Imported miniseries an enticing whodunit

There are several monsters in the mystery “Loch Ness,” but they’re all human.

The six-part miniseries makes its U.S. premiere today on the streaming service Acorn TV.

“Loch Ness,” created and written by Stephen Brady, is set in the towns around the famous Scottish lake, where tourism is a major enterprise and “Nessie” is a constant, if unseen, presence.

One night, some high-school students pull an elaborate prank on the beach, creating a fake monster body with animal parts. The kids — including Evie (Shona McHugh), daughter of local detective Annie Redford (Laura Fraser) — are appropriately reprimanded.

At the time, Annie is working with outof-town cop Lauren Quigley (Siobhan Finneran) to investigate the death of a man whose body is found at the base of a mountain. When a human heart is discovered among the animal parts on the beach, Evie’s involvement in the prank temporarily sidelines her mother from the increasingly complicated investigation.

If the eventual resolution of the cases — plural, because there are other deaths — is legitimately surprising, it’s in part because Brady has cast suspicion on so many people in the village.

Time and again, Brady nudges viewers to put two and two together before taking gleeful pleasure in dispelling their suspicions.

The mystery is somewhat overplotted, with scattered moments when we wouldn’t fully believe certain character decisions. But we’re already too invested not to want to know who’s responsible for the deaths of a music teacher, a socially awkward high-school kid and two of his classmates, not to mention a man anchored to the floor of the loch with a curling stone.

The eventual solution is monstrous.