Lucy Lawless returns for a fourth season of her hit drama “My Life is Murder” on Acorn TV and BBC America. Lawless plays Alexa Crowe, who loves to bake bread but spends most of her time solving crimes. This private investigator is courageous, witty and cunning. The show and Alexa moved from Australia to New Zealand after the first season so Lawless could be in her home.

Alexa, a retired cop, along with her associate Madison (Ebony Vagulans) are always eager to assist the police when it comes to catching the bad guys.

This season, Alexa and Madison encounter a brutal hairdresser in an upscale salon. Who would pay hundreds of dollars for a simple haircut? You would be surprised. Gaining access to their computer is easy for Madison, a tech genius, and finding out why and how a client ended up dead is just the start to this dramatic season. A side note on this episode: The woman who was killed left her house and her estate to her cat!

Alexa and Madison encounter a seemingly haunted house in which a real estate agent was found dead, a chef who died under mysterious circumstances, a tennis pro whose death appears to be caused by a ball machine, and more. Through all these investigations, Alexa gets some help from her friend Detective Harry Henare (Rawiri Jobe), who often has to get Alexa out of trouble.

In the two-part season finale, someone from her past meets up with Alexa but is soon found dead. The tables are turned when she becomes the prime suspect.

Besides the weekly crimes, the show is like a postcard of Auckland with its beautiful buildings and often breathtaking scenery. The banter between Alexa and Madison is a fun aspect to the stories. They are friends and roommates. But when Madison considers moving out on her own, Alexa discovers the two make a great team and Madison stays where she is comfortable. With her husband deceased, Alexa enjoys having company with her, even though at times it seems Madison might be getting on her nerves. But Alexa is really an easy-going gal and enjoys sleuthing to the hilt. While Madison might be a bit cautious about going into a “haunted house,” Alexa charges right in with a flare for finding the whereabouts of the “ghost.”

Madison also has a flair for sleuthing, albeit in a different way. To solve the murder of the tennis pro, she ends up joining the expensive tennis club. There are no limits to what these two will do to get the murderers.

The fun the characters have while taking on murders makes this a cute show. There are eight episodes in this season. As of this writing, there has not been any mention of a fifth season yet.

Lawless is probably best known as “Xena: Warrior Princess,” a role she had from 1995-2001. Since that time, she has been busy with films, TV series and providing the voices for several animated characters. She won the Saturn Award for best supporting actress on television” for her role in “Spartacus” in 2011, and for Xena she was nominated and won some other awards. Bringing “My Life is Murder” to her home country of New Zealand was a dream come true for her.

“My Life is Murder” Season 4 premiered June 17. It’s definitely a binge-worthy series.

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