A Swedish author named Camilla Lackberg wrote five (thus far) novels about a mystery writer who solves crimes in the real world, similar to a Jessica Fletcher. All were made into telefilms in Sweden. This miniseries, “Camilla Lackberg’s Erica”, is a set of three of them, adapted for French TV. They play out like a slightly more adult version of our Hallmark Mystery Movies, as I will explain.
As the first opens, Erica (Julie De Bona), a successful crime novelist living in Paris, returns to her picturesque seaside hometown to settle up estate matters from her recently-departed parents. Her married sister Anna (Maud Baecker) still lives there with her hubby and two cute kids. Erica hasn’t been back much, or remained as close with sis as they had been. Upon arrival, Erica runs into a former bestie. They make plans for dinner at the friend’s house that evening. Erica arrives only to find the woman lying in a tub of bloody water, wrists slit in what looks like a suicide. That’s what the cops, especially lead detective Patrick (Gregory Fitoussi) insist, resenting her proffered facts that point towards a staged murder. Guess who’s gonna be right, and who’s gonna come around to appreciating whom?
That episode introduces an assortment of family and romance issues dangled, for the next. As both of those fronts ramp up, the second case revolves around the killing of a young tourist, which leads to a family with three generations of zealots claiming, to varying degrees, the ability to heal, though the results haven’t been there. In the third, a young girl is almost drowned and the Good Samaritan who tried to save her is beaten to death for his efforts. That leads to another set of dark complicated familial backstories. In these latter two, Erica has been accepted by the cops as a useful ally/resource. All the plots by Lackberg and three other credited writers, are reasonably suspenseful.
Now for the Hallmark reference. The fictional seaside town is idyllic, shot in Hossegor and the Landes region of southwestern France. The views we get show why it thrives on tourism. Erica has the earnest intelligence and charm of Hallmark heroines like Candace Cameron Bure’s Aurora Teagarden. She’s longer on curiosity than common sense, plunging foolishly into situations of danger. The series spends more running time on romantic and family sidebars, and miscellaneous warm fuzzies than on the principal crimes, including the inevitable rocky romance with Patrick. There’s one early scene with nudity, and a bit more action and depravity among the baddies than the typical Hallmark fare, but still pretty bloodless.
Each of the trio of mysteries is presented in two 45-minute episodes. See them in order, since those secondary story arcs are progressive. I was entertained enough to hope they adapt Lackberg’s other novels, as well.
2 1/2 Out Of 4 Stars
“Camilla Läckberg’s Erica” premieres in the U.S. and Canada on MHz Choice on January 20, 2026.