The Crow Girl is a dark and mysterious British adaptation of a Swedish novel. Eve Myles, Dougray Scott, and Katherine Kelly star in this one. It starts off like a simple murder mystery but grows darker and more foul as the investigation expands. This review is of season one. Season two is filming now.

The Crow Girl is a complex web of a story. It’s a big cast with numerous interconnected stories marching steadily toward a big surprise at the end and some hooks to make you ready for a second season.

The police, DCI Jeanette Kilburn (Eve Myles) and DI Lou Stanley (Dougray Scott) are called about a body seen in an alleyway. Other key people on the police side of the story include Supt. Verity Pound (Victoria Hamilton), a young officer Mike Williston (Elliot Edusah), and the medical examiner Eva Andric (Lu Corfield).

The body is a teen boy who had been filled with Lidocaine and frozen for some time before he was dumped there. Jeanette keys in immediately to the fact that the body was dumped in front of the dental offices of Carl Lowry (Trevor White). Jeannette is sure he has something to do with the case.

The next day there’s a similar body in another location, and the day after that it happens again. There are more suspects now, but no answers.

Dr. Sophia Craven (Katherine Kelly) is introduced into the plot as a psychiatrist serving some very troubled clients. One has a multiple personality. One is a very dark character named Victoria (Clara Rugaard) who becomes part of the murder mystery as things proceed.

One of the dead bodies is dumped outside a pig farm. Victoria’s family lives nearby. When Victoria disappears, Jeanette widens the investigation to include Victoria’s family and their teen daughter Madeleine (Chloé Sweetlove). Jeanette starts working with Sophia on the case.

A group of young immigrants in a hostel are part of the story. The focus is on Amar (Roger Jean Nsengiyumva), but there are many of these young men trying to find ways to live and work in Britain.

Jeanette is married to Alex (Raphael Sowole). They have a son. Their marriage is falling apart. Jeanette and Sophia become close, in ways that are not professional. Things get complicated there.

Actually, the whole story is complicated and the more we learn about things the darker it gets. The final episode of the season reveals many surprises, although there are clues and foreshadowing. The mystery won’t resolve until season two. The story definitely isn’t over.

Eve Myles is strong in this. She has a straightforward dedicated cop role to play. Katherine Kelly has a challenging part with nuance. She does a terrific job with it and looks fab (although I think she may have borrowed Sarah Lancashire’s hair). Dougray Scott’s character introduces a lot of moral ambiguity into the story, but moral ambiguity is a running theme throughout. Most of the thematic elements of the story are more dark – murder for sport and ince$t being two examples.

The Crow Girl is based on a book by Erik Axl Sund, developed for television by Milly Thomas. Rebecca Rycroft directed half of the episodes. It’s streaming on Acorn TV and available to rent from several other sources.