by Lorie Lewis Ham
Whitstable Pearl Season 3
Whitstable Pearl stars Kerry Godliman as Pearl Nolan who owns a restaurant she named Whitstable Pearl. Her mother, Dolly, helps out, and they have a young chef named Ruby. Pearl also has her own private investigation firm—she used to be with the police until she got pregnant and had her son Charlie who has gone away to Canada to spend some time with his father. DCI Mike McGuire (Howard Charles) has become a good friend, even if they do butt heads at times. There was a hint of a romance earlier on, but it didn’t end up happening and now Pearl is dating Tom, a quirky local teacher.
The third season sees Tom deciding he is ready for something more, but does Pearl still have feelings for Mike? Tom is also producing a community theatre production of The Sound of Music—a storyline that runs through the seasons six new episodes. Pearl starts feeling like something is off with Charlie, so she tracks him down and finds that he has gotten himself into some trouble. I was happy to see Charlie had come back to the show—I really like the actor, Rohan Nedd, who is also in Harry Wild.
The cases this time include the death of a food critic, a missing girl (where Pearl ends up having to work with a psychic), Charlie’s problems, Pearl learning about something dark in Mike’s past, a fun Halloween episode involving ghosts, and the death of a taxi driver.
This is a delightful series set in a charming town on the coast. I enjoy the restaurant side of things along with the mysteries and the possible romance brewing between Pearl and Mike. The show has a cozy feel, but also a bit of police procedural/P.I. feel—it is a nice mix. You can find all three seasons on AcornTV.
The Chelsea Detective Christmas Special
Another AcornTV favorite of mine is The Chelsea Detective and they just posted a Christmas special!
The Chelsea Detective takes place in London’s richest borough, Chelsea, and features DI Max Arnold (Adrian Scarborough from Killing Eve, The King’s Speech, 1917). Max is a bit like someone’s favorite uncle—just the tiniest bit grumpy but still very sweet under the surface. 
Some of his grumpiness can likely be attributed to his off again on again divorce from the love of his life, gallery owner Astrid (Annamaria Marinca). The Christmas special sees them once again trying to figure out whether they can make it work. Thanks to the possible divorce, Max now lives on a houseboat, which he seems to be settled into more now, though he is struggling in this special to decorate it for Christmas.
Max plays the piano, rides to work on his bike, and suffers from dyslexia. Likely due to his dyslexia, he seems to deal more with pictures in solving his cases. He and his work partner, DS Layla Walsh (Vanessa Emme from Bloodlands, A Discovery of Witches), make a really good team.
In this Christmas special, they investigate the murder of singer Chloe Carmichael, whose biggest hit, “Nobody Wants To Be Alone At Christmas”, jumps back to number 1 after her murder.
Much like Whitstable Pearl, The Chelsea Detective falls a bit in the middle between light and fun and more serious when it comes to the case and they can both be found on AcornTV. I love the characters in both of these shows as much as I enjoy the mysteries, and I highly recommend both shows!
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