Written in the Stars is the third episode of the fifteenth series of Midsomer Murders and was first aired 25th September 2012.
During a local eclipse of the sun, Jeremy Harper, one of a group of amateur astronomers, is killed on Moonstone Ridge by a blow to the head with a meteorite. Jeremy had rowed with Lawrence Janson, head of the university observatory over plans to extend the observatory onto the ridge but was unaware of his wife Catrina's affair with Janson. Local clairvoyant Mags Dormer had warned Jeremy of impending disaster and tells Barnaby that Moonstone Ridge is cursed, since Catrina's sister Mary, wife of pharmacist Harry Dutta, also died there some years earlier. Then other murders occur, of members of the group who were opposed to Janson's plans but had also made a discovery of their own, leading to a resolution of the case written in the stars.
Tropes:
- Deadly Disc: The murderer uses a razor-edged disc to slice the throat of George Dormer.
- Javelin Thrower: Peter Groves is done in with a thrown spear using a stolen Bronze Age spearhead, which is unusual even for Midsomer.
- Lights Off, Somebody Dies: Jeremy Harper is part of a gathering observing a total eclipse. As the hill is plunged into total darkness by the eclipse, he is bashed over the head by a rock. A bystander screams as the sunlight returns and she sees the body.
- Uranus Is Showing: Jones is researching astronomy as background to the case, and uses the opportunity to tell Barnaby "Did you know Uranus is 14 times larger than the Earth?".
