Another quaint English town harboring evil

The new secret/crime sequence “Whitstable Pearl” reminds me of a darker variation of “Murder, She Wrote” — with the English seaside town of Whitstable subbing for Cabot Cove and a younger variation of no-nonsense sleuth Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) as its protagonist.

The six-episode Acorn Tv sequence is dependent on Julie Wassmer’s novels and was shot on area in Whitstable, located on the north coastline of Kent. Which is a big boost, because you can almost experience the cold spray mist coming off the North Sea as you get to know every of the significant people. It seriously sets the ambiance.

The sequence revolves all-around Pearl Nolan (Kerry Godliman). She’s the solitary mother of a teenage son, Charlie (Rohan Nedd), and owns the Whitstable Pearl, a local cafe known for its oysters and homey ambiance. She operates the eatery with her brash, opinionated mother, Dolly (Frances Barber).

Pearl is also an ex-cop who remaining the drive following having pregnant with Charlie, and now operates her own personal investigation organization from the cafe. In the premiere, she finds her aged good friend Vinnie — a fisherman who equipped the Whitstable Pearl with oysters — (basically) lifeless-in-the-drinking water.

The case is assigned to DCI Mike McGuire (Howard Charles), a brooding, bearded investigator who a short while ago transferred to Whitstable from London and detests smaller-town lifestyle (“because you have to talk to folks,” he suggests).

He’s hiding some insider secrets of his own, which includes his anguish around the death of his spouse. Pearl (naturally) will get involved in the investigation, which impacts her younger staff, waitress Ruby (Isobelle Molloy) — and, as she will work the case with McGuire and his rough-man facade starts to crack, you can see that their marriage is heading into a closer (romantic?) way.

Each and every episode of “Whitstable Pearl” is near-finished, in the perception that a case is solved, but Vinnie’s death proceeds to reverberate in the proceeding installments, so there’s a bit of continuity. (Episode 2 will involve the tried murder of a genuine estate agent and a Robin Hood-style doling out wads of dollars to locals — we’ll go away it at that.)

Godliman, who co-stars opposite Ricky Gervais in his Netflix sequence “After Life” (in flashbacks as Lisa, his deceased spouse), matches properly into the earth of “Whitstable Pearl” as do her co-stars, who have awesome onscreen chemistry. The sequence comes with an A-checklist pedigree (“Lilyhammer” creator Oystein Karlsen) and moves along at a brisk pace towards a picturesque backdrop reminiscent of other British crime exhibits (most notably “Broadchurch”).

Why these quaint coastal cities feel to every have an evil underbelly continues to be a secret — but I’m glad that, at the very least in Whitstable, Pearl Nolan is striving to fix individuals dilemmas, one case at a time.