The Dagger Club is the first episode of the seventeenth series of Midsomer Murders and was originally aired on 28th January 2015.
Suzie Colebrooke is electrocuted by a roulette wheel sent to her house. She was the legal executor and supposed lover of thriller writer George Summersbee whose Jed Dagger novels she also illustrated. At the same time, a newly discovered manuscript by George of an unpublished Dagger story is stolen from Suzie's home. A local crime fiction festival is going on, run by Maggie Markham, whose doctor husband Nick Summersbee has written his brother George's biography whilst George's daughter Bella, rather than estranged wife Jeannie, is his sole heir. Following a second murder, Barnaby finds out that both were copied from killings in a Dagger novel though the victim was a stranger to Suzie. There are a number of people anxious for different reasons to locate the missing manuscript but there are also suggestions that it is a fake. Furthermore there are differing accounts of George's death. Barnaby has to resort to the printed page to solve the mystery of the Dagger club.
Tropes:
- Absurdly High-Stakes Game: Rob Mead, Bella Summersbee's husband, is playing poker in an attempt to win his way out of debts. After going all in, Audrey Braylesford, the woman who holds his gambling debts, goads him into betting more: his share of the bookstore he co-owns, and the missing manuscript. He accepts, and loses. When it turns out he never had the manuscript, Audrey claims Bella's share of the bookstore as well, as recompense.
- Bizarre Gambling Winnings: The Gambling Addict is playing poker in an attempt to win his way out of debts. After going all in, the woman who holds his gambling debts goads him into betting more: his share of the book store he co-owns, and the missing manuscript that is the MacGuffin of the episode. He accepts and loses. When it turns out he never had the manuscript, the woman claims his wife's share of the book store as well, as recompense.
- Dead Artists Are Better: After Suzie Colebrooke is murdered, her dealer immediately triples the price of all of her artworks.
- Faking the Dead: Author George Sommersby faked his own death three years earlier. After those close to him start being murdered, he reappears, only to become the next victim.
- High-Voltage Death: Suzie Colebrooke and Cecilie Petersen are electrocuted by booby-trapped roulette wheels.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: The person with the stolen manuscript tips their hand when they refer to there being 23 murders in the Jed Dagger series. One super-fan checks and comments there are only 20 murders. They were including the three murders in the unpublished manuscript: something only the thief could ave known.
- The Killer Was Left-Handed: From his body, Kate determines that George Sommersby was grabbed from behind with the right hand and stabbed with the left, meaning the killer as almost certainly left handed. During the Summation Gathering, Barnaby tosses the killer a poker chip, which they catch with their left hand.
