There are always secrets in a small town, yet someone always spills them to the wrong person. FOX’s Murder in a Small Town has all the elements of the perfect murder mystery. However, since it is co-produced by Canada’s Sepia Films, it is not as gruesome as some U.

S. procedurals. Murder in a Small Town Season 1 Episode 1 opened with the murder scene.

In many ways, their format reminded me of another Canadian procedural –Motive — but the suspect wasn’t as clear this time. The series premiere was adapted from L. R.

Wright’s initial Karl Alberg novel, “The Suspect. ” While it wasn’t a carbon copy, many details were similar. Since I guessed who the suspect was fairly early on, Murder in a Small Town focused more on the motive.

There was something off about George Wilcox (James Cromwell) right away. Understandably, finding your elderly neighbor dead could rattle you, but he seemed like he was hiding something. At first glance, George appeared like a kind gentleman who checked on his neighbor occasionally.

He had an affinity for gardening and reading and was fond of Cassandra ( Kristin Kreuk ). We later learned Cassandra looked similar to his dead sister, Audrey, which explained part of it. Interestingly, Carlyle Burke wasn’t a kind elderly man that anyone missed.

Even his sister seemed detached and estranged but dropped the juicy tidbit that George and Carlyle knew each other for years. Carlyle had married George’s sister Audrey, and then she died in an accid.