HUBBERT AND LIL

The forced-humor debut of T.S. Hubbert, a newly retired personnel director, and his octogenarian, quaintly bizarre Auntie Lil—the two of whom, archly analyzing the clues, unravel the murders connected with the stodgy, genteelly posh private bank Sterling & Sterling. The first murder, of unlikable partner Robert Cheswick, finds the victim with his fly undone and his old paperweight missing; the next finds another partner dead on his boat, fly undone, with a pitcher of margaritas nearby, and a new trinket he'd purchased missing; and the third death finds the treasurer at his country house, fly flapping open, and a book of his ``borrowed.'' As T.S. and Lil wrestle with the something old, something new, something borrowed, etc., refrain, they dredge up an old Sterling & Sterling scandal: gang rape on a naive, young secretary that led to illegitimacy and dishonor. Will T.S. and Lil find the murderer before ``something blue'' pops up? You betcha, but not before many wretchedly improbable conversations with cops, staff members, and each other. First in what has the look of being a stilted, amateurish series.