'Moonflower Murders' Unfurls More Mystery in Episode 2

As Moonflower Murders returns for its second installment, Susan is dwelling on her guilt in encouraging Alan Conway to use the real-life murder of Frank Parris as the inspiration for Atticus Pünd Takes the Case. She flashes back to eight years ago, meeting with him for lunch when he was awash in writer’s block. Conway showed her a story he was drawn to in the paper, Parris’ death, with the setting of a wedding, was especially juicy story fodder. Susan egged him on as his editor, and with Conway’s novel now implicated, she feels personally responsible for Cecily’s disappearance. At least she gets a reprieve driving her sexy red convertible on the familiar streets of London again. 

On the way to the Trehernes’ hotel, real life and the world of Conway’s novel converge as Susan’s car crosses paths with the vehicle that Atticus Pünd and his assistant, Madeline Cain (Pippa Bennett-Warner), are riding in. Upon arrival, Lawrence Treherne shows Susan to the Moonflower Wing, pointing out Room 12, where Parris died. Susan stops to pet Chase, Cecily’s dog. Lawrence warns Susan that their daughter Lisa, sister of the disppeared, can be direct; Susan discovers how much he isn't kidding over lunch when Lisa demands to know how much she’s being paid to read a book. Lisa is bitter that Cecily and Aiden took over the cottage she used to live in; she calls Aiden lazy and resents the division of labor at the hotel; she snidely notes Cecily was pregnant before the wedding and calls Aiden a fast mover; she insinuates Cecily may have faked her disappearance. Lawrence is horrified, and Lisa insists he never knew his daughter. 

After Lisa walks out, Susan asks Lawrence about her facial scar, which she's had since she was a child, when Cecily threw a glass at her, smashing Lisa’s face. Lawrence then asks about Alan Conway — why did he use their family in his book? Susan’s guilt is tweaked again; she says Conway liked to play games.

In Conway’s book, we are back to the mystery of the murdered starlet. At Miss Cain’s insistence, Atticus takes the case of Melissa James’ murder, and the two of them arrive at the Moonflower Hotel after many hours of travel. Almost immediately, they meet Inspector Chubb for the first time, who is happy for their help. Chubb relates that Melissa had no enemies and was a beloved community figure. Her time of death was between 6:28 and 6:38 p.m., pinned to a frantic phone call she made to the town doctor, where she sounded in fear for her life. Dr. Collins rushed over but found her dead ten minutes after their call. Atticus wonders why she didn’t call the police instead; Chubb explains the nearest station is ten miles away, and Dr. Collins is closer.

Chubb suspects the Gardners, who are potentially skimming from the hotel, and filmmaker Oscar Berlin due to the fight he had with the deceased an hour before her death. Chubb’s also looking into Melissa’s financial advisor, Algernon, a suspicious person all around, and possibly the last person to see her alive. At Melissa’s estate, Atticus meets Phyllis, the housekeeper who has worked there since Melissa bought the house. She lives there with her son Eric (Thomas Coombes, who also plays Derek Endicott). Chubb, Atticus, and Miss Cain inspect Melissa’s bedroom, which has been cleaned since the murder. 

Chubb goes through the events: The telephone cord was torn from the wall. He believes she called the doctor from the downstairs phone because of some tear-stained tissues. Then she came upstairs to hide in her bedroom but was strangled with the phone cord by, he assumes, a man. A broken lamp and disheveled sheets showed she put up a fight, and, at some point, she hit her head – there’s a bloodstain on the headboard. While taking notes for Atticus, Miss Cain gets woozy and falls to the floor. She declines a doctor and tells the men to go on without her. 

(There’s something slightly suspicious about this fainting business, but let’s see if it turns into anything.)

Atticus and Chubb speak with Melissa’s husband, Spencer, who claims to love her more than anyone else and wishes he’d stayed home from the opera. He tells Atticus to investigate Lance Gardner; Melissa knew the caretakers were cheating her, and she’d threatened to expose them. After their interview, Atticus asks Chubb whether Spencer actually attended the opera. It hadn’t occurred to Chubb to question Spencer’s alibi.

Back in real life, Susan meets Aiden at his cottage. She treads lightly; does he mind talking about Cecily? Not at all – he loves it and can’t think about anything but her. He mentions they met Conway while researching Parris’ murder but forgot until Cecily read his book. The night before she disappeared, she told Aiden she’d figured out the real killer but didn’t divulge who it was. They are interrupted when Aiden’s daughter, Roxanna (Billie Gadsdon), and the nanny, Gwyneth Endicott (the same actress who plays Phyllis), come home. 

After they leave the room, Aiden continues: when he came back from a meeting in Ipswich, Gwyneth said Cecily was walking Chase, so at first, he didn’t worry about her absence. But then Chase appeared alone at the front door, barking and still wearing his leash. Susan asks what he did next, and Aiden gets very agitated, claiming he can’t talk about it anymore. (This is a strange about-face from the beginning of their conversation, and Susan notices it too.) Aiden says he called Cecily’s friends, the hotel, and the police.

Next, Susan speaks to desk clerk Derek, who was the night manager when Parris died. Derek heard Chase whimpering upstairs and claimed he saw Stefan (Alec Secareanu), the employee jailed for the murder, cross the hallway. Derek presumes he went into Room 12 to kill Parris but admits he didn’t see Stefan’s face completely – he saw a person wearing Stefan’s hat and carrying his maintenance kit. Susan retires to her room to read more and attempt to find the connection between Conway’s book and Cecily’s disappearance.

In Atticus’ world, he interviews Dr. Collins and his wife, Samantha. Samantha says Melissa took great advantage, calling day or night and dropping in constantly. Both Collinses believe the Gardners are stealing from the hotel: it’s always packed but hasn’t turned a profit since Melissa bought it. Melissa had also told Dr. Collins she was being watched at home and that items went missing from her room. Samantha answered Melissa’s desperate call on the night of her death. 

She was hyperventilating, and when Dr. Collins picked up, she screamed, “He wants to kill me!” Dr. Collins headed over urgently but was waylaid when his car wouldn’t start; Melissa was dead by the time he arrived. When Miss Cain and the detectives have left, Samantha wonders if they should have come clean about her inheritance money. Susan speaks to Atticus in her hotel room. She demands to know who did it and what it has to do with Cecily’s disappearance. Instead, Atticus waxes philosophically about feeling the presence of evil.

Moonflower Murders airs on Sundays on most local PBS channels at 9 p.m. ET and is available to stream on PBS.org and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. All six episodes are available on PBS Passport for members to stream as a binge.