FOX’s cozy mystery series, Murder in a Small Town, returns Tuesday, September 23.
The coastal town has undergone significant changes in the past nine months. Cassandra has won a seat on the Gibsons Town Council, and some of Karl’s detectives have left.
Two things have not changed. Cassandra and Karl still adore each other, and murder and mayhem still find their way to this quiet coastal town.
TV Fanatic chatted with Kristin Kreuk and Rossif Sutherland about Cassandra and Karl’s relationship, Cassandra’s new nemesis, and the season-long mystery.
Check out the interview below.
It’s great to see you both again, and I’m excited for this season. Where is Karl and Cassandra’s relationship when Murder in a Small Town picks back up?
Rossif: We’re together. They haven’t said I love you to each other yet. I think Cassandra probably left the toothbrush at his place.
Kristin: Yes, maybe some pajamas.
Rossif: Pajamas and a tooth. That’s where we’re at.
Looking forward to it. So, how does the new mayor complicate things for them, and will this rivalry be more personal or professional?
Kristin: It’s fun. Marcia Gay Harden plays Mayor Christie Holman, and she and Cassandra have a long relationship because Christie was her family doctor when she was a teenager.
So, they have both a personal and a professional kind of connection and also tension.
Mayor Holman is attempting to pass a budget that benefits her, while Karl and Cassandra are working to preserve some of the resources that she believes the community needs, including social support and arts funding.
So, the mayor starts needling at Cassandra and poking at Karl to try and get them and their relationship to move the budget in the direction that she wants it to go.
How is that going to go without teasing too much? Is this going to be like the problems they’re going to have instead of doubting their relationship? Will it be a cat-and-mouse kind of fun?
Kristin: There will be some tension. Karl and Cassandra adore each other, and that relationship is solid. It’s just a question of how they built up the capacity to communicate and to deal with controversy within their relationship.
It is about them finding a path forward, and it will push them into serious conflict because there are times when the effects of this seemingly minor thing, the city budget, end up having massive repercussions on Karl’s police department.
So, it’s like, do you blame Cassandra? Is this Cassandra’s fault? Where is it? How do you support Cassandra and what she does? Therefore, they need to communicate effectively with each other to find a path forward.
Rossif: Coexisting when people don’t necessarily agree with each other. In many ways, Alburg is quite a conservative character, while Cassandra is more liberal. However, at the end of each night, they share a bed.
But it’s a question of how to make that relationship work when what the other needs is more relevant and essential in the immediacy of it. It doesn’t align with the person you share your life with. There’s conflict there, but all the while, they’re in love.
The Gibson police department looks different. How is Karl coping with losing some staff and working with a new Corporal?
Rossif: Well, that’s the nature of his line of work as a police chief. People come and go. He used to work in the big city himself, and here he is working in the small town. People are poached, and they have opportunities elsewhere. So, with the people going, new people come in.
We have a new cast member this year, played by Bethany Brown. She brings a lot of energy to these blue walls.
Kristin: She has a history with Karl’s character. So, there’s meat in there, and there’s some juice in there.
Murder in a Small Town has introduced Karl’s family, and we’re anxious to learn more about his mother’s art. Can you tease us with more information about the family history?
Rossif: I’m terrible with teasers. If you want to know, I’ll tell you.
Kristin: It’s a tiny tease.
There is a painting that they come across early on in Murder in a Small Town Season 2, which features this man and this boy, and it seems to have a profound effect on Karl.
That comes into play a few times. We don’t get to meet any of these characters or know a lot about them, but should there be another season? We would delve more deeply into Karl’s past.
Rossif: You’ll find out who the man is. The boy’s me, though.
Speaking of family, will we meet Cassandra’s mother this season?
Kristin: Actually, it’s funny, we haven’t talked about this yet, but yes, Cassandra’s mom shows up. Cassandra’s mom is good friends with Mayor Holman. So, the mayor keeps going, like, How’s your mom doing on her cruise? And Cassandra’s, like, fine.
However, her mom does show up late in the season, and she appears unexpectedly because she was supposed to be on this cruise for a long time. Cassandra and her mom have a funny relationship. It’s quite contentious, but in an amusing way.
But we start to discover that her mom may not be doing very well. And so that brings in some drama as well.
Oh, well, that is interesting because we’ve been wanting to meet more of Cassandra’s family and friends since we met Karl’s one daughter, and the other one is coming soon. So, we’ve been anxious to meet more of her family, too.
Kristin: We actually get to go inside Cassandra’s house.
Wow. That was a fun tease. Thank you, Kristin. What can you tease about the season-long mystery that’s coming?
Kristin: Holly Alberg brings to Cassandra this art project she’s working on because she’s been trying to do this photography project for school, and she wants to do something a little more artsy than just pretty vistas. She brings to Cassandra these memorial sites.
One of them is one of Cassandra’s friends from high school, who was killed in what she thinks is a hit-and-run.
But as Holly and Cassandra start digging into it, they start noticing some similarities between these different memorial sites, and it becomes an investigation into what they think could perhaps be murder.
That carries us through the majority of the season, from episode three until the final episode.
Wow. That’s going to be fun. So, we still might have some case of week stuff, but we’re also going to have a season-long mystery, too.
Kristin: The case of the week is still the structure of the show, but there are little teases as the episodes go by — a scene here, a couple of scenes there.
I think the fans will enjoy it. To wrap up, what do you both think the fans will like most about the new season?
Kristin: I think that the cases are great this season. There will be excellent guest stars delivering outstanding performances. But for me, and I’m biased because that’s the part of the show I’m in, but I think that the relationship stuff is beautiful, and we get to go deeper.
If we ever get to do the show again, just the promise of taking that relationship and exploring their story even more makes me really thrilled.
Rossif: Same.
Well, thank you so much for chatting with me again. My favorite part of the series is also watching the relationship between your characters evolve.
Murder in a Small Town returns Tuesday, September 23, at 8/7c on FOX and streams the next day on Hulu. Stay tuned for all of our coverage.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interviews like this take time and care — and we hope it shows.
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