The Suspects Get Weirder & Tensions Rise at 'Moonflower Murders' Midpoint

The third episode of Moonflower Murders begins with a plea: Aiden holds a press conference at D.S. Locke’s urging, addressing the camera and begging Cecily to contact him and the kidnapper to let her go. All the main characters are watching the broadcast, but there’s a new pair we haven’t met: Joann and Martin Webster (Kate Ashfield and Tim Plester), the sister and brother-in-law of Frank Parris. Martin says the police are wasting their time because Cecily’s in the woods, six feet under, with a rope around her neck. Joann is shocked; he insists he’s only guessing what happened. (Suspicious, or just creepy?)

Susan meets with Alan Conway’s former lawyer, Sajid Khan (Sanjeev Kohli), whom she hasn’t seen since investigating the author’s death. Khan relays he met with Parris eight years ago, the day before his death: Parris was unpleasant and angry, stating his intention to sell the family home his sister lived in. Joann was understandably upset but unable to legally block Parris since she and Martin didn’t have the money to buy him out. Joann was a former client, and Khan was happy to be rid of her; she was as rude and demanding as her brother. 

As Susan is leaving, Khan sends regards to Katie (Claire Rushbrook). Susan is surprised Khan knows her little sister, and Khan realizes he’s given away a secret. Naturally, Susan heads straight to the garden center where Katie works, her sister insists everything is fine. Her husband is in New York again, and their son Jack (Mitchell Robertson) dropped out of uni and works part-time with her. Susan quietly admits she hates Crete and might break up with Andreas. Jack appears and starts to talk about school, but Katie won’t let him. Once Susan leaves, Jack angrily asks why they didn’t tell her the truth.

Next in the investigation, Susan visits the weird Websters. Joann is suspicious of Susan, while Martin is open and almost too chatty. Martin confirms Parris showed up the day before his murder to get his share of the house. Parris’ business, Day’s End, had failed, and he needed liquidity. Parris and Joann sparred verbally over the house, and Joann insisted she wouldn’t leave. Martin indicates Parris’ murder was “fortunate” since they didn’t have to give up their home. 

Sitting uncomfortably close to Susan, he shows her the picture he took of Joann and Parris during his visit: “Brother and sister and the very best of friends.” As she’s leaving, Joann confronts Susan and tells her to leave them alone. Atticus Pünd appears in Susan’s passenger seat as she drives away frustrated. She pulls over for a much-needed cigarette, and Atticus helps her think logically about Cecily’s disappearance. Susan is sure Stefan didn’t kill Parris, but since Conway never met the Websters, whom did he implicate in the book as the murderer, and what does that mean for Cecily? Susan’s afraid Cecily might be dead.

At the Trehernes’ hotel, Lisa exercises with spa manager Liam (Wade Briggs), who thinks the search for Cecily is futile; she’s probably dead. He says he’s not paid enough to keep the hotel’s secrets, while Lisa reminds him they also keep his secrets. Susan arrives at the hotel and learns that Lawrence’s expensive fountain pen, which was supposed to be Cecily’s “something borrowed,” went missing before the wedding. Susan asks Aiden, who is confused why it matters; it went missing after Stefan delivered the wedding gifts to their cottage. He’s angry Susan’s earning £10k to read a book she published. Susan deflects; she’s setting up a meeting with Stefan in jail and getting access to Conway’s book notes. 

In the book, Miss Cain tells Atticus she needs to be made of heartier stuff to work for a detective, but he says no one should become accustomed to murder. They interview the Gardners, who take offense at Miss Cain’s suggestion they ran the Moonflower Hotel into the ground. Mr. Gardner claims they have nothing to hide but quickly steers the conversation away when Miss Cain offers to inspect their finances. He produces a letter in Melissa James’ handwriting, found in her office, that suggests a secret lover. The Gardners implicate Melissa’s husband; Spencer would have killed her if he knew she was cheating on him.

Atticus and Miss Cain team up to interview Oscar Berlin. At first, Berlin fibs about his whereabouts following his fight with Melissa. Miss Cain, however, is a bullsh*t detector and catches him in his lie with some crafty lies of her own. Berlin admits he went to Melissa’s estate but didn’t even ring the bell – he left after overhearing her fight with housekeeper Phyllis.

Chubb joins the duo when it’s time to question Algernon. Chubb accuses him of fraud; Melissa didn’t know Algernon owned Day’s End, the stock she wanted to pull her money from, nor that the company had yet to build the villas it promised. Clever Miss Cain figures out it’s a Ponzi scheme. Though Algernon only hints, Atticus suspects he may be Melissa’s secret love.

The three investigators go back to Melissa’s estate. Atticus confronts Phyllis and her son Eric about the fight and Melissa firing them. Though their firing meant they would be homeless, Eric insists he would never hurt Ms. James. Subsequently, Atticus discovers a crooked painting of the Moonflower Hotel. When he pushes it aside, a peephole into Melissa’s bedroom hides beneath it. Eric confesses to being a peeping Tom and that he also stole personal items from her bedroom. Phyllis seems shocked and deeply ashamed, but she and Eric are already keeping a secret, so it’s unclear if this is true. What she does make clear is she hates her son and has resented him since his father died in WWI. It’s uncomfortable to watch. In real life, Susan wonders what Derek the desk clerk did to make Conway portray him so awfully in the book.

Back in the real world, Susan takes a video call with Andreas (in a stunning set of shots that look like they’re on one bed together – fantastic direction!). They speak sweetly, but Andreas hurries off the call shortly after she mentions an interview with a London publishing company.

The following day, Susan runs into Locke. He’s angry that she believes she can solve Cecily’s disappearance. Locke says he’s read Conway’s book and found no clues. Susan counters that it’s got the whole family in it, and Conway must have known something. Locke is insulted by her insinuation that the wrong person was jailed for Parris’ murder, a case he investigated. He says Stefan confessed, calls him a career criminal, and notes that Romanians are running crimes through Suffolk. Susan lobs his discriminatory assumptions back at him. He orders her to leave and threatens arrest if he sees her again.

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.