Carmel Valley

We were checking out at Safeway and the couple behind us were commenting about Chip Gaines of Fixer Upper fame, who is now on the cover of People magazine, with the tag line, “My kids made me a better man.” They seemed somewhat skeptical of this assertion, but what really caught my notice were their accents. They were Australian. I assumed that they were just visiting, but they live in Carmel. We commiserated about the impending golf deluge and we got to regale them with the exploits of our sons. Of which they were suitably impressed, but before long, I was holding up the line and we had to move on.

Chris and my Dad are big fans of British murder mystery TV shows and their current favorite is another Australian import, Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. This is a spin-off of the popular, similarly named mystery series, Miss Fisher. That show was set in 1920s, while this new one is set in the sixties. A niece of the original Miss Fisher carries on the crime solving. I especially love the series’ campy recreation of 1960s pop culture television. The heroine is always galavanting around in her James Bond style Austin Martin convertable and and her wild, beautiful, but completely impractical for crime fighting outfits. Interestingly, each episode features exactly two murders. So, not only do you get to guess who did it, you frequently you also get to guess who’s next.