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"Nolo Contendere" is the first episode of ninth season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the one hundred-fifteenth episode of the series. It first aired on October 5, 2015.

Summary

George Crabtree is in prison for the murder of Archibald Brooks. When an inmate claiming to know something about Edna Brooks is killed, Crabtree worries that she may be in danger. Murdoch looks into a break-in at her house that may have been perpetrated by Edna herself.

In the Season 9 premiere, as former Constable George Crabtree serves hard time for the murder of Edna Brooks’ abusive husband, Murdoch and Higgins visit Edna’s old apartment, the site of a recent burglary. Murdoch is convinced that something of significance has changed and takes a series of photographs to compare them with the ones taken earlier at the crime scene.

Back at Don Jail, the murder of a fellow inmate named Foster who had warned Crabtree that people were looking for Edna prompts George to reach out to Murdoch for the first time. Crabtree shares his findings: Foster was in the same regiment as Archibald Brooks, they share a regimental tattoo and he was asking Edna's whereabouts. Foster’s murder may have something to do with Archibald Brooks. Though Edna may be in danger, George still doesn’t reveal her whereabouts to Murdoch. Murdoch assures George that he will look into the matter. The search for cues to how the burglary and the prison murder are connected to Brooks, providing the critical evidence to exonerate George, begins.

From within Don Jail, Crabtree and former Chief Constable Giles work together on a simple, yet clever, scheme to get fellow inmates’ to play against one another to find out who killed Foster. The trick is to measure the deviation between the expected and the empirical results to find an anomaly, which turns out to be Pearson– who was hired to kill Foster.

Murdoch, Dr. Ogden and Inspector Brackenreid work to untie a knot of evidence, old and new, involving a raw diamond, assumed identities, bicycle grease, Roquefort cheese, a bloody scarf, and murderous army buddies, while prime suspects remain elusive or dead.

Finally, George admits to Murdoch that he did not kill Archibald Brooks and where Edna is hiding. Both thinking that the other had killed Brooks, they kept their silence. Reunited with George, Edna tells him that Simon ran away thinking she had killed his father. Since George had wiped all finger marks that could have proven them both innocent, Murdoch re-examines all the evidences to determine the identity of the real killer.

Character Revelations

  • Dr. Grace decides to move to London with Lillian Moss "in three weeks and one day". George tells her "It's a good sign", that she's counting the days.

Continuity

Historical References

  • This episode takes place in Toronto 1903 – Edward VII (Albert Edward;1841-1910) is King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas.
  • The original Mercator projection is a cylindrical map projection presented by the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, because of its ability to represent lines of constant course it was used for nautical purposes.
  • The Second Boer War (1899-1902).
  • "Blood" diamonds of South Africa.
  • Roquefort is a sheep milk blue cheese from the south of France (Roquefort-su-Soulzon was granted monopoly in 1411) and is one of the world's best known blue cheeses.
  • In 1887, Louis Pasteur and Jules Francois Joubert observed that cultures of the anthrax bacilli, when contaminated with molds, became inhibited. Some references say that Pasteur identified the strain as Penicillium notatum, the source of several β-lactam antibiotics, most significantly penicillin.

Trivia

  • In comparing the difference in the crime scene photos of Edna's apartment, Julia remarks, "Spot the difference. What fun! They could make a game of this."
  • Filmed near the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir and the old Main Plant of Dofasco, a steel company based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.  An old mill site in Guelph, Ont., was transformed into the Don Jail.

Errors

  • Julia references penicillin in her examination of the mold, but penicillin was not discovered until 1928. The name of the mold in blue cheese is penicillium.

Cast

Main Cast

Yannick Bisson as Detective William Murdoch
Hélène Joy as Dr. Julia Ogden
Thomas Craig as Inspector Thomas Brackenreid
Jonny Harris as Constable George Crabtree
Georgina Reilly as Emily Grace

Recurring Cast

Lachlan Murdoch as Constable Henry Higgins
Kristian Bruun as Constable Slugger Jackson
Nigel Bennett as former Chief Constable Giles
Sara Mitich as Lillian Moss
Tamara Hope as Edna Brooks (née Garrison)
Percy Hynes-White as Simon Brooks
David Miller as Archibald Brooks

Guest Cast

Tony Munch as Julian Foster
James Cade as Ted
Luis Fernandes as Lester
Brian Bisson as Pearson
Brett McCaig as Guard One
Tim Finnigan as Guard Two
Lorne Hunter as Betting Prisoner
Jennifer Higgin as Mrs. Pearson
Kimberley Shoniker as Mrs. Roper
Kyle Mtichell as Mr. Suffock
Brayden Jones as Joseph Pringle

Gallery


Murdoch Mysteries Season 9
"Nolo Contendere" • "Marked Twain" • "Double Life" • "Barenaked Ladies" • "24 Hours Til Doomsday" • "The Local Option" • "Summer of '75" • "Pipe Dreamzzz" • "Raised On Robbery" • "The Big Chill" • "A Case of The Yips" • "Unlucky In Love" • "Colour Blinded" • "Wild Child" • "House of Industry" • "Bloody Hell" • "From Buffalo With Love" • "Cometh the Archer"
Season 1Season 2Season 3Season 4Season 5Season 6Season 7Season 8Season 9Season 10Season 11Season 12Season 13Season 14Season 15
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