"Devices and Desires," the sixth of the Dalgliesh novels adapted for British TV, was also the last time filmmakers let a James tale play out at novel-like length; subsequent adaptations have been just two or two-and-a-half hours long, a result of eliminating some characters and plot lines. The six-part, five-hour-plus "Devices," however, is the novel intact, including all the red herrings that make good mysteries work.

Like several of James' novels, "Devices" takes place outside Commander Dalgliesh's usual London jurisdiction. Dalgliesh is visiting Larksoken, a (fictional) seaside village in Norfolk in eastern England, to settle the estate of a recently deceased aunt. It's only a few years since the Chernobyl disaster and there's a lot of anxiety among some locals over Larksoken's nuclear power plant. There also happens to be a serial killer on the loose, a strangler dubbed the Whistler. The stage is set for Dalgliesh to have anything but a relaxing time in his aunt's converted windmill far from the madding crowd.