(Credit: Netflix)

There once was a billionaire banker. One of the richest men in the world. But one day, all of a sudden, he dies locked inside his own marble bathroom in a Monaco penthouse. Neither shot nor poisoned. He suffocates. Trapped while smoke fills the room. And right outside that door? The nurse who started the fire. At least, that’s what he eventually admitted to. But the reasons why? That’s where everything gets murky, and probably the reason Murder in Monaco is trending on Netflix.

It all starts with Edmond Safra. Not a celebrity name for most people, but this man was seriously old money,y billionaire. He was a private banker and the kind who dealt with governments, royals… You know, the ultra-elite. Super private, super secure. The kind of guy who lived in a Monaco penthouse with full-time security and a private medical staff. In short, you are not breaking into that world easily. And yet, somehow, something still went horribly wrong.

On the night of December 3rd, 1999, a fire broke out in his building. At first, nobody knows how bad it is. Then it spreads. Safra is trapped in a bathroom along with one of his nurses, Vivian Torrente. They are waiting for help that never comes. By the time firefighters get to them, it’s too late. They are both gone, and not from burns, but from the smoke. And right there, in the middle of all that mess, there is only one person still standing: another nurse, an American named Ted Maher.

This guy wasn’t even supposed to be there long-term. He had written letters and practically begged to work for Safra. Got hired. Got in. And now, just weeks later, he is at the centre of a death investigation that shakes Monaco to its core. His story doesn’t hold. First, he says intruders broke in. Then he admits he set the fire himself, but not to hurt anyone. He says he just wanted to create a small emergency, something that would make him look brave and prove himself. All he wanted was to earn some trust. Except the fire didn’t stay small. And two people died.

Maher is arrested, charged and convicted. He serves time for arson that caused death. But that’s not the end of it. Years later, he escapes from prison. Yes, a full escape. However, he gets caught and does interviews while telling the story differently every time. And then, in the 2010s, he somehow ends up in the US, accused of trying to hire someone to commit murder. Same guy.

The documentary doesn’t hype this up. All it does is sit with the facts and the interviews while weighing the contradictions. You hear Maher talk, and it’s slow and completely confusing. And that’s what makes it so uncomfortable. You never quite land on a version that explains everything. There is too much missing. Or maybe too much is being left out on purpose.

By the end of it, you’re left wondering: was this just about one man trying too hard to impress someone powerful? Or was it something else entirely, something nobody ever got to the bottom of? Whatever it is, it stayed buried for years. And now that it’s back in the spotlight, you can’t miss it.