This new True Crime docuseries weaves an enthralling yarn. A French woman leaves her wealthy husband and teenage son behind in Paris and goes to her holiday home in the idyllic town of Schull, Ireland.

The townsfolk are welcoming, the lush green countryside is out of a storybook, and her cottage on a hill is the perfect place for someone to enjoy the solitude, not to mention a great view of a lighthouse across the way.

But one night around Christmas, Sophie Toscan du Plantier is brutally murdered near her home. Looks Like she’s had her head smashed in with a large rock or chunk of concrete, which has been left near her body.

That’s the setup of this three episode series which becomes almost like an Agatha Christie novel. It’s a small town with zero murders in living memory. Whodunnit? 

As reporters from France and Ireland descend upon the sleepy town, the cops seem overwhelmed and, this being 1996, preserving DNA evidence isn’t given a thought. 

By the end of the first episode, a suspect emerges, a local journalist who is something of a fabulist and narcissist.

But does that make him a murderer? The next two episodes will focus almost entirely on this one suspect (who I am not revealing in this review), with lots of damning evidence, but also nothing that isn’t circumstantial. There are no witnesses, and he seems to have an alibi. But…

The series is  populated with cops and journalists and local citizens who recount that period with clarity and charming accents. They couldn’t have been cast any better if this were a fictional film. 

Their charming lilts and expressive faces, mixed with plentiful archival news footage, makes this a fascinating foray into a place you’ve never heard of, but a place you’ll never forget.

At the same time, we hear from the family of the victim in Paris, they think they know who killed Sophie, yet years have passed with no action taken. But that’s about to change.

The first thing I did when the series was over? I looked up Schull, Ireland on Google maps. In spite of the one horrible murder that happened there, it’s a place to which I’d like to return, even if only virtually.

SOPHIE: A MURDER IN WEST CORK is currently streaming on Netflix | 3 ½ out of 4 stars