Everything to Know about 'Magpie Murders' Ahead of The Series Debut

Fall is traditionally a time for mystery series on PBS. This year is no different, with the returns of Van der Valk and Miss Scarlet & the Duke and the premiere of new crime drama Annika, starring longtime Masterpiece fan favorite Nicola Walker. But the arrival of the highly anticipated Magpie Murders this month not only adds another award-winning actress to the mix in star Lesley Manville but a very different and unorthodox sort of story. 

Magpie Murders is based on the best-selling book of the same name by Anthony Horowitz. He is probably best known to American audiences as the creator of the period mystery series Foyle's War and as the writer behind many scripts for the popular crime drama Midsomer Murders. But here, he tackles a very different kind of story: A mystery within a mystery, primarily centered around a woman who is not a traditional detective or even police adjacent. 

Instead, Manville's Susan Ryeland is a book editor who is thrilled when she finally receives the latest manuscript from her unpleasant client, Alan Conway. The newest installment in his series featuring detective Atticus Pünd is sure to be a big hit, and Ryeland is over the moon. Or, at least, she is until she realizes the manuscript is unfinished and the last chapter is missing. Her hunt for the missing pages leads to the gruesome discovery of Conway's body and Ryeland's realization that the key to his death may well be buried in the clues of his final novel. 

But what makes Magpie Murders stand out from the crime drama pack is that solving Conway's murder isn't the only investigation in the series.  

As she rereads his chapters, Ryeland realizes that his latest book has an all too real-life twist.

“Everybody in the book is based on somebody in the author’s life,” Horowitz tells Masterpiece. “And one of those people has murdered him. So it’s sort of a whodunit inside a whodunit, and it’s also a murder mystery about murder mysteries.”

As Ryeland realizes the missing last chapter of Conway’s story likely contains the identity of his killer, the story deftly weaves between two interlocking periods: the cozy 1950s village life of the manuscript and present-day London bustling with commerce and ambition. We get two detectives: amateur sleuth Susan and “the world’s greatest detective,” Atticus Pünd. And we have at least two magpies: one for sorrow and one for joy.

According to Horowitz, part of the appeal of writing (and then making) Magpie Murders was to craft a mystery “that actually informs you about the world of literature, about why we read whodunits” in the first place. 

Here's the series' official synopsis:

Anthony Horowitz' bestselling novel centers on book editor Susan Ryeland who is given an unfinished manuscript by best-selling mystery writer Alan Conway featuring Conway's longtime main character, detective Atticus Pünd. When she attempts to attain the final chapters from Conway, she finds herself in the middle of a shocking mystery case of her own that will change her life in ways she never expected.

Manville has been everywhere on the small screen of late, taking over the role of Princess Margaret for the final two seasons of The Crown, starring in hit BritBox crime drama Sherwood, and playing the elder Madame de Mertueil in Starz's upcoming Dangerous Liaisons prequel series.

Here, she leads a strong ensemble that includes Vienna Blood's Conleth Hill as Conway and Patrick Melrose's Timothy McMullan as his alter-ego Atticus Pünd. Other familiar faces include Daniel Mays (Line of Duty), Alexandros Logothetis (The Island), Claire Rushbrook (Home Fires), Matthew Beard (Dracula), Pippa Haywood (Bridgerton), and Michael Maloney (The Crown). 

Magpie Murders will premiere on Masterpiece on Sunday, October 16, at 9 p.m. ET. The first episode will also start streaming the same day on PBS Passport and follow a weekly release schedule concurrently with the linear airing. As always, check your local listings.