A QUESTION OF IDENTITY

This is a mildly disappointing outing for dependable, rural Inspector Rudd, here slogging through even less densely populated environs than usual: two isolated farmhouses, betwixt which a long-buried corpse is turned up in an archaeological dig. Attention soon focuses on the surly, taciturn grouping at the Lovell farm--two brothers (one retarded), their abandoned sister-in-law, and a fierce dog. While the constabulary tests the bodily remains for traces of an identity, Thomson tests our patience by giving us just enough grunty bits of Lovell Conversation to let us know that they've got a secret. Is the corpse their missing, ne'er-do-well brother? The answer may come as a mild surprise--but one that hardly makes the plodding, talky proceedings seem worth the trudge.