Paula Pell couldnât have predicted that her new show, âMapleworth Murders,â would premiere amid a global pandemic. Still, the actor-comedian is hopeful the short-form series will help to âreset tired and stressed hearts and mindsâ in challenging times.
âMapleworth Murdersâ is a modern â and deliberately zany â take on an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery that winks at âMurder, She Wroteâ and is laden with playful (and queer-inclusive) innuendo.
Pell stars as Abigail Mapleworth, a mystery novella author who moonlights as a homicide detective in the quaint, New England-style town of New Woodstream. (Catch a new trailer for the series above.)
In Mondayâs three-part series debut, âA Murdererâs Beef,â Abigail is showing her Gen Z niece, Heidi (Hayley Magnus), around town when the pair stumble upon the corpse of a local butcher who appears to have been done in by a cut of his own meat.
Beloved for her longtime stint as a writer for âSaturday Night Live,â Pell co-wrote âMapleworth Murdersâ with fellow âSNLâ alum John Lutz, who appears in the show as Gilbert, a sweet-natured local cop. When Lutz approached her with the idea of a comedy-mystery focused on an eccentric crime solver, Pell says she was âin immediately.â Together, the co-creators tapped a number of their pals, including Fred Armisen, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph, to make guest appearances.
âI have always loved watching âMurder, She Wroteâ and as a lifetime theater nerd, Angela Lansbury is my spirit animal,â she told HuffPost in an email. âWe created a loving tribute because we love that show and yes, we made it funnier and a little dirtier.â
As seen in the early episodes of âMapleworth Murders,â Gilbertâs feelings for Abigail extend beyond neighbourly kinship. The scribe-turned-sleuth, however, prefers the company of her cats and her handywoman (played by Pellâs real-life fiancĂ©e, Janine Brito).
Pell has said her decision to play Abigail as a not-quite-subtly queer woman âcame naturally.â
âAll of us grew up with that one aunt that shared expenses with another friend,â she told The Advocate in a Monday interview. âThey baked together, and youâre like, âHow long have they shared an apartment, you know, just for safety reasons?â I love those old-timey ladies that are also just queer as hell.â
Though she and Lutz had planned to celebrate their new series âat a crowded steam room, like we prefer all our premieres,â Pell would like âMapleworth Murdersâ to offers viewers a welcome respite from their pandemic-focused reality.
âLaughter is a true form of self-care,â she said, âand I am honoured to be providing some of it.â
New episodes of âMapleworth Murdersâ premiere on Quibi Monday.