Amelia Ernst is a fan of author George Crabtree, introduced in Season 13 of Murdoch Mysteries, portrayed by Sarah Swire.
Appearances and Mentions
Things Left Behind
- Amelia abducts George Crabtree with a gun as he steps out of Union Station, commanding him not to speak. After taking him to her room and tying him to a chair, she introduces herself as a fan and tells him, "I want to talk about Pearl Smythe." Crabtree doesn't know who that is. At least, not until Amelia clarifies. "You call her Rhoda - Aunt Rhododendron." Amelia wants George's help to find her. "Aunt Rhoda" is Amelia's mother.
- When Crabtree states that he can't help her, Amelia presses her hand against his throat, telling him that he has to or else he won't leave the room alive. Crabtree says he'll tell her everything he knows, but that's all he can promise. Amelia apologizes for choking him - sometimes she can get a little... unhinged.
- Crabtree asks for some water as a cover to try and untie himself, but Amelia catches him. She bashes him over the side of his head with an iron before breaking his ankle with the same weapon.
- Later, she's seen bandaging his ankle and apologizing once again. "I had no choice," she claims. "You understand that, don't you?" Crabtree nods and begins to tell her about his Aunt Rhoda. "She really was a wonderful woman," he finishes. Amelia seems entranced by the story. "Tell me more?" she asks.
- Crabtree claims that the last time he saw Aunt Rhoda was during autumn. She'd gotten a job as a seamstress in Halifax. This both angers and confuses Amelia. That's where her mother had abandoned her. She begins to cry but Crabtree tells her that he lied. "Why?" Amelia asks. "Because I can't help you find your mother," he says. "She's dead." Amelia looks down at him with tears in her eyes.
The Future is Unwritten
- "My mother was a prostitue," Amelia states while sitting on her bed. She begins to take off her cross necklace. George asks what she's doing, and she replies, "she was my mother. If that's what she was, maybe that's what I am too." Amelia attempts to seduce George, who resists and tells her she doesn't want this life. Amelia backs off when she hears him explain about his sweetheart, Effie.
- Later, Amelia cheerfully exclaims that she has an idea. "We are going to make everything better." She grabs a large knife to cut George's restraints off, which he at first takes as her trying to kill him. "You are going to write me story that does my mother's memory justice!" George thought she wanted the truth. "We can write our own truth," Amelia replies.
- Amelia seems to be liking George's story so far. He asks if he can be let go, but Amelia just laughs. "Where will you go on that foot of yours?"
- George finishes the story to Amelia's liking, but she explains it's merely a fairy tale. "I wanted a mother who loved me. Not one that would throw me away." George tries to reason that perhaps her mother leaving was for the best, but Amelia doesn't hear. "Nobody cares about me," she says.
- "I care about you," George counters. He asks to be let go; he will say nothing of what really happened. Amelia asks why. "We've both been abandoned, we've both sought comfort in stories," George explains. He promises to say nothing of this as long as Amelia goes out to write her own story. Amelia is last seen giving him a genuine smile.
Season 14
Rough and Tumble (Mentioned)
Everything is Broken Part 2
Season 15
The Things We Do for Love Part 1
Sweet Amelia
Trivia
- Sarah Swire creates music under the moniker Sister Swire and she is quoted as saying, "I have never experienced a creative process like I have here."