A Murder a Day Keeps the Blahs Away

Daily writing prompt

Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?

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I find that ending the day with a good murder mystery just the thing for decompressing and preparing for bed. I have had Britbox and Acorn for a couple of years now with such great shows like Vera and Candace Renoir, but recently I have added Mhz for murder mysteries in France. They mysteries are so good, and what I really like is that in nearly every episode, a woman is the head detective or the boss. The other advantage, or maybe not, is that the series are in French, so I have to stay focused to read the subtitles. Therefore, I am not distracted by the phone or anything else.

For me, this is playtime, because I don’t need to do any work. I don’t try to determine who is the culprit. I just follow the show, and I am 95% of the time surprised by the perpetrator. I think that I like watching these shows because good wins at the end as the culprits are caught and will pay the time for doing the crime. I like for good to win over evil, which doesn’t always happen in real life.

Also, it is like watching When Harry Met Sally or You Got Mail crossed with Midsomer Murders, as the cop teams end up as lovers in about seventy percent of the episodes, after not liking each other in the beginning. So, it’s Hallmark Channel and good old murder in one show. I will admit that I have watched so many episodes that I am starting to hear French in my thoughts, although I can only say thank you, please, and good morning in French.

Lastly, the French murder series allows me to see the places in France I may never visit, such as Aix, Provence, Lille, Strasbourg, and Broceliande. It’s like traveling vicariously through the show. I have been to Paris twice but not in the countryside, which I must fix. The beauty of France amazes me, and I get to see the insides of awe-inspiring churches and walls that are centuries old, two things I love to see when I travel . It’s the same when watching murder mysteries in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, and other places in Europe.

Interestingly, in the murder mysteries across the Atlantic Ocean, very few of the perpetrators are black males or black women, but quite a few of the policemen are blacks. As a black female living in America where black people are rendered as violent and dangerous, the change makes watching murder mysteries a wonderful playtime activity that I enjoy.