Amazon.com
American detectives are usually played by tough guys and busty babes, but the British have more esoteric tastes: The sleuths of Rosemary & Thyme are a pair of middle-aged ladies with a horticulture business. Rosemary Boxer (Felicity Kendal, star of the classic Britcom Good Neighbors), a former academic, teamed up with new divorcee (and former policewoman) Laura Thyme (Pam Ferris, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) over a murder case involving poisonous weeds and oozing red sap--plants and murder have been intertwined ever since. A dying lawn leads to a pretty Polish blonde pushed from a roof; while Rosemary tosses off tidbits about Victorian gardening techniques and the Latin name for the early spider orchid, the bones of a buried racehorse reveal other secrets. In one clever episode, flowers are the murder weapon themselves (though to say how would spoil the fun). Some mystery aficionados may find Rosemary & Thyme a bit abrupt; the hour-long format doesn't allow for the elegant unfolding and deft misdirection of an Agatha Christie adaptation. But the interplay between rambunctious Rosemary and pragmatic Laura is addictive, and the suggestion--spoken aloud in one episode, but underlying the entire series--that English flora respond to the evil deeds of humankind lends an almost metaphysical air to the pair's dual pursuits. Gardening fans will also appreciate the many lovely gardens, which the series lovingly displays. --Bret Fetzer