An Unexpected Arrival Complicates 'The Madame Blanc Mysteries'

Jean White is the last patron at the Sainte-Vincent library as this week’s episode of The Madame Blanc Mysteries opens, chatting with the guard, Thomas (Henry Zammit Cordina), as she’s packing up. An exhibit of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of intoxication, is closing this week, as the priceless statue at its heart will return to Paris. The exhibit includes the tale of Ra ordering the goddess Hathor to destroy all people on earth, only to change his mind. Instead, he flooded a field with red water, on which she consequently got drunk. Consequently, all statues of her are considered to be cursed. Dom arrives to pick Jean up, ending the exposition, and Thomas, as a canny Parisian, recognizes they are a couple. 

Thomas is now the only person in the library when an alarm rings. Somewhere in the dark, a thief breaks into Hathor’s glass case and hits Thomas on the head with the statue. The thief leaves empty-handed, leaving the statue in pieces.

The next morning, Jean, Dom, and Gloria accompany Judith to an auction. Jeremy’s birthday is coming up, and Judith has her eye on a box of Victorian ephemera for him as a birthday present, which will fit nicely into his phantasmagoria room (did you think he didn’t have one? Of course he does!). But Judith is outbid by gangster John Marsden (British stand-up comedian and TV personality Stephen Bailey), a sinister black-clad figure Jean has encountered before. His two minions crowd Judith out of the bidding, and he leaves with his prize.

We see how serious a threat John is when he invades Jean’s shop, Brodeur & White, and sends Charlie and Simone out for coffee, his camp charm only just disguising an aura of menace. His mother and Jean’s were friends, and he hijacked the auction because his mum’s ring was in the box, along with some others and old photographs. It was sent by an old friend who has just been released from jail and is bringing John’s mum with him. The problem is, John’s mother thinks he runs an antique shop, so he intends to use Brodeur & White to support his story rather than admit to his real activities. 

Jean owes him, he reminds her. Jean, usually so confident, is very intimidated and agrees. She explains to her staff that he’s getting some work experience. She fears for her inventory (including Judith’s sapphire necklace, which is at the store for cleaning and which she attends to collect any day). Anyway, Police Chief Inspector André Caron summons Jean to the library, where she learns that Thomas, the guard, is fighting for his life in the hospital after interrupting the robbery. Library Director Suzanne (Paula Jain Venel) is in tears, fearing the institution’s future is threatened. Jean tries to comfort her.

On their way out, Dom finds a hairpin on the floor and, channeling his inner Victorian, becomes quite romantic about Jean’s hair. Gendarme Richard reports that an orange moped registered to Gaynor Smith (Marilyn Pielago), a University student, was caught at the scene on CCTV. André, uncomfortable around teenage girls, asks Jean to accompany him to interview Gaynor. She and her flatmate Nellie O’Case (Tegen Short) are in bed and hungover. 

At Jean’s suggestion of a bracing cup of tea and a bacon sandwich, Gaynor, a vegetarian, dashes to the bathroom. The two women insist the moped was stolen from outside the apartment while they were out drinking. Gaynor has a time-stamped photo on her phone to prove her story and agrees to forward them to André. The third tenant comes home as they leave, eyeing André appreciatively.

Back at Jean’s shop, John is ingratiating himself with Charlie when a customer (Maxime Durand) enters. John suggests that the two women go out to lunch, and despite Simone’s reservations, Charlie shows him items that are to be picked up by customers, including Judith’s necklace. Unsurprisingly, the customer snatches Judith’s necklace and runs out. John's minions, who have been standing guard on the front steps, watch the shop as John follows the thief and finds him enjoying a beer at a café. A few karate chops later, he has reclaimed the necklace.

After repelling at least one customer with unfriendly stares, the minions are still on duty when Charlie and Simone return. Outside, Judith approaches the shop, and just in time, John presents her with her necklace and a gallon of charm. She recognizes him from the auction, and he ingratiates himself further by giving the box back to her.

Dom is suspicious that someone would steal a moped that was such a conspicuous color, as he and Jean return to the library. Suzanne reports the statue is irreparably damaged. Jean asks her about other recent visitors, who include a group from the Saint-Victoire University, led by Egyptologist Dr. Aligiah. Suzanne remembers there was one student who was loud and outspoken in his belief that the statue belonged to Egypt, not France. 

When they speak with Dr. Aligiah (Anthony Ellul), he is shocked by the news and provides them with a list of students, including his son, Matteo (Lou Busittil), who created the disturbance. Jean notices Matteo’s photograph on the professor’s desk and recognizes the young woman with him as Gaynor and Nellie’s neighbor, who gives them Matteo’s address.

They find the moped hidden in his yard full of junk, which leads to André interviewing him. Mateo claims to have borrowed the moped and is sternly reminded that borrowing without permission is theft. He’s shocked to see the broken statue in a plastic bag, and so is Jean, but for different reasons. While Gendarme Richard takes Matteo’s statement, she and André talk outside. This statue is hollow and is a fake, because bronze pieces of that period were always solid. But she doesn’t believe Dr. Aligiah and his son are guilty. Jean receives a text from Dom and rushes out to meet him at La Corroune for a drink.

Judith shows them the box John gave her and asks Jean to explain its contents. Jean explains memento mori – family group photographs featuring both the living and the deceased. Judith is not pleased. “I bid on dead people?!” (Except technically she didn’t because John outbid her.) But Jean’s moving on to a new idea, thanks to those creepy photographs. She and Dom visit Gaynor while Nellie is out on an errand. She shows Gaynor the picture that gave Nellie an alibi for that night. Gaynor is left-handed, but in the photograph, she is holding her drink in her right hand. She would never use her right hand, particularly when drunk. Jean suggests that Nellie was drugged and posed her.

Jean searches Nellie’s side of the room and finds a box of hairpins, similar to the ones she uses. But the one Dom found on the library floor is for dark hair, whereas Jean uses ones for blonde hair. She is convinced it’s Nellie’s, and she used it to pick the lock of the cabinet that held the statue. Sure enough, she finds the intact statue rolled up in a towel, and asks Gaynor to call Nellie and ask her to go to the police station. 

Jean and André confront her with the theft of the statue and the attack. In addition, Nellie’s name, under its formal version of Helen, was also on the list of Aligiah’s students. All she’d had to do that night was wait until Gaynor passed out, take the moped, and steal the statue, leaving the broken duplicate behind. She needed money, and she’d already found a buyer in Paris.

Back at the shop, John is all charm, introducing his mother to Jean and her friends, and insisting on buying champagne for them. However, the thief who had stolen Judith’s necklace just isn’t having a good day. He tries to rob the bar at La Couronne and meets up with John again – terrified, he rushes out. Everything ends happily, with Thomas on the road to recovery and the library’s reputation intact. Meanwhile, Jean will probably be very relieved when John moves on to mischief elsewhere.

The Madame Blanc Mysteries Season 4 continues with new episodes every Monday through August 4, 2025, on Acorn TV. Seasons 1 through 3 are available to stream on Acorn TV. You can also watch Seasons 1 and 2 on select PBS Passports – check your local streaming services.