Stick Together

Paris police commissaire Anne Capestan and her department of cast-offs investigate the murder of Capestan’s ex-father-in-law, police commissaire Serge Rufus, in this sterling sequel to 2018’s The Awkward Squad. Capestan is hoping her unusual team and their unorthodox methods can show up the two other more prestigious departments also assigned to the case. They are able to link Rufus’s murder to two others, all of which connect to a 1992 bank robbery in Lyon. The twists and turns in the plot feel more like an actual police case than contrived story lines. Vignettes of each of the officers’ private lives highlight their oddities and make them more endearing. Welcome comedic elements include a chase on a borrowed pony by one team member, who believes himself to be a king’s musketeer, and a second officer’s participation in an international clothes ironing competition. That another squad member proves to have a connection to the case muddies the investigative waters. Full of heart, wit, and lovable characters, Hénaff’s quirky procedural is a winner. [em](Apr.) [/em]