Death in Disguise is the fourth episode of the first series of Midsomer Murders and was first broadcast on 6th May 1999.
Ian Craigie is the "master" of a new-age commune. He founded the centre with a partner, Bill Carter, to scam the rich but over time, came to believe in the objectives and the good work they did. When Carter is found dead at the bottom of a staircase, the question is whether he fell or was pushed. DCI Barnaby and DS Troy encounter an eclectic group of commune residents. There is Ken and Heather Beavers whom Barnaby discovers had a very interesting past; Sylvie Gamelin who has just announced that she is donating millions of pounds inheritance she received on her 18th birthday; her father Guy who is absolutely opposed to the donation and her dipsomaniac mother, Felicity; and Christopher Wainwright who may also be hiding something from his past. When another murder is committed, it is left to Barnaby to sift through the backgrounds of the various individuals to find the motive behind the two murders.
Tropes:
- Becoming the Mask: Ian Craigie originally started the place as a scam to fleece gullible new-agers. However, along the way he has started to truly believe in the ideas he is preaching (as well as genuinely caring for the members of the commune) - much to the chagrin of the less-idealistic Bill Carter.
- Death by Falling Over: Bill Carter dies after a Staircase Tumble.
- Discreet Drink Disposal: Barnaby does this with a cup of acorn coffee. Leads to a That Poor Plant moment.
- Knife-Throwing Act: Barnaby is puzzled by how Ian Craigie was stabbed while all of the suspects were on the other side of the room. After a "Eureka!" Moment while watching a game of darts, he realises Ian was killed with a thrown knife, and then learns that one suspect had been a knife-thrower in a circus.
- The Master: Ian Cragie is always referred to as this by the members of his commune, but he's a subversion of the trope. He has nothing but good intentions at heart despite his criminal past, to the point that even Barnaby calls him "a genuinely good man".
- Medication Tampering / Murder by Inaction: Guy Gamelin is killed when the murderer deliberately withholds his heart medication as he is suffering a heart attack.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Tim Riley
- Staircase Tumble: The first Victim of the Week suffers Death by Falling Over after being shoved down a staircase during a struggle (although this was more-or-less an accident).
- That Poor Plant: Barnaby gets rid of a cup of acorn coffee by [[Discreet Drink Disposal pouring it into a pot plant. When he returns on a different day and is offered another cup, he declines, then comments to Troy that the plant looks a bit peaky.
