The sleepy little town of Beavermount, Ontario is one of those picturesque little slices of heaven. The sort of place where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average. It is the last place you’d expect a murder to occur, but that’s precisely what has happened. Scott, Scotty, McDonald was the owner of the local hockey rink. He has been found murdered. Specifically, run-over by the Zamboni. Frenchie, the sole Quebecois in town, is the Zamboni driver. He’s just become the prime suspect in the investigation. Frenchie has to clear his Quebecois name, and get the ice ready in time for the night’s hockey game. It’s a story of small towns, hockey, Stubbies, smelts, and a very Canadian murder mystery.
Sorry About the Murder is created by Drew Frohmann. He is also the creator of Human B-Gon. Naturally, this means that Sorry About the Murder is a member of the Fable & Folly podcast network. As such, it is time for another podcast roll call. Other members of the Fable & Folly family include show such as Hannahpocalypse, Harlem Queen, We Fix Space Junk, Alba Salix, The Carlötta Beautox Chronicles, Spaceships, Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature, and Who is Cam Candor?
Sorry About the Murder is a loving spoof of True Crime podcasts. I also detect hints of Lake Wobegon from A Prairie Home Companion. Though, perhaps this could be incidental. Minnesota has always had a bit of a Canadian character to it. And this audio drama proudly wears its Canadian influences on its sleeve. It lovingly pokes fun at numerous Canadian stereotypes. Fear not, you don’t have to be Canadian to enjoy this audio drama. Sorry About the Murder does a good job of letting the listener in on all of the jokes in a way that feels organic. In fact, you might learn a thing or two about Canada. Or rather, how Canada makes fun of itself.
We learn that Scotty was holding his Stubby upright when he died. You know, just as any good Canadian would. Also, Stubby is slang for beer, because several Canadian beers come in stout bottles. Beavermount is also home to an annual smelt festival. Fried smelts are a popular dish in Atlantic Canada. Well, for the most part. I remember watching MasterChef Canada, and one of the contestants was excited to cook with smelts. Unfortunately, he made what amounted to smelt chicken nuggets. Alvin Leung really did not hold back with how disappointed he was.
In other references, McDonald and MacDonald are both considered stereotypically Canadian last names. Sir John Alexander MacDonald was Canada’s first prime minister. I do on occasion get mistaken for Canadian due to having some many friends in the Canadian audio drama scene. Though, my last name certainly doesn’t help dissuade that notion. Also, I won’t give it away, but the importance of politeness plays a major role in the plot. Specially, the importance of always saying sorry. And not just in the title of the audio drama.
However, I do have to ding Sorry About the Murder for some rather glaring omissions. Where were the ketchup chips? Why did nobody eat Kraft Dinner? And come to think of it, there wasn’t a single reference to Tim Horton’s. I mean, it seriously strains credibility that Beavermount would have at least one Tim Horton’s. This paragraph was a joke, in case it wasn’t obvious.
So, let's now talk aboot the colorful cast of characters. Frenchie is our main character, and is notable for being the only character not voiced by the narrator. Frenchie is voiced by Jeff Tremblay, who really is from Quebec. The narrator is voiced by Tom Goudie. I suppose they had they narrator voice everyone to really give it that Prairie Home Companion feel. I don’t know enough about True Crime to tell if that’s a trope.
Frenchie is quite possibly the most intelligent person in all of Beavermount. And by that, I mean that he actually has common sense. He often muses about the wise words of his grandfather from rural Quebec. It helps that Chieficer Dougie, the closest thing Beavermount has to law enforcement, is easily distracted by sweets. Dougie is cut from the same cloth as lawmen such as Barney Fife and Chief Wiggum. But hey, he’s still a pretty swell guy. In fact, he’s such a polite Canadian, he even takes Frenchie out for bear claws on the way to the station. And he’s more than willing to go on as many detours as Frenchie requests. At times it almost feels like a buddy cop show.
There’s plenty of quirky townsfolk. For example, there’s a group of sextuplets who are produce farms running a protection racket. Nobody sells produce in Beavermount without their approval. Oh, and they all have male names, despite all being women. Then there’s the members of the local Ojibwe tribe. They recently scored a major land settlement with the government. Thanks to reparations, each member of the tribe is a millionaire with plenty of dough to spend. And then there’s the annual smelt festival were…well, let’s just say that shooting fish in a barrel has some slightly different connotations in Beavermount
Honestly, with all of the quirky townsfolk, Sorry About the Murder feels kind of like a slice of life audio drama at times. It does have a cozy feeling, and the murder mystery doesn’t detract from that. It almost feels like a parody of one of those mystery movies from The Hallmark Channel. Well, maybe not quite like that. There’s not enough handsome salt-of-the-earth widower Christmas tree farmers.
It appears we will be getting a season two, and Frenchie will have another murder on his hands. I always wonder, in show like Grantchester and Murder, She Wrote, how the small towns maintain a stable population despite all the murders. To be fair, it does tend to be the come from aways who tend to get murdered in those shows. I suppose Sorry About the Murder will wrestle with this issue as well.
So, there you have it. Sorry About the Murder is farcical, cozy, and true crime inspired. But above all else, it is very Canadian. It is another great audio drama from the creator of Human B-Gon. You don’t have to be Canadian to enjoy it, but that certainly doesn’t hurt either.
Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
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