Down Among the Dead Men is the fourth episode of the ninth series of Midsomer Murders and originally aired on 12th March 2006.
DCI Barnaby and DC Jones investigate the murder of Martin Barrett, who was killed with a shotgun blast while he was standing in his kitchen. It does not take them long to realize that Barrett was a blackmailer with several of the local villagers under his thumb. They include Jack Fothergill, the local pub keeper who did not report a very valuable painting as part of his late father's estate thereby avoiding death taxes; a local businessman, Richard Florian, who may be involved in a bit of smuggling; and Sir John Waverley a prominent local citizen who also happens to be a member of the Police Board. What the police soon learn is that Barrett had a business associate, one who tells them that Barrett had one particularly lucrative blackmail target in his sights.
Tropes:
- Bad to the Last Drop / It Tastes Like Feet: While drinking a cup of canteen coffee, Barnaby asks, "Is this coffee or silt?"
- Blackmail Backfire: A subversion: Barrett's blackmailing does lead to his murder in a roundabout fashion, but it isn't the actual motive.
- "Eureka!" Moment: While Barnaby is ruminating about how unsatisfied he feels about the case's apparent conclusion to Jones, specifically citing the loose end of how exactly Martin Barrett came to know where the Florians' second home was despite no one in the seaside town having seen him, Jones points out that Barrett followed the exact same lead (a fishmonger's receipt) that they did from Midsomer to there, so it was unlikely that Peter Hatchard, the fishmonger in question, who said he'd never seen Barrett actually hadn't.
- Luck-Based Search Technique: At the end, Barnaby and Jones are searching the Florians' house for illegally recovered gold and having no luck. Jones accidentally spills his water bottle on the stonework they're sitting on and the water runs down into it, making them realise they're sitting on a well where the gold is hidden.
- Obsessively Organized: As Barnaby puts it, Martin Barrett knew every speck of dust in his house.
- Reliably Unreliable Guns: Two suspects are arguing over a shotgun when they slam it down on the floor and it goes off, blowing a hole in the ceiling. Particularly egregious as the gun in question is a Purdey, generally regarded as the finest shotguns ever made.
- Sticky Fingers: One of the suspects, Ruby Wilmott, is a kleptomaniac cleaning woman who is being blackmailed by one of her clients. When Barnaby discovers her secret, she shows him a room crammed to the brim with objects she has stolen from her employers.
- Who Murdered the Asshole / Asshole Victim: DC Ben Jones openly wonders why they're working so hard to solve the murder of known blackmailer Martin Barrett when "everyone's glad he's dead!"
