Lucy Lawless Is Both Sassy And Savvy In ‘My Life Is Murder’

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I noticed the murder mystery show, My Life is Murder, starring Lucy Lawless as Alexa Crowe, on Prime’s Acorn channel last year. It was interesting and compelling, but it appeared to have ended. Now, new episodes are hitting, and she’s once again solving crimes and offering tantalizing insights into her life as a widowed ex-cop who can’t help but piss everyone off while she solves crimes and saves the day.  

With the new season, the show launches in a new location (New Zealand) instead of Australia, but Alexa is still a tenacious private investigator, solving crimes with her super geek sidekick Madison Feliciano (Ebony Vagulans) and her cat. Madison’s presence is explained by the fact that she just shows up to help Alexa. She says that she’s taken a sabbatical and makes a deal with Alexa to stay for a while to offer her cyber-sleuthing support.  

Lucy Lawless is from New Zealand, so the change in setting makes sense. She brought the show home. After a year of shutdown, with the pandemic, it seems like the most logical choice. She says, “The world is scary out there, so it’s like, ‘Come into my parlor.’ It’s like pulling back, opening the door into some secret, giant garden and you are welcome there. Everything works out nice at the end of the hour, you’re going to feel good, and I think people are really missing that right now.” 

Something About Madison 

And, really, aside from some gorgeous backdrops and a few main characters, the setting change hasn’t changed the show that much. The important thing is that Madison is still the quirky and amazing sidekick with a heart of gold. In an interview, Lawless says that Ebony was willing to move to New Zealand for a while, which was important.  

Lawless says about her co-star: “We were her first serious job, and I just saw her and went, ‘I’ll have you thank you.’ Because not only do I get the feeling that she would be a cool person to be chained to for a long time. She’s such a star.” 

Beyond the irreplaceable Madison, Lucy’s kitchen looks very similar in the new season. She’s still making sourdough bread and selling her loaves to a local café. So, whenever it looks like she might get kicked off a case, she always has her “job” of baking bread to fall back on. Even though baking bread has been such a big part of Alexa’s coping and apparently even part of her crime-solving process, she seems a bit put off when the café owner, Reuben (Joe Naufahu), tells her she should add a signature glaze to differentiate her brand.  

Alexa wants to know that the patrons are eating and enjoying her bread, but she doesn’t ever quite make a leap to productize her loaves. Her four loaves are enough as a side gig. Perhaps it’s just something, too, that keeps her busy when it’s been a slow crime-fighting day. It’s as true to the show and characters as the cat that’s constantly in the home-based scenes, making Madison sneeze.  

What About the Guest Stars? 

Beyond moving the entire show to New Zealand, with writers, crew, and all, Lawless also managed to tie in a whole cadre of guest stars, which are all fit into the plot with a good deal of creative force. She says, “I love Martin Henderson coming on, and Bill Shatner and Jay Ryan. And, oh my gosh, obviously, Renee O’Connor is the dream cast for me. And to bring her to play with me on Murder space is really fun.” 

You might remember that Henderson is famous for his role as the love-struck Jack on Virgin River. Everyone knows Shatner’s many claims to fame, among which is the infamous Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek. Beyond his other many roles, Jay Ryan once appeared with Lawless on the internationally acclaimed Xena: Warrior Princess. O’Connor is another Xena alum. She was Xena’s sidekick, and they’ve been looking for an excuse to work together ever since.  

The Show Must Go On 

I love the show dynamics, but the plot lines are also intriguing. We have hypnosis, drag queens, pro cycling, a walk-in freezer murder, and more. Of course, the cases all have elements of incredulousness, which is why Alexa is called in to investigate the case. If they were all cut-and-dry, why would they need a special investigator, right?  

Lawless sums it up quite nicely: “I like that she’s a modern urban woman. She’s 53, and she has a love life, and she’s solving crimes and baking bread and just being her crazy self. She doesn’t care what other people think. We all want to be just a little bit more like that, I think.” 

Have you had a chance to see My Life is Murder? What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments below.

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