Meurtre à la kermesse (Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie)

Meurtre à la kermesse is the 5th episode of season 2 of the French TV series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie. It is an adaptation of the Hercule Poirot novel Hallowe'en Party.

Comparison with the original story
This adaptation is fairly faithful to the original novel but with some differences.


 * All the action takes place in Northern France rather than the village of Woodleigh Common like in the original story. The investigators are Commissaire Laurence, his secretary Marlene and reporter Alice Avril.
 * Catherine Dravignan is the local mayoress and parallels Rowena Drake. There is no parallel of Superintendent Spence or Elspeth McKay.
 * Claire Arial is the teacher who saw Dravignan dropping a vase during the kermesse and thus is a parallel of Elizabeth Whittaker. She also has one daughter named Miranda, which is the parallel of Miranda Butler from the original story.
 * Dr Petit is a character who could vaguely be inspired by Dr Ferguson, but with several changes. First, he plays a large role in this adaptation. He wished to become a mayor and thus could have killed Luisa (the name given to Joyce in this adaptation) to frame Catherine Dravignan. Petit also has a wife named Geneviève, who tells Laurence that Olga Seminoff had been one of his patients.
 * Several characters do not have a parallel in the original story. There is one local group of teenagers lead by Benoît, who convinces 'Monsieur Milou' to confess the murder despite being innocent. He is arrested but later let go by Laurence.

Cast

 * Samuel Labarthe as Swan Laurence
 * Blandine Bellavoir as Alice Avril
 * Élodie Frenck as Marlène
 * Anne Lauret as Catherine Dravignan
 * Nicholas Bridet as Xavier Tremens
 * Fred Epaud as Monsieur Milou
 * Jeanne Rosa as Claire Arial
 * Come Levin as Benoît
 * Maryne Berteaux as Miranda
 * Philippe Hérrison as Docteur Petit
 * Isabelle Goethals Carre as Geneviève Petit
 * Dominique Thomas as Ernest Tricard
 * François Godart as Robert Jourdeuil
 * Almudena Ruiz Rey as Maria Ortega
 * Bruno Buffoli as Ophtalmologist
 * Thomas Baelde as Raoul Gredin
 * Madalina Quinchon as Svetlana Navratil
 * Salomé Hadzlik as Luisa
 * Wladimir Sobocinski as Pablo
 * Maelyz Cabezon as Sylvie
 * Eric Beauchamp as Flic Martin
 * Saverio Maligno as Flic Pagès
 * Charlotte Magras as Caroline
 * Jonathan Serrurier as Ami Benoît
 * Thomas Debeugny as Eric

Research notes

 * This is the first episode that Élodie Frenck gets top billing and the graphic of Marlene appears in Laurence's car in the opening animation. Previously Laurence was alone in his car and then the next scene shows Alice on her scooter.

Trivia
A publicitary poster of Dr Petit can be seen in an abandoned factory in the episode Le crime ne paie pas.