Midsomer Murders - Shot At Dawn [DVD]

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At the family home of actor Larry Smith in the village of Upper Warden, a crowd has gathered to watch the promotion for the sequel to his hit film, 'The House of Satan', when Larry walks into a summer house on the grounds that suddenly explodes. Soon afterwards her cousin, Esslyn Carmichael ( Nicholas Le Prevost), inadvertently cuts his own throat on stage during the final act of an amateur production of Amadeus. Miss Townsend had angered many, and received death threats after being blamed for the death of a local tenant. Master beekeeper Ambrose Deddington attributes his survival from a life-threatening cancer to a combination of Apley Gold and bee venom. The Wild West Society bring their show to Ford Florey, comprising a fairground, and several re-enactments of scenes from American frontier history.

The investigation reveals two very insular communities wedded to ancient traditions and suspicious of outsiders. Meanwhile a series of mysterious rope thefts occur around the village, and an attempt is made on Tom's life. Laurel Newman is found murdered on the night of her wedding to Gavin Webster, son of Sarah Barnaby's old friend Hazel. Emily’s sister, Doreen Beavis, and witnesses Colin and Christine Cooper ( Imelda Staunton), may hold the key to the case.

There is a full moon over Little Worthy at Halloween and the people in the area are thrilled when local photographer Steve Skelton wins a competition in the village with his own creation of the Wolf Hunter. DCI Barnaby, assisted by new DS Nelson, arrives in the village of Morton Shallows to investigate the death of furniture maker and local philanderer Conor Bridgeman during a ghost-hunting party at the local Manor House. He had been shot with a shotgun using an elaborately rigged wire leading from his foot to the trigger. The following day, photographer Lionel Bell is found murdered in woodland, strangled with the cord of his light meter. As the competition unfolds on the village green, one of the judges is poisoned and killed, but it seems the unknown killer may have intended the poison for another victim.

Nosy village resident Iris Rainbird ( Elizabeth Spriggs), who spies on her fellow villagers from a high vantage point in her house, may be a key witness, but she and her eccentric son Dennis ( Richard Cant) soon fall victim to the killer themselves.

The identities and history of many of the characters must be unravelled before the detectives arrive at the truth.

Alexander was known as an unpopular landlord in the village, and is discovered to be an estranged husband who had betrayed his wife for a new lover known as Holly Ackroyd. Dudley Carew, an eccentric conspiracy theorist in the nearby village, tells the detectives to focus their investigation on the school and the Pudding Club in particular. Kenneth Gooders ( Jonathan Coy), the solicitor handling the estate, is also killed when his large drinks cabinet topples over and crushes him. Lower Pampling sees a cricket tournament with a new format that controversially breaks with tradition. The first murder seems to be the end of it, but when Emani Taylor, the woman responsible for the new brewery, is also murdered, Barnaby and Winter must look deeper to find the killer.Amateur Operatic Society, The Midsomer Mummers, are busy rehearsing for their charity concert, The Pirates of Penzance, when the body of an unknown man, later identified as Vince Summersby, is found in their theatre. Meanwhile, the local vicar, the Reverend Conrad Walker, is appalled at plans to revive an ancient fertility rite known as 'The Stag,' and soon afterwards is himself murdered. When Henry is killed—with Duggie's 1916 pistol—and an attempt to bomb the elder Lionel Hicks goes awry, Barnaby and Jones have a case to solve. Whilst walking by the riverbank in the manor grounds, Zoe sees a woman jump from the bridge and disappear in the water. Many villagers come under suspicion, and when two more murders echo lyrics from the same song, the detectives need to catch the person responsible.

Barnaby and Winter find themselves with many suspects and motives and work out that the answer lies in the past. Years earlier, the body of a renowned racing car driver had been found at the prestigious Darnley Park Girls School, apparently having committed suicide with a revolver. Nine years after Ferdy Villiers committed suicide at the family home, Draycott Hall, his family gather at the Hall to celebrate Christmas. The astrological sign Scorpio seems to be a common theme of the killings, but Barnaby begins to doubt whether the case is so straightforward.

The detectives need to investigate the school, students and their parents, to uncover a shocking conspiracy linked to Zoe's past.