Fox has made B.C.-filmed crime drama Murder in a Small Town part of its fall primetime lineup.

The murder mystery series will launch with a special 90-minute premiere on Sept. 24. Then the series moves to its regular primetime slot beginning Oct. 1.

The series is created by executive producer and writer Ian Weir (Arctic Air, Edgemont) for Vancouver-based Sepia Films and headed up by Tina Pehme and Kim Roberts, in association with Fox Entertainment and Jeff Wachtel’s Future Shack Entertainment. Other credits include executive producers Nick Orchard (Soapbox Productions), Morris Ruskin and Sharon Wisnia (Mojo Global Arts), as well as Jon Cotton.

The show is based on L.R. Wright’s nine-book Karl Alberg series and stars Canadian actors Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk. It follows a detective (Sutherland), who moves to a quiet coastal town to escape the stress of big-city police work, but soon discovers that the seemingly idyllic town harbours dark secrets, and he must use his detective skills to solve a series of murders.

The show is Fox’s first scripted commission coproduced with an international studio. Fox acquired all U.S. rights, Global picked up Canadian rights and ITV acquired international rights. The series is also slated for Global’s fall primetime schedule.

“Murder in a Small Town illustrates our ongoing strategy to identify and commission impactful global content in a smart and effective manner with proven creative partners, all of which we have found in Ian, Milan, Sepia Films and Future Shack,” said Michael Thorn, Fox Entertainment’s president, scripted programming in a statement.

Last fall Fox Entertainment inked a licensing and distribution deal with Bell Media to support the production of original Canadian content for CTV and Crave in Canada and Fox in the U.S.

Image courtesy of Fox Entertainment