This episode opens at a party in a large house on an island for wealthy board game creator Victor Karras. We see a couple arguing, the man storms out of the room followed by the woman he argued with. Moments later he is dead and the woman is stating that she didn't do it; luckily a detective is present to solve the crime... except there was no crime as this is part of a murder mystery weekend. As the 'detective' addresses the guests Victor stumbles on the stairs and dies... for real. Soon Barnaby and Winters are on the island to investigate and when a storm washes the ferry away they are trapped there with the party goers... clearly this is going to be a classic country house murder mystery. As they investigate various suspects emerge along with various motives.
This episode was somewhat badly timed as last week ITV aired a new episode of 'Endeavour' where Morse solved a country house mystery... some viewers thought it was too 'Midsomer Murders' but having watched both I think Morse did it better. That said I enjoy the genre so did enjoy this, just a little less so. It started well with the false murder and introduction to the various suspects. What follows is rather fun even many clues will have been solved by the viewers long before Barnaby and Winters think of the solution... of course we were shown certain things that should be too trivial so knew they weren't. The cast is solid, with several well-known actors in guest roles. The setting may be cliché but it works for a murder mystery and while many details are guessable they help the viewer feel smug when they are proved right. Overall a fun mystery.