Murder & Intrigue with Lavish Views: First Episode of 'Moonflower Murders' Kills It
Following her near-death in the finale of Magpie Murders, editor-turned-amateur detective Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) has left London for the gorgeous vistas of Crete in Moonflower Murders, where she is running a hotel with her longtime boyfriend Andreas (Alexandros Logothetis). But there’s trouble in paradise: running a hotel is hard work, especially when the kitchen is flooding, the roof is damaged, and the rooms have roaches. Andreas takes everything in stride, but Susan is miserable long before a new mystery comes calling in the form of an English couple, the Trehernes (Adrian Rawlins and Pooky Quesnel), who arrive at the hotel, seeking out Susan specifically. Their daughter Cecily (Amy Griffiths) disappeared, and they’re convinced that Susan’s the only person to help.
Cecily’s disappearance may be related to a murder that happened at their English countryside hotel eight years ago, a mystery that deceased novelist Alan Conway (Conleth Hill) used as the basis for one of his best sellers, with their hotel as the setting; Susan was the editor. After reading the book, Atticus Pünd Takes the Case, which features the Treherne family members as characters, Cecily became convinced the wrong person was jailed for the hotel murder just before she disappeared, telling her father the book names the real killer. The Trehernes still run the hotel, with Cecily and her sister, Lisa (Rosalie Craig, who also plays Melissa James), and their son-in-law Aiden (Will Tudor, playing the dual role of Algernon). The murder victim, Frank Parris (Mark Gatiss, who also plays Oscar Berlin), was a persnickety guest who happened to be there on the weekend of Cecily and Aiden’s wedding.
As the cold open already revealed, the bride and groom’s speeches during the reception are interrupted by a maid, her hands covered in blood, who found Parris in his room bludgeoned to death by a hammer. The police are called, and it’s our old friend D.I. Locke (Daniel Mays), the subpar detective Conway wrote into his books as the hapless Inspector Chubb. Lisa places suspicion for the murder on a recently fired employee with a criminal record, in whose room they find blood stains and money stolen from Parris’ wallet. Of note: Parris' "persnickety-ness" was complaining his room was too small with no view. (Aidan placated him by swapping him into Room 12 in the Moonflower Wing, initially reserved for a different guest who had yet to arrive. Perhaps Parris was not the intended target. Let’s put a pin in that and see what future episodes bring.) As with Alan Conway’s supposed suicide, which turned out to be murder, Locke sees an open and shut case.
