It's a Deeply Satisfying Conclusion for 'Moonflower Murders'

We’ve reached the finale of Moonflower Murders and its labyrinthine plots. Throughout the show, I kept asking: What is the significance of Natasha, the maid, going specifically to Cecily after she finds Parris dead? And does the fact that Parris occupied a room that was booked for another guest mean anything? Apparently, I should not be a detective because neither of those questions turns out to be important.

Susan: “And then you hammered Frank Parris to death.”

After last week’s confession on the page, we return to the novel with Atticus, Miss Cain, and Chubb to reveal Spencer’s actual murderer, only to have him turn and unmask... Madeline Cain as the killer. He explains this is why he is responsible: he brought her to Spencer and gave her access. (See? We knew Atticus couldn’t have killed someone.) Miss Cain, it turns out, is an obsessive superfan of Melissa James who was adamant that Atticus investigate her death, to the point of hiring an actor to engage Atticus’ services. The fainting was a ruse: a piece of fan mail on Melissa’s nightstand was from Miss Cain, and she used her fainting act to conceal the letter so Atticus wouldn’t recognize her handwriting. 

The “intruder” who appeared while they were waiting for Spencer was merely Eric eavesdropping. Miss Cain used the distraction to stab Spencer with a prop dagger from one of Melissa’s films, which had been framed on the wall. Atticus describes Miss Cain as “infatuated” with Melissa James, and her obsession led to a personal vendetta against Melissa’s killer. Miss Cain comes clean.

In real life, Susan talks with Stefan in jail. He says the same person who killed Frank Parris also killed Cecily, but he won’t say who; he’s protecting her. He says his dawn of hope is gone, and we assume he’s talking about Cecily. He reveals that Locke pressured him to confess to Parris’ murder. On the night of the murder, Stefan drank a glass of wine and passed out, only waking up when the police were in his room finding the “evidence.”

Susan realizes there’s a connection between Cecily’s belief in horoscopes and the clues Conway put in the book. First, she confronts the Websters. She calls him a pathetic fantasist pretending to be a killer. Martin wanted her and Joann to believe he killed Parris because it made him look like a man in his wife’s eyes. Andreas finishes the thought: “He wanted you to think he had the balls to kill your brother.” After they leave, Susan says she knows who the real killer is.

Back at the hotel, Susan and Andreas are packing up their stuff. Susan wants to finish the job and go home to Crete. She forgot to tell him she was hired by the publishing company after all, and Andreas’s face fell. She goes on: It’s freelance, and she can work remotely from Crete. Andreas is overjoyed. Their relationship arc has concluded in the best possible way, with Susan finding a work-life balance that almost seems healthy. Now there's nothing left but for Susan to gather all the major players for the big walk-through reveal – again like Agatha Christie. Everyone’s there (including Locke, who starts out angry but ends up riveted and gains respect for Susan). Atticus is there for support, but only Susan can see him.

She starts with Chase the dog: someone pricked the dog with a brooch, causing him to cry out. The whimper brought Derek upstairs in time to witness “Stefan” in the Moonflower Wing on his way to kill Parris. Except, it wasn’t Stefan, it was Leo – the sex worker whom Parris had been seeing. Leo must have been at the hotel when Conway stayed there as well. But in Conway’s book Leo is not just a name, it’s a star sign, and what’s more, a clue. Cecily read horoscopes every day and even wore a necklace with her star sign, Sagittarius. Susan asks Aiden when his birthday is, and he replies August 16. Lawrence puts it together: Aiden is Leo! Aiden even has a tattoo of the Leo star sign on his shoulder.

Aiden says it’s rubbish; he was not a male escort in London, he was an estate agent. But Susan ties it back to a joke Conway made about Leo being jet lagged from his trip from Melbourne – except he was talking about a small town in Darbyshire, not Australia. Lawrence remembers that Aiden’s mother is from Darbyshire. Susan claims Aiden met Cecily and wanted it all – her money, a new life. 

But then, “the worst possible stroke of luck” when Frank Parris checked into the hotel and recognized Aiden. Being a gross and devious man, Parris concocted a plan to force Aiden to have sex with him. That’s why The Marriage of Figaro became important: In the opera, the villain tries to force one of the characters to have sex with him on their wedding night, exactly Parris’ plan. Conway figured this out and wrote it into his book.

Cecily and Stefan were having an affair which was the main reason Aiden framed Stefan. Liam thought he saw Lisa and Stefan having sex in the woods, but it was actually Cecily and Stefan. It may have started long before Aiden came around, but she couldn’t tell her parents because Stefan was an immigrant with a criminal record; they wouldn’t have approved. Susan points out Roxanna doesn't look anything like Aiden; she’s Stefan’s child. The Trehernes get livid at Inspector Locke: Stefan’s spent seven years in jail because of him! Susan appeals to the Trehernes: The one good thing that can come from the whole mess is getting Stefan reunited with his daughter Roxanna, whose name means “dawn” in Romanian.

Gwyneth the nanny, who’s been sitting next to Aiden, exclaims, “You killed Cecily! You strangled her in the woods!” Aiden grumps she saw something in that "stupid book and she was going to tell.” Parris passed Aiden his “broken” room key in front of his fiancée, which was how Aiden entered his room later. Parris was a danger to Aiden; he made plans to kill him and frame Stefan for the murder. Aiden drugged Stefan’s wine with Cecily’s sleeping pills, and made sure Derek was a witness to “Stefan” being in the hallway. Susan reveals Aiden went into Stefan’s room while he was unconscious, hid the bloody money and left blood stains from Parris using the fountain pen he’d stolen from Cecily. All very premeditated.

Susan and Atticus say goodbye to each other again, but he plants a seed of doubt: “Are you sure there isn’t something else you’ve missed?” After much reinvestigation, Susan figures out the hidden clues: Lion imagery is all over the book and it points to Leo, the real killer of Frank Parris. But there’s a final hidden puzzle Susan doesn’t solve, which, like Citizen Kane, is revealed only to the audience*: “Madeline Cain” is an anagram of “Aiden MacNeil.” 

(*This is what creator Anthony Horowitz was referring to when mentioning the inclusion of something he’d never done before!)

All episodes of Magpie and Moonflower Murders are streaming on the PBS app, PBS Passport, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. The book that will make up a potential Season 3, Marble Hall Murders, arrives on selves in 2025; hopefully, it'll bring along a renewal for a final set of episodes as well.