Fictional Detective & Editor Cross Paths in Episode 2 of 'Magpie Murders'

As this second installment of Magpie Murders begins, viewers are plunged right back into Alan Conway’s final Atticus Pünd novel. We learn that a second death has occurred in Saxby-on-Avon at Pye Hall, and there’s no doubt this one is murder.

The lord of the manor, Sir Magnus Pye (Lorcan Cranitch), has been decapitated by a sword displayed with a suit of armor in his grand foyer. (Like Alan Conway, Sir Magnus was not a popular fellow, so it’s anyone’s guess who might be the killer.) Atticus Pünd sees a newspaper article about the murder of the wealthy landowner and recalls that Joy Sanderling, a recent visitor to his office, was also from Saxby-on-Avon. He muses that two violent deaths in the same house just weeks apart are likely connected. He and his assistant, James Fraser, set off for Pye Hall to examine the pattern of these deaths and how they may be related.

In a clever plot device, Susan Ryeland crosses paths with Pünd on her way to Suffolk in her red open-top sports car. Susan’s first stop is a visit to Alan’s solicitor, Sajid Khan, to discuss the day he found his client dead at the foot of the tower. He tells her he was there to change Alan’s will but knew nothing of his health or the location of the manuscript. Khan suggests she try Conway’s partner, James Taylor, to see if he will grant her access to Alan’s house, Abbey Grange.