Just a week after a tearful goodbye to Dr. Emily Grace, Murdoch Mysteries is introducing a new character.

Rebecca James, played by Mouna Traoré (Rookie Blue, The Book of Negroes), appears for the first time in tonight’s new episode, “Barenaked Ladies,” as the morgue’s cleaner. Julia is back as the coroner in Station House No. 4 and working on a corpse when Rebecca shows up for her overnight shift.

“Over time I become suspect that she knows a lot more than she’s letting on,” Hélène Joy told me during a set visit earlier this year. “She knows anatomy, she seems to be pulling in the environment, so Julia starts giving her books to read, and over time it becomes really obvious that she’s much more than she admits.” Not much is known about Rebecca at this point, but that changes in the weeks ahead when a bit of detective work reveals much more about Rebecca’s life and what brought her to Canada.

Mirroring real events in history as Murdoch Mysteries does, not everyone is happy with the attention Julia is giving to an African American woman.

As for the rest of Monday’s episode, it’s much lighter in tone than last week’s swan song. There’s still a body count, but Carol Hay’s script calls for several light moments too, including the usual stuff from Crabtree and a couple of zingers from Julia.

And the case of the week? A brilliantly twisted story based on an iconic piece of art you’ll have to see to believe.

Murdoch Mysteries airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC.