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CBS' "American Gothic" is like one of those somewhat trashy-but-engaging murder-mystery novels you take with you on summer vacation.

It's not going to win awards, but you can just immerse yourself in it and have fun.

This new show (Wednesday, 9 p.m., Ch. 2) — which has nothing to do with the "American Gothic" that CBS aired in 1995-96 — is dark, creepy and sort of crazy. It includes a preteen (Gabriel Bateman) who experiments on the neighbor's house cat and seems very much a future serial killer.

What that has to do with the main story is unclear in the first two episodes, although "American Gothic" revolves around crimes committed by a notorious serial killer.

Dubbed the Silver Bells Killer, he or she killed six prominent Bostonians from 1999-2002 — strangling them with a belt and leaving behind a small silver bell.

(The Silver Bells Killer and his/her crimes aren't really explained until Episode 2, which is sort of annoying. But not that big a deal.)

Fourteen years later, all of this becomes a problem for the high-and-mighty Hawthornes, who are wealthy pillars of Boston society. If someone in the family was involved, that would prove problematic for eldest daughter Alison (Susan Rylance), who's running for mayor of Boston.

She's also hiding a secret unrelated to the murder, as are several of her relatives.

As the series begins, family patriarch Mitchell (Jamey Sheridan) has a heart attack at a campaign event. While he's hospitalized, two of his children, perky Tess (Megan Ketch) and recovering drug addict Cam (Justin Chatwin), find a box full of silver bells on the estate — perhaps evidence that dear old Dad was the SBK? And if he was, did someone in the family help him commit the crimes?

There are multiple suspects. Family matriarch Madeline (Virginia Madsen) is acting particularly suspiciously. And there are reasons to wonder about more than one of her offspring.

So it's inconvenient that Tess is married to Boston PD detective Brady Ross (Elliot Knight), who's working the reopened SBK case.

The first and most obvious suspect is Garret (Antony Starr), the sinister elder son who left Boston and the family behind 14 years earlier — just when the SBK stopped murdering people — and returns just when new clues are uncovered.

But the most obvious suspect is never the real killer, right? Unless the writers know we think that and are using it to deceive us.

See? Isn't this fun?

Whodunit? After screening the first two episodes, I have no idea. But I'm engaged enough to keep watching to find out.

ALSO THIS WEEK • A couple of excellent series return — the comedy "The Jim Gaffigan Show" (Sunday, 11 p.m., TV Land) and the family drama "The Fosters" (Monday, 9 p.m., FreeForm).

So does the ever-dreadful "Big Brother" (Wednesday, 7 p.m., CBS/Ch. 2).

There are a couple of new dramas worth mentioning: "Greenleaf," a soap set inside a megachurch (Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 p.m., OWN), and "Thirteen," a British drama about a woman who escapes from the man who held her captive after 13 years (Thursday, 11 p.m., BBC America).

And the gadfly ESPN fired returns in "Any Given Wednesday With Bill Simmons" (Wednesday, 11 p.m., HBO), in which he'll vent about whatever he wants.

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.