A Victorian-era Toronto detective uses then-cutting edge forensic techniques to solve crimes, with the assistance of a female coroner who is also struggling for recognition in the face of tradition, based on the books by Maureen Jennings.
While the electrocution of a young woman leads Murdoch to a war between rival electricity suppliers, and no less than Nikola Tesla, Crabtree finds himself attracted to a suspect.
When a skeletal corpse falls to the stage during a performance, Murdoch discovers not only a sinister murder plot, but Brackenreidās secret love for the theatre.
By all appearances, Martians are responsible for the hanging death of Rouge Valley landowner Henri Gaston, a Martian-obsessed loner with a shop full of telescopes, charts and journals.