Review of Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie

French knockoffs of Hercule Poirot that are not so much done with élan as they are il y a quelque chose qui cloche or that is to say done not quite right. Larosière, Antoine Duléry, is far too smug and if he were a bit more over the top he could be a relative of Inspector Jacques Clouseau. His assistant Lampion, Marius Colucci, is more the forensic expert who picks up the clues and tries to apply modern methods rather than rely on instinct; unfortunately he usually picks the wrong suspect. The crimes are a bit more spectacular and gruesome then in the original stories but I suspect that's a French penchant: try watching the French series Spiral (Engrenages) to see what I mean. Lampion is gay which at times adds an interesting twist to some of the stories. Production vales are very good and the series is worth a watch to see how the stories have been recast. The cast does grow however as Larosière and Lampion become the odd couple or old married couple bickering back and forth. Note, the last episode in the series changes detectives and time periods.