WATERTOWN, NY (September 10, 2024) – MOONFLOWER MURDERS, a new six-part drama based on the best- selling novel written by Anthony Horowitz, CBE premieres Sundays at 9:00 pm, Starting September 15, 2024 on WPBS-TV. A sequel to the acclaimed 2022 MASTERPIECE adaptation of Horowitz’s Magpie Murders, MOONFLOWER MURDERS is executive produced by Jill Green and Eleventh Hour Films and adapted by Horowitz. BBC is the UK partner on the series.
Anthony Horowitz said: “We had a fantastic response to Magpie and, speaking personally, it was a joy bringing Susan Ryeland and Atticus Pünd to life on the screen. There are lots of surprises in the second book, including something I’ve never done before in a murder mystery. It’s going to be great fun.”
Returning in the lead roles they originated in Magpie Murders are Academy Award-nominee Lesley Manville (The Crown, Phantom Thread) as editor turned sleuth Susan Ryeland and Timothy McMullan (Patrick Melrose, The Crown) as famous literary detective Atticus Pünd.
MASTERPIECE executive producer Susanne Simpson said, “We’re delighted to partner with Eleventh Hour Films on another ingenious mystery from Anthony Horowitz. Magpie Murders was a hit with our audience, who loved its clever storytelling of a mystery-within-a-mystery. It’s thrilling to know that Lesley and Tim will be returning to MASTERPIECE in MOONFLOWER MURDERS.”
More than 5.5 million viewers watched Magpie Murders and the series has been streamed over 3.1 million times. The press were fans, too, with the Los Angeles Times writing, “It has everything you want in a British mystery,” and TV Guide dubbing it “a superior brainteaser.”
Executive Producer Jill Green said: “We had the best reviews ever for an Eleventh Hour Films drama, which was hugely satisfying given the creative attention given over to every aspect of the series, by every member of cast and crew. So, it is wonderful to be all returning again with the equally complicated and riveting MOONFLOWER MURDERS.”
MOONFLOWER MURDERS is the second novel in Horowitz’s Susan Ryeland series. Published in 2020, it was lauded as “a fiendishly plotted crime novel, with a fabulous twist” by the Guardian and picks up where Magpie Murders left off: Susan has left the cut-throat world of publishing and is living in Crete with her longtime boyfriend, Andreas. She ends up returning to London when she is asked to investigate a mystery relating to Alan Conway, the author of the best- selling Atticus Pünd mysteries, whose death changed her life in Magpie Murders.
SEASON DESCRIPTION
Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) has left publishing and is living in Crete with her long-time boyfriend, Andreas. But her idyll is disturbed by the shadow of a murder committed at a British country hotel eight years ago. Alan Conway visited the hotel and wrote a novel based on what happened there. Cecily Treherne, the young woman who helps run the hotel, read the book and believed the wrong man had been arrested. Now she has disappeared. Can Susan uncover the secret hidden in the book and find Cecily before it is too late?
EPISODE DESCRIPTIONS
Episode One (September 15, 2024 at 9:00 pm)
Former book editor Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville, The Crown) is in Crete, running a struggling hotel with her partner Andreas when a couple arrive and ask Susan for help finding their missing daughter. They believe her disappearance is connected to a murder which happened at their own hotel in England as well as the Alan Conway novel that was inspired by the case. In the Conway novel “Atticus Pünd Takes The Case”, we meet the characters surrounding Melissa James, an ex-actress, many of whom she has altercations with before she is found strangled in her bedroom.
Episode Two (September 22, 2024 at 9:00 pm)
Susan checks into the Treherne’s hotel and meets Lisa, Cecily’s sister and Aiden, Cecily’s husband. As she investigates she learns more from the hotel night manage and spa manager, both of whom indicate that former employee Stefan was correctly found guilty in the murder of Frank Parris. In “Atticus Pünd Takes The Case”, Pünd and his assistant Madeline Cain journey to Melissa James’ home to investigate her murder. There they meet Detective Inspector Chubb and learn about possible suspects, including Melissa’s doctor and husband.
Episode Three (September 29, 2024 at 9:00 pm)
Susan decides to go to London to investigate what Alan Conway knew about the Frank Parris murder. DS Locke catches up with Susan and warns her to stay away from the case. In ‘Atticus Pünd Takes The Case’, spying, a Ponzi scheme and an affair all exposed as possible motives in the murder of Melissa James.
Episode Four (October 6, 2024 at 9:00 pm)
Susan meets with Alan’s ex-partner, who tells her that Alan knew Frank quite well. He also tells Susan that Frank had a relationship with a sex worker named Leo which could be a clue. In ‘Atticus Pünd Takes The Case’, Algernon discovers that Leonard and Samantha have received a large sum of money and have been concealing it from him. He threatens Leonard to share the money with him.
Episode Five (October 13, 2024 at 9:00 pm)
The Endicotts reveal that Martin Webster had a motive to kill Cecily. Liam Corby tells Susan that that he knows a secret of Lisa’s. Susan’s sister reminds Susan how much Andreas loves her, and what a good pair they make. In ‘Atticus Pünd Takes The Case’, Pünd reveals several conclusions he’s drawn about the murder of Melissa James.
Episode Six (October 20, 2024 at 9:00 pm)
Susan and Andreas visit Stefan in prison. With help from Pünd, Susan puts the pieces together to solve the cases of both Frank Parris and Cecily Treherne. In ‘Atticus Pünd Takes The Case’, Pünd reveals the identities of the killers with a shocking twist.
MOONFLOWER MURDERS will be available to stream in the U.S. on wpbstv.org, PBS.org, the PBS App and the PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Channel.
MOONFLOWER MURDERS is an Eleventh Hour Films production in association with Salt Films for MASTERPIECE and BBC One, and distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Television and PBS Distribution in North America.
About MASTERPIECE
Winner of 83 Primetime Emmys® and 18 Peabody Awards, MASTERPIECE has been essential Sunday night viewing for millions of fans since 1971. Susanne Simpson is the executive producer and Rebecca Eaton is the executive producer-at-large for the series. Series funding for MASTERPIECE is provided by Viking Cruises, Raymond James, The MASTERPIECE Trust, and public television viewers. Produced for PBS by GBH Boston, MASTERPIECE is known for hits such as All Creatures Great and Small, Sherlock, Downton Abbey and Victoria, and beloved classics such as Upstairs Downstairs, Prime Suspect, The Forsyte Saga and Poldark.
About WPBS
WPBS is a PBS station serving approximately 600,000 households throughout Northern New York and Eastern Ontario via cable, satellite, Internet and over-the-air distribution. WPBS is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and inspire diverse communities with exceptional and trusted content across multiple platforms. Its vision is to be the premier provider of relevant public service media that instills wonder and curiosity across generations and cultures. More information about WPBS, including a full channel listing, is available at wpbstv.org, or by following WPBS on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Download the free WPBS Mobile App to follow WPBS on the go.
