When Detective Murdoch's friend and protege, Constable Oliver Wicken, is found shot to death in the basement of an abandoned house, the constabulary rule it as suicide. Murdoch is determined to prove it was murder and clear Wicken's name.
The case of a murdered midwife grows more complex when it is discovered that she also performed abortions.
Daniel Pratt, owner of Toronto Electric & Light, has made his fortune by lighting the city streets with direct current (DC). But now council is considering a new form of electricity called alternating current (AC). So Pratt – and a team of high-powered supporters –decides to mount ‘dog and pony’ shows across the city to prove that AC is a killer. But when Miss Toronto Electric & Light, Alice Howard, is electrocuted in a demonstration gone wrong, it’s determined that the switch handle she pulled had been purposely booby-trapped. In a case that’s further complicated by bribery, scandal and dirty backroom dealings, Murdoch must find out who killed Alice – and why.
Lawyer Percy Pollack was last seen a week ago. According to his wife, Clara, Percy had gone to a meeting with his business partner, Dr. Gilbert Birkins, but based on the condition of his body, he died just 36-48 hours ago - which leaves five days unaccounted for. When Judge Henry Scott dies of a similar wound, Brackenreid suddenly recognizes the work of a murderer long thought dead -- and that he himself might be next on the killer's list. The case deeply divides Murdoch and Brackenreid, each pursuing their own line of investigation. But, a grisly new development in Pollack's murder tells Murdoch that he's been trying to solve this puzzle without all the pieces.
While the city celebrates the Queen’s birthday with a display of fireworks, Murdoch investigates a messy case of fixed fights and shady backroom dealings in the dirty world of boxing. After his victory against Sully Sullivan, boxing underdog Amos Robinson is found dead in his hotel room. Amos’ wife, Fannie – found standing over her husband’s bloody body with a gun in her hand – stands out as the most viable suspect. But Murdoch’s strong intuition tells him otherwise, and he must act fast or Fannie will hang for a crime she didn’t commit.
Murdoch teams with his hero, Arthur Conan Doyle, to solve a murder that was revealed during a séance led by medium Sarah Pensall. It seems the victim, Ida Winston – a member of a paranormal watchdog group – had not been convinced of Sarah’s abilities, which makes Murdoch wonder if Sarah killed Ida because she was about to be revealed as a fraud. Despite mounting evidence of the spirit world, Murdoch remains determined to use scientific means to solve the case. Sure enough, evidence starts to stack up against Sarah’s little toady, Lisgar Gall. But when Murdoch accuses Gall of killing Ida in order to protect Sarah, he winds up in the middle of an unexpected lovers’ triangle that further complicates the case.
Wendell Merrick is killed in the church on the day he was to marry Eunice McGinty. At first glance, the murder appears to be a robbery gone wrong. But Father Franks recalls hearing Wendell arguing with his best man, Lawrence Braxton, before the wedding. As suspicion turns to Braxton, the investigation takes an unexpected twist when the pathology report turns up evidence that Wendell was homosexual – which leads Brackenreid to conclude that it was Wendell’s lover who wielded the weapon that killed him. But while fingers are being pointed at possible candidates, including Braxton, Murdoch starts to believe that the issue of Wendell’s sexuality has thrown this investigation way off track.
John Delaney had been on his way home from a ratting match at the local pub and somehow ended up face down in the river. When Murdoch finds the drunken body of his estranged father, Harry, passed out near the crime scene, he's quick to convict the man he's long accused of killing his mother. It turns out that the matches were fixed - just like Harry said - and the detectives seem to be closing in on the case. But when evidence turns up that suggests Delaney may have had a rendezvous after leaving the pub that fateful night, the investigation takes a whole new turn.
A skeletal corpse that falls from the ceiling of the Grand theatre is identified as Virgil Smart. His widow, Stella, now runs the theatre with her new husband and a small troupe, including a pretty young actress and her fiancé – each of whom reports that Virgil had been found slumped over his desk, dead of heart failure. Stella insists her husband was buried at a proper funeral. But if this corpse is Virgil’s, then whose body did she bury? It seems that honour went to an out-of-work actor named Eddie. As if things weren’t complicated enough, Murdoch discovers a secret room off Virgil’s office – obviously designed for seduction. Could these murders be the result of a lover’s quarrel, a jealous husband, or a spurned lover? One thing is for certain: Each of these well-rehearsed actors knows what happened that night – and now Murdoch knows just how to trip them up.
The body of Richard Hartley, the newest member of a prestigious men’s rowing team, is found washed up on a beach after a night of drinking with his teammates. According to his fiancée, Minerva Fairchild, Hartley had just replaced the team’s top rower Horace Briggs, who admits he’d been disappointed when he was bumped from the team – but not enough to kill. As the evidence mounts, it seems increasingly apparent that Hartley was killed in an initiation hazing gone wrong. Sure enough, the team’s coach admits that Hartley would have cost them a spot at the Olympics, so he instructed the boys to put him out of action so they could bring Briggs back. When things got rough, Hartley panicked and ran into the lake – but he was a strong swimmer; they never dreamed he’d drown. Still no closer to the truth, Murdoch orders a test on the water in Hartley’s lungs – and that’s when the investigation finally blows wide open.
Roddy Grimesby is found dead from a lethal ingestion of varnish. When the police show up at the crime scene, the victim’s son Harcourt – a ventriloquist – is found hiding in the closet with his look-alike dummy Mycroft. Even more disturbing than the similarity, is the roiling bond between the two – much like hostile brothers. Although Harcourt confesses to the murder, Murdoch spots inconsistencies in the story that make no sense – unless there was a third party involved. Harcourt had been in the room when Roddy was killed. He would have seen the killer, but why is he protecting his identity? In a shocking turn, Murdoch learns that Harcourt has a twin brother named Mycroft. Maybe Mycroft killed Roddy; and Harcourt is protecting him. But just when it looks like the case is solved, Murdoch sees something in a Grimesby family photo that puts a whole new twist on things.
Howard Rookwood, philanthropist and co-owner of a glue factory, is found dead after returning home from a fundraiser. Although the scene suggests he was trampled by horses on their way to the rendering vats, the blow to the back of Rookwood's head was not caused by a horse's hoof. When a short-handled shovel wielded by someone child-sized is finally determined to be the murder weapon, suspicion turns to the boys who work at the glue factory – and one young boy in particular, Charlie, who turns out to be the long-lost brother of Rookwood's adopted daughter, Eva. As evidence starts to stack up against Charlie, Murdoch learns that Rookwood's disgruntled ex-valet had long been receiving hush money from his former boss for keeping a secret – one so repugnant that it would drive anyone to murder.
Dr. Grout, a co-founder of a medical research institute, is found with arrows jutting from his back, and the letters "Wy" written in blood on a nearby rock. According to medium Sarah Pensall, the killer is a grim reaper with a crossbow. He’s accompanied by the spirit of a woman, and he will strike again. As associates of the institute are systematically killed off by the hooded specter, Murdoch finally gets a tip - a letter bearing only the word, "Wykeham." Whatever it means, Grout wanted them to know about it. Finally, with Pensall’s help, Murdoch discovers that, in 1893, a young woman died in a fire at Wykeham - a lodge once leased to Grout’s partner, Dr. Greyson. Things start to look worse for Greyson when a reaper’s costume is found stashed away in his office. Despite how things look, though, Murdoch knows Greyson’s not their man. But it’s not til he spots a photo of the young woman with her fiancé that the mystery is finally solved.
Murdoch and Crabtree are assigned to protect Prince Alfred during his visit to Toronto. But, on the very night that British Aid David Jennings warns the authorities about a possible Irish threat against the Prince, an Irish girl wearing a Brotherhood ring turns up dead. A tattoo on her shoulder is found to be covering another - the symbol of the Brotherhood; and a cipher found in her stomach is believed to hold the key to a plot against the Prince. In a town where Irish ire continues to fester against the constabulary, not even his good friend Eddie Cullen will help Murdoch in the case. In a race against the clock, Murdoch must track down the girl's killer and decipher the secret message before the insidious Brotherhood can carry out its deadly plan.
By all appearances, Martians are responsible for the hanging death of Rouge Valley landowner Henri Gaston, a Martian-obsessed loner with a shop full of telescopes, charts and journals. Gaston's observations could have had something to do with his demise, but a letter on his desk from Rouge Valley Lands Ltd. suggests that the reason for his death is decidedly more terrestrial. According to head honcho, Terrence Meyers, RVL had been trying to buy up the valley in order to build an electrical generating station. Gaston was the only hold-out - a sure incentive to get rid of him. Still stymied by Gaston's murder, and ordered to cease his investigation of RVL, Murdoch finally witnesses what Gaston had been writing about - a light in the sky, and a shape emerging over the cornfield. As quickly as it appears, it's gone - but, with the help of Gaston's journals, Murdoch vows to track it down. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Murdoch remains sure that the strange events are all related to the land sale. What he doesn't know is that this threat is much more menacing than any Martian invasion.
The discovery of a decomposed body leads Murdoch into the fascinating world of telegraphy - the 1895 equivalent of the internet. When Murdoch calls on Enid to assist in the investigation, she finds herself in peril. Meanwhile, Inspector Brackenreid's erratic behavior has Dr. Ogden questioning the Gold Cure the Inspector is taking to help him stop drinking.
Murdoch finds himself with amnesia and running for his life on the streets of Bristol, England, very far from home, if he knew where his home was. Taking refuge in a pub, he gains the assistance of a vivacious barmaid who helps him reconstruct his memories, escape his pursuers, and foil an assassination plot.
Murdoch is called to Station House Five when a decorated constable is murdered and the local detective is ill. Murdoch finds that everyone is ready to blame an elderly Chinaman named Fong Choy because of something to do with his granddaughter, but she is nowhere to be found and Fong Choy won't talk.
A family celebration of Alexander Reynolds' 60th birthday is dampened when he's found with a knife plunged into his chest. Murdoch is called in and soon discovers the victim was universally despised by his kin. Reynolds' family instantly falls under suspicion but the field of suspects narrows considerably when daughter Charlotte Reynolds appears in a blood soaked dress and confesses to killing her father.
James Pendrick, owner of the Pendrick Building, proudly shows off his extensive art collection to a group of admirers. The highlight of the tour is a magnificent Rembrandt that Pendrick purchased on a recent trip to France. The constabulary is hired to guard the painting's return to the Pendrick mansion and is daringly stolen from the elevator, leaving a dead security guard in the car.
There's pandemonium at Police Station Four. Something has gone terribly wrong at Barnett's Travelling Royal Circus. Lulu, the white Siberian tiger went berserk and partially devoured its trainer before escaping into the streets. Lulu has since been shot and killed but rumors have started circulating that this wasn't simply a case of 'tiger gone bad'.
Murdoch is invited to attend a mysterious meeting in High Park. With Ogden to accompany him they find themselves mixing with some of city's greatest minds at a meeting of the Toronto Society for The Advancement of Eugenics, lead by James Pendrick. Murdoch discovers that Sally Pendrick invited him. The guest speaker is none other than the great science fiction writer HG Wells, and beside him stands Ruby Ogden, Julia's younger sister.
Workers laboring to build a bridge across the Don River make a grisly discovery – entombed in the swamplands bordering the river are the well-preserved bodies of a man and a woman. Called to the scene, Murdoch and Ogden quickly determine that the couple was murdered. When a third body is then discovered, Murdoch has to re-evaluate the nature of the crime.
It is a dark and stormy night. A lonely light burns in the tower of stately Beaton Hall. Suddenly, lightening flashes across the sky and a bloodcurdling scream is heard. Chauncey Beaton runs down the halls of the mansion from an unseen pursuer. He comes to a Juliet balcony and realizes he has nowhere else to go. Murdoch arrives at the scene, where Chauncey's body lies crumpled on the paving stones. He obviously fell from the balcony but did he jump or was he pushed?
Cecil Fox, a hateful reprobate convicted of killing Justice Horace Mead, is led to the gallows at the Toronto Court House. Murdoch, there on witness duty, winces as Pleasant pulls the trap door handle and sends Fox to his maker. When she carries out the post mortem, Ogden notices a curious puncture wound in the throat. Puzzled, she leans in for a better look and Fox's eyes open! Before Ogden can react, Fox knocks her unconscious and runs out.
Murdoch is drawn into the naughty world of Victorian erotica and blackmail when he investigates the murder of Abigail Tunstall, a young woman who had been posing for salacious photographs. Interviews with Abigail's friends and family and the discovery of one of her erotic photos help Murdoch zero in on the location where the pictures were taken – a studio owned by a photographer named Marcus Evans. When Murdoch searches through photo collections for clues to Abigail's murder he makes a startling discovery – one of McHugh's erotic models is none other than Sally Pendrick, the vivacious and beautiful wife of Murdoch's nemesis, the rich and powerful industrialist James Pendrick.
Murdoch is called upon to investigate an exceedingly strange murder. The deceased was found inside a room locked from within with no other entrance. But there's more to the case than that – the victim appears to have exploded and burned, yet there is no trace of an explosion or fire. Before Murdoch can proceed with his investigation, the case takes a bizarre turn when old friend and world-renowned inventor Nikola Tesla appears, announcing cryptically that he is "too late."
When a strange case crosses his desk; body parts – a foot, a hand and a headless torso - have surfaced along the Don River. Ogden’s replacement, Dr. Francis Philpott, insists the body parts are from one murder victim. But Murdoch has his doubts and contacts Ogden. Initially reluctant, Julia can’t help but be intrigued by the case. Murdoch secretly ships her the evidence and Ogden’s examination reveals they are dealing with three different victims but likely one killer.
Murdoch and the gang are called to the scene of a grisly murder in the Don Valley, after a young man is found savagely beaten to death. The victim is Tom Meeks, a cadet at Fort York, who was on a rigorous training course that teaches guerrilla tactics. When another body is found with a ripped face to try and avoid identification, Murdoch investigates the military unit further and finds out some very disturbing underhand medical practices that the soldiers are unaware of.
Despite an unsolved break-in at the station house, Murdoch announces he’s taking a vacation. His holiday turns out to be a trip in response to a telegram from Dr. Ogden requesting his help in Buffalo to solve what she thinks is a murder at The Children’s Hospital. Murdoch agrees to go - thoughts of rekindling their relationship in the back of his mind. The case involves a 14 year-old terminally ill boy, Ben Wilkie, who has died under what Ogden feels are mysterious circumstances.
When the master of a wealthy household, is found face down in his morning porridge, it would seem that Murdoch has entered into a conventional drawing room mystery. The characters are all there: The murdered Percival, his aggrieved wife and two very different sons. But whereas most drawing room mysteries revolve around the affairs of the upper class, Murdoch learns that the heart of this mystery lies in the servant’s hall below the stairs, where there’s a mix of unsettled emotions and grudges to bear.
Murdoch is making no progress on a case involving a young French woman who had arrived in Toronto to visit her sister, and then vanished without a trace. The case is further complicated when Murdoch arrests a dashing young Frenchman breaking into a suspect’s apartment, only to learn that he is a detective who has been hired by the disappeared woman’s father.
Murdoch makes a surprising discovery at a dolls house fair; in one of the houses the artist has placed a hand firing a gun. This is no ordinary model - it’s a crime scene. Murdoch finds the creator of the streetscape, an autistic 19-year-old, Lydia, who communicates best through model building. No one has reported a murder yet, but using the model’s intricate clues left by Lydia, Murdoch discovers that someone indeed has been killed – but what happened and why? Someone is far from happy by his investigations and things begin to get even more sinister in the neighbourhood.
The murdered body of an elderly drifter is found near the docks with a whiskey flask clenched in his hands. It looks at first like another drunk has met an unkind fate. But, when Ogden determines the victim had the liver of a teetotaler, Murdoch inspects the whiskey flask and finds a secret compartment containing what appears to be part of a coded message. The case takes an even stranger turn when a man identifying himself as the dead man’s son comes to the morgue to claim his body. Investigations lead to political conspiracies being uncovered and a far bigger case is on their hands than first expected.
A young switchboard operator, overhears a murder over the telephone lines and reports it to Station House #4. When Murdoch traces the address, no one is home and there’s no body. But Murdoch is suspicious of the particularly clean room and instructs Crabtree to fetch his murder bag. This is a crime scene.
When Murdoch is called to the scene of a murder Joe Prestia, a handsome thirty-something, he discovers that he once had a relationship with the victim’s beautiful fiancée, Anna Fulford. Dr. Ogden discovers evidence suggesting Joe was the victim of a skilled assassin. Anna has no idea who would have wanted to kill Joe. Matters take a frightening turn when the assassin makes an attempt on Anna’s life. Why would anyone want Anna dead too? Murdoch’s investigation reveals that the murdered man had a much darker past than anyone knew.
As the sisters of the Immaculate Conception prepare to put the coffin of elderly Sister Ignatius into her final resting place in the convent’s cemetery, a young novitiate peers into the dug grave and sees something poking out of the dirt – a human hand. Murdoch is called to the scene and his constables lift the bloodied body of the convent’s gardener out of the grave. But a dead body is not the only surprise the convent holds.
When a young teenage girl collapses and dies in her nightgown at the fountain at The Gordon Academy for Young Women, Ogden and Murdoch are called in to investigate. Why had she snuck out? She had lost a lot of blood, but only a trickle was there when they found her? And who is the mysterious lone figure that seems to haunt the school at night? The schoolgirl witnesses tell tales of trances and beautiful pale-skinned young men, and soon people begin to believe that vampirism is behind the murder...
The Toronto Bank is thrown into chaos when a masked man bursts through the door and fires two shots into the ceiling. The robber gets the tellers to fill his bag. When he finishes he kisses a teller on the lips and escapes into the street. The Kissing Bandit has struck a third bank and so Murdoch is put on the case. During each robbery the bandit kisses one teller before fleeing, and takes such little money that it hardly seems worth the risk, and then the stolen cash is distributed to local charities. Who is this modern day Robin Hood?
When a man is found murdered at a costume party held in honour of the late Lewis Carroll, all clues point to a man dressed as the Mad Hatter. It seems obvious that this is the killer? This is not welcomed news as this part was played by Murdoch himself. Murdoch becomes the Alice In Wonderland prime murder suspect and it’s up to his team to prove their favourite detective is not the killer – or can we be sure of that?
Detective Murdoch and Inspector Brackenreid are aboard the SS Keewatin after the owner, Clarence MacFarlane, receives what he believes is a threat. The Keewatin is about to depart from Toronto on its maiden voyage destined for Rochester, N.Y. and Murdoch thinks they should stay on board, especially after he sees that Julia is one of the invited guests. Their presence proves useful after MacFarlane's daughter Amy, who is engaged to her father's chief financial officer Owen Mathers, falls overboard and is nowhere to be found. As Murdoch investigates he finds there is a real threat against the Keewatin and the true facts behind Amy's disappearance.
Detective Murdoch investigates the sudden death of bicycle racer Joe Fenton. Murdoch was himself a participant in the race trying out his newfangled gear shifting device but Fenton was the favorite having won several recent races. Fenton's manager, Chippy Blackburn, was seen giving him a potion and they suspect he may be may be fixing races. Dr. Grace however is having considerable difficulty finding a cause of death and with Dr. Ogden's assistance performs her first brain bisection.
Detective Murdoch and many others attend a special showing of a film that will also include sound. The man behind the scheme is James Pendrick and his main competitor, Thomas Edison, is also present for the showing. The film includes a scene where a shot is fired but when the lights come up, one of the patrons, Pendrick's principal investor, has been shot in the head.
Detective Murdoch investigates the death of Emily Fuller whose body is found on the riverbank. They trace her to her home where her husband Jeremiah is completely impassive. The dead woman's daughter Betty says her father has been like this since he had been away recently for a few days. Dr. Grace determines that the Emily did not drown, as they had initially suspected, but was strangled by someone with a very large hand. Constable Crabtree thinks he knows what's happened after he finds that Jeremiah is officially dead - he's now a Haitian zombie, risen from the dead. After Dr. Grace finds that a second victim's brain has been operated on, Murdoch thinks he knows who they are dealing with.
Detective Murdoch investigates the death of Sarah Bosen who apparently threw herself from her hospital room window and breaking her neck in the fall. Sarah was being treated by Julia Ogden for arachnophobia and had been making some progress in overcoming her fears. Murdoch however finds a dead spider in her room. The three remaining members of the treatment group begin to have their doubts about their therapy. Julia's colleague, Dr. Charles Linden, thinks her therapy is a waste of time and as far as he is concerned, Sarah's death proves him correct. He launches a formal complaint to have her research terminated. When her other patients are forced to face their phobias, Murdoch concludes that someone is trying to kill her patients. Meanwhile, Crabtree tries to save his pet spider from Dr. Grace's experiments and Dr. Ogden helps Murdoch overcome his own irrational fear.
Detective Murdoch investigates the death of Katie Buchanan who is found dead at the beach, on a hot summer's day, by her friend Elaine Lawson. Both were entrants in a beauty pageant known as the Miss Purity competition, to select the new face of Alexander soap. Dr. Ogden, who is spending her day off at the beach finds what appears to be a large animal bite on the woman's torso. Katie's boyfriend, James Bennett, had recently left her for another competitor, Marie Nicholson and becomes the prime suspect. Inspector Brackenreid however is certain he saw a monster in Lake Ontario and Murdoch is skeptical until he too sees a creature in the water. Constable Crabtree is dismissive of any suggestion that there might be a monster in the water and pursues a more realistic line of inquiry.
Detective Murdoch investigates the death of Peter Farrelly who had a loud altercation with someone the night before his body was found. Dr. Grace determines he was beaten to death. She also found chloral hydrate in his system - a bottle of which they found in the victim's luggage. They believe both the victim and his killer are from Newfoundland and so Murdoch and Crabtree head off to St. John's in the hopes of finding the suspected killer Ezekiel Farrelly. Crabtree was actually raised in St. John's by several aunts who, it turns out, have an interesting occupation. The solution to murder lies with finding an old pirate treasure map.
Detective Murdoch, Inspector Brackenreid, Dr. Ogden and several others are transporting serial killer James Gillies to the prison in Kingston, Ontario where he is scheduled to be executed the next day. It creates a bit of a stir among the passengers when they learn who is being transported. Among them are Aaron Rauls, a late arrival on the train and Nathaniel Henry. Both come under suspicion when the police find a dead man, Dennis Bolton who was released from the Don jail just a week ago. There's no direct connection between Bolton and Gillies but both were in the same jail at the same time. As tensions rise, it becomes evident that Gillies has arranged for several ex-convicts to be on the train - all part of his plan to escape.
Detective Murdoch investigates the murder of Nathan Peters, a jazz musician and renowned band-leader, who was found dead at the docks. His group, the Jubilee Singers, was performing nearby and his wife had already reported him missing. Dr. Emily Grace determines that he died in the early hours of the morning from a blow to the head causing a subdural hemorrhage. The evidence in the case begins to point to one of the Jubilee Singers as the perpetrator. Much to George Crabtree's chagrin, Emily seems to have taken an interest in the roguish Leslie Garland. Julia meanwhile feels that a huge weight has been taken off her shoulders now that James Gillian is dead.
A local industrialist is tied to the top of a telephone pole with a noise-activated bomb strapped to his chest. While Murdoch and his colleagues deal with the dilemma, Mayor Clarkson orders nearby businesses to be shut down to minimise sound pollution. However, the politician finds himself the criminal's next target.
Christmas Special: A series of brazen robberies target Toronto's wealthiest just days before Christmas. They appear to be committed by Jumping Jack, a character from Crabtree's illustrated novel. Meanwhile, Jackson and James bring the Christmas spirit to the station. In keeping with the festive spirit, the special also includes a unique scripted integration with The Salvation Army, featuring the historic brand’s presence and message of giving written into the storyline.
Murdoch and Ogden are named as accomplices when Terrence Meyers faces charges of treason.
Ogden and Effie try to untangle the death of a hair salon owner that occurred outside Murdoch’s jurisdiction.
Murdoch suspects a colleague has ties to a murder. Ogden flirts with danger. Crabtree meets an intense fan.
Detective Murdoch discovers that a naked woman found murdered in a back alley known for prostitution was actually a housemaid of a prominent family. When Dr. Ogden informs him that the girl was pregnant and had been drugged, Detective Murdoch is ever more convinced that the girl's death was not an accident.