On the beautiful island of Saint Marie you will find: sun, fun, beaches, and murder. Luckily, the cleverest (and quirkiest) Detective Inspectors in Britain have a habit of ending up on the police force here. With a rotating cast which began with Richard, Camille, Fidel and Dwayne, they investigate a new murder every week. Each case has baffling clues and plenty of suspects, but every time the DI figures out who did it in a grand Agatha Christie-style group setting . Death in Paradise is a mega-hit in its native UK and France with a solid fandom in the US as well. So grab your sunscreen, break out the poster boards and grab a drink from Catherine, because we are looking at the best episodes of Death in Paradise.
Arriving in Paradise (season 1 episode 1): The episode where it all started naturally makes the list. When the Detective Inspector in Saint Marie is murdered, London sends the stuffy, fussy, tea-sipping, suit-clad DI Richard Poole to solve the case. He hates everything about island life from the sun to the sand and makes no secret of it. Richard leads officers Fidel and Dwayne into discovering a host of secrets about the victim while in the process starting off on the completely wrong foot with his new partner DS Camille Bordey. By the end of the episode, Richard has solved the perplexing mystery only to learn he has now been permanently assigned to his own relaxing tropical hell.
Predicting Murder (season 1 episode 3): A local voodoo priestess seemingly predicts her own death, but the logic minded Richard opts for a logical explanation. While digging into the dead woman's life, he learned that her daughter was married to the principal of the local school before she disappeared in what was dubbed a "suicide". He knows there has to be a connection between his victim and the smug but intelligent educator. In an ending full of surprises, Richard gets to the bottom of things and in the process solves one of Saint Marie's biggest mysteries.
Spot the Difference (season 1 episode 5): Usually the weekly murder victim on Death in Paradise meets their maker or makeress, the crime takes place elsewhere. But in this episode the victim is actually handcuffed to DI Poole during a prisoner transport, a source of embarrassment to the usually sharp inspector. Commissioner Patterson makes it quite clear if the inspector can not solve this case his career is over. While there are no shortage of people who wanted this man dead, Richard and Camille focus on the murdered man's widow who seems to know more than she is letting on. However when she too is murdered, a new layer of complication is added to the case.
A Dash of Sunshine (season 2 episode 6): A woman on vacation is strangled in her villa and her husband is an old colleague of Richard's from back in London. Given the tense history the two shared, the inspector immediately suspects him of playing a role in his wife's death. Camille believes that Richard's history of being bullied by this man is tainting his perspective, but an identical murder from the past lingers over the case. The fact that those who rented out the villas are acting suspicious and the victim's family fortune is at stake further complicates things.
Death of a Detective (season 3 episode 1): Season 3 opens with a bang when Richard Poole himself is the murder victim. DI Humphrey Goodman is sent to Saint Marie to not only solve the case but also take over the now vacant Detective Inspector position. Initially Camille, Fidel, and Dwayne are skeptical that this clumsy and quirky newcomer can fill Poole's loafers, but he proves to be up to the task, discovering that someone at the university reunion where the murder occurred was not who they seemed. It is here on the island that Humphrey gets the news that his wife is ending things between them meaning he has to start life anew on Saint Marie.
Ye of Little Faith (season 3 episode 4): At a hotel where crews from the various flights lodge at during their travels, a stewardess is found poisoned to death. Amid their field of suspects, Humphrey and Camille discover one of them was having an affair with the murdered woman. The noose tightens around him as all the evidence seems to point towards this man. This just seems a little too convenient, but the only other possible suspect is his jealous girlfriend who is also a flight attendant. But she was 30,000 feet in the air when the murder took place so she could not have possibly done it..... right?
Until Death Do You Part (season 4 episode 4): Through much of his tenure as inspector, Humphrey has dealt with his growing romantic feelings towards Camille. But what will he do when she is up for a job transfer to Paris and he holds the ultimate decision if she gets it or not? He has little time for soul search though, because a bride-to-be is murdered on the morning after her hen party. The other women on the holiday were all supposedly in their respective hotel rooms on the night someone forced her to drown in a bath tub.
A Personal Murder (season 5 episode 4): During his long tenure on the show, Officer Dwayne Myers could be counted on to supply comic relief with his cool, charming and easy-going nature. This episode puts him in the spotlight as a local barber who mentored him seemingly commits suicide. However, a strange text leads the team to look deeper into it and convinces Humphrey that the man was in fact murdered. The suspects were all the victim's lifelong friends who were playin g cards at the time. As the investigation digs deeper it uncovers a secret in their past which may have driven one of them to kill. "A Personal Murder " put a fan favorite character front-and-center allowing actor Danny John-Jules to showcase a deeper side to his character.
Man Overboard Parts 1 &2 (season 6 episodes 5 &6): In the wake of a storm, a charter boat captain is found dead on his boat. While it looks like a weather-relat ed accident, Humphrey discovers it was actually murder. He and DS Florence discover nobody from their current pool of suspects could have done it, but there is something suspicious about a group of London bankers who he dealt with, but they have returned home to the UK by now. This means Humphrey, Florence, and Dwayne have to travel across the Atlantic and join forces with recent widower DI Jack Mooney to uncover a killer. After reuniting with an old girlfriend, Humphrey opts to remain in his hometown , but strings are pulled so that Mooney can begin his own journey as the detective inspector in Saint Marie.
Murder Begins at Home (season 8 episode 8): It was supposed to be a nice horse riding tour through Saint Marie, but it was interrupted by murder. It was supposed to be DS Madeleine _____ last day and it starts with her and Jack being welcomed into the police station by a murdered man who was on a horse ride excursion. How did he get into a locked police station?
Pirates of the Murder Scene (season 9 episode 4): With this episode Jack Mooney becomes the first, and to date only, Detective Inspector to give Saint Marie a proper good-bye.
Today With Tourne (season 10 episode 1): The nervous and allergy-plagued DI Neville Parker kicks off his first season as the lead by facing off against a prime suspect that is one of St. Marie's biggest celebrities. When a reporter is murdered all evidence points to famed TV personality Garfield Tourne. This guy is popular, confident, and charismatic, everything Neville is not. Complicating the case for the new inspector is the fact that DS Florence Cassell has returned to Saint Marie and she is less than confident in her new boss.
Yet untitled(season 10 episodes 5&6): Death in Paradise celebrates a milestone ten seasons with a case filled not only filled with unexpected twists, but made personal when the suspect attacks beloved bar owner Catherine. With her mother hospitalized, Camille Bordey returns to help the latest incarnation of the cast solve this case. A famed piano player is murdered and the finger prints on the gun belong to a friend of his who died 20 years before in an accident Commissioner Selwyn Patterson investigated himself. With so many twists and turns, Neville only has more questions the more he finds out. Meanwhile Camille has to sort out her emotional turmoil, but luckily Richard Poole (in dream sequence) is there to help giving fans the original duo one more time.