handyman makes a too obvious suspect. An "infiltration à l'Américaine" by Avril doesn't end well for the back seat of Laurence's beloved Facel-Vega Facellia. Marlène notes the "Mylène Demongeot haircut" on the photo of a missing woman (« J'adore Mylène Demongeot. Ma tante l'a croisée une fois aux Galeries Lafayette à Paris. » )

« Pierre Pataud, étranglé avec une chaussette. C'est possible ça? Ah oui, avec une chaussette de ski. » 

As usual, Dominique Thomas and François Godart play (respectively) commissaire divisionnaire Tricard and Robert Jourdeuil. Thomas Baelde returns as Raoul Gredin. Anne Loiret, Nicolas Bridet, Frédéric Épaud and Philippe Hérisson are amongst the guest cast of this excellent episode. Bridet played a different role in 2009 for the first episode of the Larosière/Lampion era of Le petits meurtres. 

Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie is produced by Escazal Films with Pictanovo, Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the participation of France Télévisions, TV5 Monde and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. Sophie Révil is the producer. The characters of Laurence and Avril were created by Sylvie Simon and Thierry Debroux. The music is by Stéphane Moucha.  

RTS Deux aired Meurtre à la kermesse on April 18, ahead of France 2.