British Murder Mystery On A&E; Makes Smart, Crisp Television

With the big commercial networks mired in the summer doldrums, it’s up to the cable networks to provide us with the best first-run viewing and A&E comes through tonight with a provocative new British murder mystery called “Kiss and Tell.”

A considerable cut above the usual murder mystery, this two-hour movie provides insight into the psychological pressures on police detectives gathering evidence on a man who may be a serial killer.

Daniel Craig plays Detective Kearney, whose career is teetering because of his impatience with building the sort of case that will stand up in court. His tendency to rush to judgment has compromised too many recent cases and he’s been put on notice that he’s down to his last straw with the department.

Kearney hopes he can redeem himself by proving that the disappearance of a local woman named Barbara (Gillian Bevan) is really a homicide by her husband, Graham (Peter Howitt), a sales rep whose route takes him through the same general area where several other women have disappeared over the past few years.

Though some of the missing women have been found murdered, no evidence has ever been found linking them to Graham. Another suspect has been questioned several times, but no charges have been brought.

Kearney has limited time and one nearly overwhelming obstacle: Barbara’s body has not been found.

Kearney is convinced Graham got rid of her because neighbors heard the couple quarreling the night before she disappeared. He also has a gut instinct that the placid Graham has been lying to him.

Kearney involves Jude (Rosie Rowell), an undercover police detective, in a plan to trip Graham up. Using a false name, she becomes romantically involved with him.

At the heart of “Kiss and Tell” is the light it shines on the duplicity of the police in this kind of investigation. Kearney is so thoroughly convinced of Graham’s guilt that he pushes Jude relentlessly, trying to force her into ever greater intimacies with the suspect, hoping he’ll let something slip about Barbara’s fate while Kearney and others are listening over Jude’s concealed microphone.

But the closer Jude gets to Graham and his children, the less certain she is that what the police are doing is proper. If he’s as guiltless as he seems to be, she is betraying a terribly damaged and grieving man that she has started to care about.

“Kiss and Tell” is crisp and intelligent, with a thoughtful script by Heidi Thomas and brisk direction by David Richard.

It is a jewel in what appears to be a sparkling summer of A&E original mysteries.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TV PREVIEW “Kiss and Tell” airs from 8-10 and 11-1 tonight on A&E, cable channel 34 on Spokane’s TCI Cable.