Queens of Mystery

Some prodigious children

display a gift for music.

Others for chess or spelling.

Even at an early age,

Matilda had a keenly developed interest in murder...

not, it must be said, in the committing of them...

...but in the solving.

With her mother missing and her paternity unknown,

Matilda occasionally wondered

what it would be like to have a father.

But despite her early aptitude for the art of detection,

some small part of her knew that certain questions

were better left unasked...

...and unanswered.

Subtitles by explosiveskull

Sir.

I have an important case for you, Stone.

Inspector Thorne believed that everything in life

has to be earned.

Ringo the dachshund is missing.

But having solved a double murder

so early in her career...

Not high-profile enough?

...Matilda now needed bringing down a peg or two.

A zero-tolerance policy, sir.

Very sound policing. I'm all over it.

Right.

Precisely eight miles, four yards,

and two inches away,

in the private recording studio of rock legend Sir Ray Ives,

drummer Viv Collins

was surfacing from her all-too-familiar nightmare.

Kumquat.

And where more sensitive souls

preferred silence in the wake of a raging hangover,

Viv had always favored picking up her sticks.

Oh, God.

Meanwhile...

Meanwhile, across from the studio in the main house,

one half of perhaps the most ill-matched couple

in southern England was suddenly gripped by regret.

I... Uh, yeah, it's a message for Steven.

We've arrived. Everything's cool.

We're ready to get rocking in the studio,

so to speak, so call me back.

It's Len. Savage.

I should never have let you persuade me to come.

Really? You're doing this?

We haven't put out an album for 10 years.

No one's interested in us, not anymore,

and we're still called Volcanic Youth.

It's embarrassing.

You know, I worked my ass off to get this deal.

I thought you'd be over the moon like everyone else, but...

Anyway, it's too late to change your mind.

The deal's already been done.

And you'd hold me to that?

Well, as your husband, maybe not.

But as your manager, yeah, I will.

And when did you last see Ringo?

Well, he vanished this morning in the woods

on the edge of town.

- It's true, then. - What is?

That Volcanic Youth are recording a reunion record

up at Trent House.

Ringo loved their music.

Where most would hear only silence,

Kurt Lee picked up on the slow drip of a bathroom tap...

...a buzzing fly caught in a web...

...and the low croak of a distant raven.

After 33 years of varying degrees of fame,

Electra Bliss was still committed

to making a grand entrance whenever humanly possible.

Well, hello, you lovely people.

To be clear, I did want to give you all a ride in the limo,

but spoilsport Len wouldn't allow it.

Well, you lot are like the royal family.

I can't risk you all traveling together, can I?

Hope you got my arrival, Jonas.

It was Jonas Wimmer's firm belief

that despite the relative obscurity

of the now mostly forgotten

new-wave rock band Volcanic Youth,

his film about them was destined to clean up

at a future awards season.

And so he had dedicated himself to interviewing

the remaining members of the band and their manager.

Um, could you take your glasses off?

No.

Although his style was less fly-on-the-wall

than fly-in-your-face.

Give it a rest, Jonas.

Oh.

I see you still got the jacket.

One previous owner... Janis Joplin.

I got it when "Twenty Seven"

reached number three in the charts.

Worn it for luck ever since.

I'm surprised it hasn't finally fallen apart by now.

I look after things that are important to me.

Unlike some people.

Aunt Cat?

Cat?

Oh, hello, kid.

Everything all right?

I just heard Volcanic Youth are recording

up at Sir Ray Ives' studio.

Matilda knew that despite some early promise,

Cat's involvement with Volcanic Youth

had ended for a number of reasons...

...the most significant of which

was her becoming pregnant

after a misjudged drunken encounter with a doting fan.

This broke the heart of her first great love,

caused irreparable rifts in the band,

and would result, seven months, four days, and one hour later,

in Cat being unable to commit

to a make-or-break tour

of the dive bars and beer halls of Western Europe.

I'm sorry, I can't.

Not like this.

She's right. She looks like a whale.

Oh, who cares?

Volcanic Youth stopped being relevant years ago.

Cuppa?

Only later, when Matilda had gone,

would Cat's bravado subside,

and she'd once again entertain thoughts

of what might have been,

both musically...

...and with the woman she had once envisaged

spending her life with.

Ringo!

Ringo, come on!

Ringo!

Are you sure you want to do this, Cat?

I'll be fine.

Despite Cat's determination to rebuild bridges

with her former bandmates,

her sisters, Beth and Jane, saw only troubled waters ahead.

I'm not sure this is such a good idea.

- Because of Nikki? - Yeah.

So tell me about Nikki.

Well, Volcanic Youth was, um...

Well, it was Nikki's idea, you know?

And we were young women, and it was a man's world,

and we had so much that we wanted to say.

Yeah, well, you know, everything changed.

Cat left, and then Nikki...

Yeah.

Nikki drowned in your manager's swimming pool

back in 1985.

Look, just because you die at 27,

it doesn't automatically make you a genius.

I didn't believe it when they told me

who was waiting at the gate.

Hey, Len. How are you?

Oh, you know, older, uglier,

still not as rich as I'd like to be,

but, hey, that's life.

Come.

Oh, it's like the studio time forgot.

Yeah, the label thought it would add authenticity to the album.

- Hey. - Hi.

Cat, this is Kurt Lee.

- Hiya. - Big fan, Miss Stone.

I loved the first two Volcanic Youth albums.

Your... Sorry, your bass, so raw, so urgent.

How do you capture that kind of energy?

Oh, no time, a bit of luck, and very limited musical ability.

Hey, guys. Might want to take a break.

We have a visitor.

Who's that?

The Sound & the Fury.

Mr. Cardosa, it's D.S. Stone.

I have some bad news.

I can't believe Cat Stone is actually

hanging in the studio with us.

You still play much?

No, not really.

Focused on my writing.

Oh, those graphic novels of yours.

I've read a few.

They're good.

So does that mean I'm still safe, you know,

as the new bassist?

- Yeah, you're safe. - Good.

You know, I was trying to remember, Cat,

when the last time was that I saw you,

and then I realized that it was...

It was, um, when...

when Nikki was still the lead singer.

This regrettable reference to Nikki Holler

would cast a long shadow over the reunion.

I need a fag.

Should we take a break?

Part of our revival, apparently.

- The price of fame, I guess. - Hmm.

So, what's your sprog doing now?

Oh, you know, the usual.