Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials is not the typical Agatha Christie mystery you may love. The plot was less intricate. It was based on one of what Christie referred to as a “light hearted thriller,” a type of writing she began doing late in her career.

Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials does have the mystery icon’s name in the title, though. It probably draws in many viewers just by being there.

Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent (Mia McKenna-Bruce) and her mother Lady Caterham (Helena Bonham Carter) attended a party at their estate. The party was thrown by Sir Oswald Coote (Mark Lewis Jones) and Lady Coote (Dorothy Atkinson), who had rented the estate for the event. They had money and wanted to meet British government higher ups. This party was their introduction to the realm of the powerful.

The morning after the party, Bundle discovers her boyfriend Gerry (Corey Mylchreest) dead in his bed. There were seven alarm clocks lined up on his mantle.

The props people working on this series found every clock that could possibly have existed in 1925 and put in the show. Someone announced that a ticking clock would be symbolic in the series, and a flood of clocks showed up. There are way too many clocks.

Back to the dead boyfriend – the doctor believed it was suicide from an overdose of sleeping medicine. Bundle doesn’t believe it. She starts investigating on her own.

We see in a flashback to 5 years before when Bundle’s father (Iain Glen) died trying to get a mysterious formula from Dr. Matip (Nyasha Hatendi). Later we learn the Brits are still after this formula. As are the party-throwing Cootes.

Several other people are murdered in ways that seem connected to Gerry’s death. Bundle meets Superintendent Battle (Martin Freeman), who may be impeding the investigations more than trying to solve them.

Battle watches Bundle as she “works the case” and soon decides her investigative skills are something he and his pals could use. That part of this short 3 episode story was actually the point to me. It was setting up Mia McKenna-Bruce as Bundle the investigator for a future series involving her. In other words, this short series felt like a pilot for a Mia McKenna-Bruce led mystery series yet to come.

Time will tell if I’m right about this prediction. In the meantime, this series is light and fun and easy to watch. The ending is a surprise. It’s on Netflix.