Sara: Woman in the Shadows (Sara: La donna nell’ombra) is a new 6 part mystery series from Italy. Sara quit her job as an investigator but gets drawn back into it when her son is killed. She finds a complex scheme of political corruption and greed.

Sara: Woman in the Shadows stars Teresa Saponangelo as Sara. Sara is an interesting character and a brilliant investigator. She reads lips and interprets body language expertly. She’s now an older woman who always wears the same brown extra large overcoat and drab sweater. She thinks her life as an investigator is over. She quit her job and is mourning the loss of her long time boss and lover.

She left her son behind when he was just 6 to be with the man she loved, and has not been in touch with her son since.

Then she finds out her son died.

Sara’s old friend and colleague Teresa (Claudia Gerini) shows up wanting help with an investigation in return for helping Sara find out what happened to her son. A detective Pardo (Flavio Furno) is looking into the death as well.

Sara learns her son’s wife Viola (Chiara Celotto) is 8 months pregnant. She gets Viola involved in the mystery as well.

The investigation Teresa wants help with takes up more of the mystery than the son’s death, but they are related. Teresa is looking at some corrupt politicians and businessmen who want to build a nuclear power plant. These are dangerous types and several more people die before Sara manages to unravel and expose the truth.

Sara jumps back into that world of investigator although she has no current credentials. She bosses Pardo around and takes advantage of his badge. She uses Teresa’s connections and technical team. She befriends Viola and hopes to be a good grandmother to the coming baby, although she was a terrible mother.

Teresa Saponangelo plays Sara as stoic and intense, but she’s a brilliant actress who can convey emotion with a tiny twitch, or swallow, or the most subtle of expressions. Even though she seems hard, the actress gives you glimpses into Sara’s heart. By the end of the series, she’s smiling broadly at her new grandson and has moved out of the dingy hotel where she sat and mourned for months.

There are a lot of characters in the series between police, investigators, journalists, politicians, family, and various thugs. It’s densely written. Teresa Saponangelo commands the screen in every scene. It’s in Italian, but you can get the audio dubbed in English if you hate subtitles.

I found the mystery engaging and the characters well drawn. This series is all available now on Netflix.