The Green Muse

"The Green Muse"
Season	2
Episode	5
Air date	March 3, 2009
Written by	Bobby Theodore
Directed by	Don McBrearty
Guest Stars	Tom McCamus as Judge Mitchell Wilson Krista Bridges as Ettie Weston Matthew Edison as Paul Wilson
Recurring	Lachlan Murdoch as Henry Higgins
Previous	Houdini Whodunit
Next	Shades of Grey

"The Green Muse" is the fifth episode of the second season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the eighteenth episode of the series. It first aired on March 3, 2009.

Summary

Detective Murdoch investigates the murder of a prostitute, Cora Devereaux, in a posh bordello. The girl was garroted and had only been working there for about six months. She was popular with the establishment's clientèle and according to the house's madame, Ettie Weston, who had that evening removed one particularly obsessed customer, Arthur Webster, a well-known artist.

The autopsy reveals that the dead woman had been drinking absinthe and shows no defensive wounds but did have old scarring from possibly having been whipped. In addition to the artist, suspicion falls on a prominent judge who eventually admits he awoke in the woman's room and found her dead, but remembers nothing else. The solution to the murder is nearby, however.

Character Revelations

• The normally tee-totaling William Murdoch consumes alcohol, albeit as an experiment.

Continuity

• Julia and Murdoch begin their romantic relationship in this episode with their first kiss, that is not a fantasy.

Historical References

• This episode takes place in Toronto 1896 – Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 1819 - 1901) is Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and Empress of India.
• Absinthe is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from botanicals, including the flowers and leaves of Artemisia absinthium ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and medicinal herbs.  It is referred to in historical literature as "la fée verte" (the green fairy). Absinthe originated in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland in the late 18th century. It rose to great popularity as an alcoholic drink in late 19th and early 20th-century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers, by 1915 it was banned in the US and Europe.
• The Electric Car is introduced.

Trivia

• First time electroplating is mentioned when the combustible toluene is found in the carpet water.

Notable Quotes

Julia to William,"Peanut butter and jelly. Who would have thought?"

Cast

Main Cast

Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch
Hélène Joy as Julia Ogden
Thomas Craig as Thomas Brackenreid
Jonny Harris as George Crabtree

Recurring Cast

Lachlan Murdoch as Henry Higgins

Guest Cast

Tom McCamus as Judge Mitchell Wilson
Krista Bridges as Ettie Weston
Matthew Edison as Paul Wilson
Jonathan Potts as Levi Beecher
Michael McMurtry as Arthur Webster
Jim Chad as Brothel Patron
Pamela Mars as Prostitute

Gallery

Green Muse Crime scene

Motorcar meets Bicycle

First Kiss

Higgins shows Brackenreid the Temperance Movement notice

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