The Madame Blanc Mysteries Holiday Special, on Acorn TV

They do not have many White Christmases in the South of France, but the British expats still take their figgy pudding seriously. In this case, Jean White’s latest holiday special will be more like Holiday Inn, the chain rather than the movie. She and her friends have been invited to a free Christmas getaway at an exclusive hotel, but one of their hosts turns up dead in the latest “Holiday Special” episode of creators Sally Lindsay & Sue Vincent’s The Madame Blanc Mysteries, which premieres tomorrow on Acorn TV.

Jeremy and Judith Lloyd James, White’s “friends from the chateau” are kicking the tires on a potential hotel investment, so they invite her and some friends to help them give it a test drive. Of course, she invites Dom Hayes, who has become her full-fledged boyfriend after the last two seasons (which kicked off with her dodgy husband’s untimely death). He also invited along Police Chief Andre Caron, since he was facing his first holiday on his own. The last two years have also been bruising to his ego, since “Madame Blanc” has been solving all the murders in town before he can.

In a way, this will be a busman’s holiday for Caron, because their hosts are planning a murder-mystery party. Soon, it turns into a real busman’s holiday when the co-owner of the Hotel Sanguinet is murdered during the party players' performance.

Madame Blanc’s mysteries are about as cozy they come, so it will not bother fans one whit that this one is rather simplistic. Instead, viewers just continue to enjoy seeing realistic-looking, somewhat “middled-aged” adults like White and Hayes getting to play at being Hart to Hart. Plus, the French Mediterranean locales are like exotic travel-porn. “Cozy” is definitely the word for this series.

Regardless, you would hardly know it was Christmas, or any other “holiday” from this “Holiday Special.” On the other hand, the Sanguinet has a ghostly backstory that adds some tragic dimension to the mystery.

That said, fans will not really care about the particulars, because co-creator-star Sally Lindsay and Steve Edge (who was responsible for the best work in Maxine) as so cozy with each other and in their roles as White and Hayes. Robin Askwith and Sue Holderness are also rather charmingly snobby as the Lloyd Jameses, while Alex Gaumond’s Caron is slightly less silly than your average Inspector Lastrade (but only slightly).

If you are still under sixty, you might feel like you are too young for The Madame Blanc Mysteries, but at least the series delivers something new for Christmas. It knows its audience and it completely fulfills their expectations. Recommended for the coziest cozy fans, The Madame Blanc Mysteries Holiday Special 2023 starts streaming tomorrow (Christmas Day) on Acorn TV.