The big reveal of how the victims are connected is quite complicated but well thought out and it's one of those episodes where you'll never guess the motives but it all makes perfect sense in the end. Like many Midsomer episodes it's got to do with the sins of previous generations that have a bearing on the present.
SPOILERS FOLLOW: I'm adding this because I'm always looking for a quick recap but can never find anything.
The killer is posh heir Grahame Tranter. His mother, Marcia, knew her husband was impotent so she had James Fitzroy, who was in love with her, murder him. James paid for an old man who had helped him bury the body to be cared for at a luxurious old-age home in return for his silence.
Marcia had an affair with an actor who looked a lot like her husband and he is Grahame's father. Marcia created the illusion that her husband had left her by getting the actor who looked like him to pose for a private eye's picture at a cafe in Antwerp so there would be a sighting of him.
The problem was that if anyone found out Grahame was illegitimate they would lose the estate and it would go to a cousin, Henry Carstairs. So when the actor turned up again, now as an old tramp living in the woods, and started blackmailing Grahame with naked pictures of Marcia, Grahame murdered him. When Grahame was rifling through the tramp's things in the woods to find the pictures Ben Gurdie - father of Billy the young troublemaker who was arrested for the tramp's murder by overeager detective Ron Pringle - stumbled upon Grahame and so had to be killed.
Grahame was madly in love with his indifferent wife, Kate, who was having an affair with layabout Dave Hedges and planning to leave Grahame and take their son along. Ron retired after arresting Billy and was eager to become part of the posh fox-hunting set so attended a party at the Tranters' estate. While looking for a bathroom he went into the garden where he witnessed Kate and Dave in flagrante. Because Grahame couldn't bear that Ron had seen Kate like that he also had to go.
SPOILERS FOLLOW: I'm adding this because I'm always looking for a quick recap but can never find anything.
The killer is posh heir Grahame Tranter. His mother, Marcia, knew her husband was impotent so she had James Fitzroy, who was in love with her, murder him. James paid for an old man who had helped him bury the body to be cared for at a luxurious old-age home in return for his silence.
Marcia had an affair with an actor who looked a lot like her husband and he is Grahame's father. Marcia created the illusion that her husband had left her by getting the actor who looked like him to pose for a private eye's picture at a cafe in Antwerp so there would be a sighting of him.
The problem was that if anyone found out Grahame was illegitimate they would lose the estate and it would go to a cousin, Henry Carstairs. So when the actor turned up again, now as an old tramp living in the woods, and started blackmailing Grahame with naked pictures of Marcia, Grahame murdered him. When Grahame was rifling through the tramp's things in the woods to find the pictures Ben Gurdie - father of Billy the young troublemaker who was arrested for the tramp's murder by overeager detective Ron Pringle - stumbled upon Grahame and so had to be killed.
Grahame was madly in love with his indifferent wife, Kate, who was having an affair with layabout Dave Hedges and planning to leave Grahame and take their son along. Ron retired after arresting Billy and was eager to become part of the posh fox-hunting set so attended a party at the Tranters' estate. While looking for a bathroom he went into the garden where he witnessed Kate and Dave in flagrante. Because Grahame couldn't bear that Ron had seen Kate like that he also had to go.