British Network Television & Radio
Who murdered D.I. Richard Poole?
‘Death in Paradise’: S3.E1. “Death of a Detective”…
Detective Sergeant Camille Bordey, Sergeant Fidel Best, and Officer Dwayne Myers, noting Detective Inspector Richard Poole is attending a university reunion, ponder the nation that they should rescue the D.I. from his friends.
Angela Birkett, Roger Sadler, James Moore, and Sasha Moore, along with Poole, were all university friends back in the day. Birkett, desperately wanting to reconnect with Poole after all these years, manipulated the others into having a reunion on Saint Marie.
Birkett knew, if they were aware Poole was on the island, there was no way any of them would have signed off on her Saint Marie trip. Obviously, if Birkett hadn’t insisted on the four of them being on Saint Marie for the reunion, Poole wouldn’t have been murdered. Poole had been stabbed to death with an ice pick.
Bordey’s reaction to seeing Poole dead, devastated being an understatement, is extremely moving. Suggestion has been made, whilst Bordey and Poole didn’t get off on the right foot, the detective sergeant had developed feelings for Poole. Sergeant Fidel Best’s deadpan facial expression, with him obviously trying to keep his emotions in check, tells us all what we need to know.
Saint Marie Police Commissioner Selwyn Patterson, knowing how everyone must feel about Poole’s murder, suggests calling in help from London.
It’s not long before Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman arrives on the island. Poole, after solving Detective Inspector Charlie Hulme’s murder, had become part of the metaphorical furniture in the police station’s everyday life. Goodman, some three years later, is sent from London to the island to investigate Poole’s murder.
The team, initially finding Goodman a tad odd, aren’t really on board with the way the newly arrived detective inspector does things. Bordey, Best, and Myers, especially the detective sergeant, miss Poole and his policing techniques. Goodman falling out of an open window doesn’t exactly endear him to the team.
Goodman, because of how close Bordey, Best, and Myers were to Poole, takes the lead on the investigation. The detective inspector, getting down to business, soon discovers there had been a rift existing between Roger Sadler and Poole for over 25 years. Goodman, initially feeling he could be on the right track, questions Sadler. Sadler, as Goodman quickly deduces, isn’t the murderer.
A box of Poole’s things suddenly arrives from London. The detective inspector hadn’t said anything to the team about expecting a package. Poole, in a conversation with his mother, had requested she send him a few of his things from his university days.
Goodman, after looking through Poole’s old photographs, finds a significant clue and subsequently solves the case. The incoming detective inspector, recognising Poole as the exceptional detective he was, credits his late predecessor with solving his own murder.
“You know, bizarrely, I’m the only one who never met Richard Poole. But during this case, I-I feel as if I’ve got to know him, a little — mostly by the effect he had on those around him. But it seems we all forgot one very crucial thing: he was a detective, a good one” Goodman said.
“Now I think he made a discovery, had a theory about what he discovered, and then sent home for evidence to corroborate that theory. And in doing so, he has, in essence, solved his own murder.”
Bordey, Best, and Myers, finally recognising him for the detective inspector he is, are grateful for all Goodman’s efforts. All’s well that ends well. Not quite. Goodman, on a more personal note, finds himself heartbroken when his wife calls him. She, rather than joining him on Saint Marie, has decided to end their marriage.
Music Used in Cilla Ware’s “Death of a Detective”…
- The Law performed by Andy Capp
- Come Back performed by Byron Lee & The Dragonaires (featuring Stranger & Patsy)
- Jamaica Ska performed by Byron Lee & The Dragonaires
- Silly Games performed by Janet Kay
- Help Me Make It Through The Night performed by John Holt
- You’re Wondering Now performed by The Skatalites (featuring Doreen Schaeffer)
- Return of Django performed by The Upsetters