The Curse of the Ninth is the sixth episode of the nineteenth series Midsomer Murders and originally aired 27th August 2017 in Australia and 20th May 2018 in UK.
Jacob Wheeler wins the Thassington classical music festival, run by pompous composer Michael Falconer, but is afterwards strangled with a violin string and a valuable Stradivarius on loan to him is stolen. Several people, including impecunious musician Vernon De Harthog and publican Audrey Glenhill, feel that pianist Zak Sowande should have won the bursary and then Vernon, an opponent of Michael and his son Dan, is poisoned. Further confusion arises on the discovery that Jacob was actually an impostor. The violin thief is caught but old family secrets are laid bare as DCI Barnaby must decide whether the killings support the superstition surrounding Falconer's latest symphony - the curse of the ninth. Meanwhile, Kam Karimore struggles to tell DS Jamie Winter that she is leaving Midsomer for a job offer in Montreal.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Music: The composition being played by violins is called a symphony, which it is not. A symphony is played by a full orchestra, usually in four movements.
- Character Name Alias: Jacob Wheeler, who is a classical violinist, rents a safe deposit box using the name of composer Anton Bruckner.
- Dress Hits Floor: A young woman prepares to take a shower, unaware that an intruder has just broken into her home.
- Instrument of Murder: Jacob Wheeler is a violinist who is strangled with one of his own violin strings. Vernon De Harthog is a violist who has the strings of his viola covered in powered strychnine, causing him to inhale a lethal dose as he plays.
