The Killings at Badger's Drift

The Killings at Badger's Drift (1987) is a mystery novel by English writer Caroline Graham, the first in her Chief Inspector Barnaby series. In 1997, it was adapted as the pilot of Midsomer Murders, a popular ITV television series based on Graham's books. The story has also been named as one of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time.

Plot summary

In the tranquil village of Badger's Drift, the elderly Miss Bellringer insists that her friend, Emily Simpson, did not die of a heart attack as her doctor claims, but was in fact murdered. An autopsy soon proves her right, as a deadly mix of red wine and hemlock is found in the dead woman's system. While the village descends into panic, the elusive murderer strikes again, claiming the life of sly Mrs. Rainbird, before callously leaving her bloodied corpse to be discovered by her son Dennis, a local undertaker.

As Barnaby investigates, aided and abetted by his narrow-minded Sgt. Gavin Troy, he uncovers a sinister connection between an older crime and the current killings at Badger's Drift.

Differences in television adaptation

On the screen, Emily Simpson's death is made more violent. Instead of being poisoned, as she is in the novel, her neck is broken with a crowbar.

In the novel, only Mrs Rainbird is killed and her son Dennis discovers her body. In the adaptation, both are murdered.

Filming

The Killings at Badger's Drift was filmed from 9 September to 10 October 1996 in the following locations:

1. Amersham, Buckinghamshire

2. Bledlow, Buckinghamshire

3. Brighton, Sussex

4. Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

5. Christmas Common, Oxfordshire

6. The Lee, Buckinghamshire

7. Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire

8. New Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

Plot Conclusion

Whilst in the woods to photograph a rare orchid, elderly spinster Emily Simpson witnesses something that so traumatises her she immediately rushes back to her cottage. Shortly afterwards there is a knock on her door and the following morning her dead body is discovered.

Barnaby and Troy arrive in Badger's Drift to investigate. When the autopsy confirms their suspicions that Emily was murdered they attempt to trace her last movements, discovering she rang the local helpline in a very distressed state but all she said to the operator was "just like Annabella".

The detectives commence interviewing local villagers including Dr. and Mrs. Lassiter (who clearly have a less than harmonious marriage), their daughter Judy and the somewhat camp and rather obnoxious undertaker, Dennis Rainbird and his equally sinister mother. The 'Rainbirds' owe much of their affluent lifestyle to a sideline of spying on the indescretions of villagers and blackmailing them.

Eventually enquiries lead Barnaby to Tye House to question its wealthy, but wheelchair bound, owner Henry Trace and his sister-in-law Phyllis Cadell. Barnaby suspects there may be a link to Emily's call to the helpline and a hunting accident two years earlier in which Henry's first wife 'Bella' was shot. Trace is now preparing to marry his ward, the much younger Catherine Lacey who lives with her artist brother Michael, with whom she has a somewhat volatile relationship.

Events, however, take a dramatic turn when the Rainbirds are hacked to death by an unseen killer. Notebooks found in their cottage reveal the extent of their blackmail. Victims include the Lassiters and, more importantly, Phyllis Cadell, whom they thought had murdered Bella Trace.

Confronted with this evidence Phyllis is arrested and freely confesses to the murder but denies killing the Rainbirds.

Barnaby is far from convinced about the hunting death and when an eye witness reports seeing Michael Lacey enter the Rainbirds' cottage at the time of their deaths he and Troy conduct a search of Michael's studio finding a bloodstained knife. Lacey is taken into custody but later claims he was with Judy Lassiter at the time. When she confirms his alibi Barnaby has no choice but to release him. Meantime Phyllis Cadell commits suicide in the police cells much to Barnaby's dismay.

Lucy Bellringer tells Barnaby and Troy that Michael and Katherine Lacey had a nanny (their parents died in a car crash) called Mary Sharpe. Barnaby and Troy visit her in Brighton, and she explains how she'd been with Michael and Katherine for nine years, until one night when she caught them having incestuous sex. Whilst returning to Badger's Drift, Troy realizes what Emily Simpson saw in the woods was Michael and Katherine 'at it'. Katherine then killed Emily so she wouldn't tell anyone, but not before Emily called the local helpline and, without disclosing what she had seen, remarked that it was "just like Annabella".

When Katherine visited the Rainbirds' house, she wore a raincoat, a cap and carried a large basket. David Whitely drove by, mistaking Katherine to be Michael. Katherine killed the Rainbirds because of their blackmail involvement, then put the knife, the cap and the blood-soaked overalls into the basket, which Barnaby and Troy had seen at Tye House. Barnaby curiously saw it as 'a very big basket, for very few mushrooms'. What the Rainbirds' cleaner, Anne Quine, saw was Katherine leaving the Rainbirds' house, not arriving, which was what she was meant to see. Katherine put the knife in Michael's art studio, as he'd set himself up with the perfect alibi — Judith Lassiter's portrait, making it look as if he was guilty when he was the only person who couldn't have done it.

During the shooting two years previously, what Phyllis Cadell saw was Bella Trace talking to Michael Lacey. What she didn't realize was that Michael was separating Bella from the group, setting her up to be shot. Phyllis thought she'd killed Bella, but when she fired, she missed and Bella tripped over a root at that very moment. Phyllis ran back to Tye House, and a few minutes later, Michael took Bella aside again as Katherine shot her from the bushes. Michael ran back to Tye house to delay the ambulance as long as possible. Katherine also doubled back to the house, in time to make it look as if she'd there at the time of the shooting. Before the wedding, Mary telephones Michael and tells him that the Police are coming for him and Katherine. Michael and Katherine go to the woods and commit suicide with a double-barrel shotgun. At Michael's house, Barnaby reveals the painting that Michael had been working on. Later, Barnaby attends his daughter's performance of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and realizes that Emily's allusion to "Annabella" was a reference to the character in the play, where she is in an incestuous relationship with her brother.

Reviews

Graham makes the characters humanly believable in her witty and tragic novel, a real winner. - Publishers Weekly

Publication

• United Kingdom: 1987, Century (imprint of Random House), London, 1987, Hardback, 264 p., ISBN 0712617442.
• United States: 1988, Adler & Adler, Bethesda, Maryland, 1988, Hardback, 264 p., ISBN 0917561414.
• Reprint: 2005, Felony & Mayhem Press, United States, 2005, trade paperback, xiv, 272 p., ISBN 978-1-933397-04-7

References

http://midsomermurders.org/badgersdrift2.htm