“The Brokenwood Mysteries” series has just dropped its 10th season, and an 11th season will be coming next year. This popular series takes place in New Zealand with a fun cast and some interesting murders.

Season 10 brings plenty of murders to the quiet little town of Brokenwood. Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea) and his reliable co-workers Detective Constable Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland) and DC Daniel Chalmers (Jarod Rawiri) are kept busy this season as they face an unusual murder when the town puts on a Day of the Dead festival. Another episode centers on a famous writer who turns up dead during a writing retreat. Those are just two of the six murders during this season.

Besides the murders and police work, this drama has plenty of comic relief. First is the Russian medical examiner. Gina (Cristina Serban Ionda) has a dry wit and an attraction to Shepherd. When a handsome dentist’s wife is murdered, she casually remarks, “Dentists in Russia all look like Herman Munster.” Gina’s attraction to Shepherd is obvious to everyone as she continually ignores them to focus solely on what Shepherd wants.

Another fun character is Frodo (Karl Willetts), who runs the local coffee cart. Frodo is “in the know” about just about everyone in the town and his off-beat charm adds some creativity to the stories. A running theme throughout the episodes is the fact that Sims cannot make a decent cup of coffee. It is atrocious, but her colleagues won’t tell her just how bad it really is. Thank goodness Frodo’s coffee cart is always nearby. And thank goodness when the station seems to be out of coffee beans. Where could they have gone?

The series is set in a fictional North Island New Zealand town and is filmed primarily around Auckland. Knowing the backstories of the characters that have been laid out in the previous nine seasons is not a prerequisite to enjoying season 10. These episodes can stand on their own; however, it is more fun knowing the histories of the characters. For instance, Shepherd has been married several times, and that fun fact pops up throughout the show. He’s a nice guy and someone viewers enjoy watching. A bit quirky, he often talks to the dead victims. He enjoys country music and drives an old 1971 Holden Kingswood classic car, which is his trademark. To say Shepherd is a lovable and affable police detective is putting it mildly.

Sims is more by-the-book, but in the latest seasons she is taking on more of Shepherd’s easy-going traits. And Chalmers adds the native Māori touch to the team, which comes in handy when they have to interact with those who speak the Māori, or te reo, language.

Rea has said Brokenwood “is incredibly beautiful” and “is a town that you would love to live in but you’d be scared to die in.” He describes the characters in the town as “quirky or kind of colorful.”

The episodes are about an hour and a half in length, with the initial six seasons only producing four episodes each. They have expanded to six episodes with each episode being a complete story. This is a great series to binge during a weekend. Grab some popcorn and watch as Shepherd and his team solve the mysterious murders.

“The Brokenwood Mysteries” is an engaging New Zealand drama that streams on Acorn TV.

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