Lots of mysteries, some of them cozy

(This is the first of two story about TV mystery shows; the second one focuses on PBS.)
Sprawling across the TV landscape, mystery shows seem to fit opposite categories.
There are “cozy mysteries” (including “My Life is Murder,” shown here) and, well, uncozy ones. Sometimes, the difference is small.
And there are good and bad ones. Often, the difference is enormous.
These mysteries are especially big on two streaming networks (Acorn and Britbox), two cable channels (Ovation and Hallmark Mystery) and many Sundays on PBS. But they also reach further.
In recent years, some of the best have been on Peacock (“Poker Face”), Netflix (the “Knives Out” films), Hulu (“Only Murders in the Building”), CBS (“Elsbeth”) and Fox (“Murder in a Small Town”).
What brings it to mind now are two wildly contrasting series on Acorn. “My Life is Murder” is light and bright and pleasant, but with stories that wobble in quality; “Hidden Assets” is dark and deadly, with a smart story that keeps you watching.
The phrase “cozy mystery” has been growing over the past 30 years, but the genre goes back more than a century. Agatha Christie gave us tiny Belgian supersleuth Hercule Poirot in 1920 and mild-mannered Miss Marple in 1927; Dorothy L. Sayers created Lord Peter Wimsey in 1923,
In a recent Emmy Magazine story about Acorn, Margy Rochlin said the current cozies tend to have “bumbling amateur sleuths, unexpected plot twists, eccentric locals and fishy alibis, all unfolding in a bucolic setting.”
(English villages have been especially lethal … topped only by the huge body count in Cabot Cove, Maine, the home of “Murder, She Wrote.”)
Still, let’s not lump too many things together.
Building a story around a village vicar or priest doesn’t automatically make things cozy. It usually does for PBS’ “Grantchester” (which has prospered through three vicars), but Acorn’s “Murder Before Evensong” was a dark tale; even darker was Netflix’s “Knives Out” film, “Wake Up Dead Man.”
At its best, author P.D. James wrote in the companion book (KQED Books, 1996) to PBS’ “Mystery” series, “the mystery tells us a story and provides for us the satisfaction of excitement, suspense and vicarious danger. It is no wonder that this popular form, at once cerebral and strongly visual, should be so successful on television.”
Her novels gave PBS some of its smartest mysteries. Now they do the same for Acorn, with “Dalgliesh.”
That’s one of several sharp, smart mysteries in Acorn’s library. Others include “Signora Volpe,” “Midsomer Murders,” “The Chelsea Detective,” “Murder at Evensong” and “Bloodlands.”
But Acorn also has weaker shows (flimsy plots, unforced confessions, etc.) that try to exist on charm alone. That includes “Madame Blanc Mysteries,” “Recipes for Love and Murder,” “Art Detectives,” “Darby and Joan” and “Mrs. Sidhu Investigates.” It sort of includes “Murdoch Mysteries,” a sweetly benign Canadian tale that exists on both Ovation and Acorn.
Some Acorn shows are so bright-eyed that we keep tolerating so-so stories. “Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries” was a prime example; current ones include Jane Seymour’s “Harry Wild” and, especially, “Murder is My Life.”
The latter spent its first year in Australia, then moved to New Zealand, the native land of its star, Lucy Lawless.
There, the backdrops are sunny, the clothes are colorful and the architecture is gorgeous. We like Lawless and her co-star (Ebony Vagulans, they’re shown here) enough to follow them anywhere … which is sometimes a chore.
This season’s first story (a cheer-team coach) and fourth one (Jan. 26, a trivia night) are especially weak. Four others are OK and the closing two-parter is fairly good.
That wraps up on Feb. 23, the same day Acorn concludes its “Hidden Assets” season. There’s nothing cozy here — “Assets” has close-up murders, tortures and more — but there is a terrific story.
It centers on an Irish squad assigned to recover stolen money. The story splits Detective Sergeant Wallace and her team into two locations — at home and in Spain — while two nasty cases blend into one.
Wallace is an unbending force, working with two guys — one supportive, one not — and maybe the greatest forensic accountant in TV history. It’s a stark, smart mystery — without a touch of coziness.