On PBS This Week: A Mystery Featuring a Lady Detective, Spiritualism, a Magician, and Social History

AIring this week on PBS' Masterpiece series is a BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel The Shadow in the North, the second in a quartet of books set in late nineteenth century England about plucky detective Sally Lockhart. This time Sally chases after a businessman crook, and in the course of her investigation she comes across shady Spiritualists (say it ain't so), a rakish magician (imagine!), impoverished aristocrats (are there such people?), a capitalist who believes that the end justifies the means (we've never heard that before) and the beginnings of the British labor movement. The plot isn't wildly original but the actors are more than competent, the costumes are great, the thing rolls merrily along, and it's all greatly entertaining, as these productions nearly always are. Don't get too attached to the characters, or you'll suffer heartbreaking emotional loss along with Sally. There's some psychic stuff in a couple of scenes, which you can either accept, or attribute to the delicate emotional state of the character experiencing it. The Shadow in the North will be available on DVD in early November. The earlier Sally Lockhart TV movie, The Ruby in the Smoke, is already available.

Philip Pullman is also the author of The Golden Compass, filmed last year with Nicole Kidman. It generated a certain amount of controversy when it was released.