Food for Murder

Damn, am I going to have to get an Acorn subscription now? Because I am being thrifty as possible now, I took full advantage of a free Acorn trial I had this weekend and watched the entire first season of “Recipes for Love and Murder.” I already mentioned how thankful I was to stumble upon it before the holiday weekend. But now, after watching the show’s entire first season, I can confidently say I think this show was possibly custom-made for me. Like, for real. It’s almost creepy.

Why do I like this show? Let me count the ways. It’s a crime series (a local woman is found murdered). It’s got a talented female lead (“Orphan Black” alum Maria Doyle Kennedy). It’s got a foreign setting (in this case rural South Africa). It has a diverse and likable ensemble (I realize the racial politics of a South African series may be fraught, so I will let others with more expertise comment on how well that portrayal was made on screen). It’s got a lot of cooking (seriously, at times it’s like GBBO but with murder). And, extra special bonus points, it’s about a writer (ink-stained wretch solidarity forever).

I appreciate the show’s laid-back approach to murder and mayhem, complete with cast of small-town oddballs. I also appreciate the “Murder She Wrote” crossed with “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” and “Dear Abby” aesthetic. Because our heroine is a recipe columnist turned advice columnist (who still uses recipes in her advice) at the small-town paper. And there’s also a mysterious backstory, and who doesn’t love a mysterious backstory?

Also, did I mention there are gays? One of the murdered woman’s best friends/who has an unrequited crush on her is a lesbian and one of the first letters involves a queer male couple. Do they pile on the melodrama and the pathos toward the end? Of course. But by that point you’re invested and did I mention there is cooking in basically every episode?

So, has anyone else found this little gem? And, if I do spring for Acorn, what else is good on there? I see Lucy Lawless has a show on there and, well, I am a gay woman so I probably cannot resist.