Anthony Horowitz Says 'Magpie Murders' Is His Best Adaptation Yet

Though it does not have an announced release date yet, Masterpiece's Susanne Simpson confirmed in January that Magpie Murders was planned for a 2022 release, probably in the second half of the year. The series stars Lesley Manville (World On Fire) as Susan Ryeland, mystery author Alan Conway's long-time editor. Conway is best known for his well-received series of novels centering upon the detective Atticus Pünd. However, when he fails to deliver a manuscript on time, Ryeland turns up to see what's gone wrong, only to find him dead and his final manuscript the key to whodunit.

The novel is not exactly a straightforward translation, especially because Ryeland doesn't even show up for the first 200 or so pages, and when she does, we don't learn a lot about her. Instead, the reader experiences her reading the book and having ongoing conversations in her mind with Pünd, the fictional lead detective in it. Entire chapters occur as she sits in a chair reading, not exactly the stuff of action-adventure. Many times, the action moved from the period set mystery Conway was writing to the present and back again without much warning.

Telling a story within a story is already tricky, but this mystery within a mystery sometimes becomes wheels within wheels, and Ryeland gets closer to solving it. But Anthony Horowitz, who wrote the novel and is adapting it for the screen, tells Deadline he believes this version is "the first time I've really got it right," when it comes to capturing his work exactly on screen as it was meant to be done.