The 'Moonflower Murders' Trailer Introduces a New Novel to Solve

The PBS portion of the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour for 2024 kicked off on Monday, July 15, 2024, with one of public broadcasting's most anticipated shows for the upcoming fall season, Moonflower Murders. In addition to paneling the series, Masterpiece's executive director, Susanne Simpson, highlighted the other upcoming Masterpiece shows for the fall, including Van der Valk Season 4 and The Marlow Murder Club Season 1.

While these are not the only mysteries that will be airing in PBS' plum Sunday night slot (PBS also has Ridley Season 2, though that's not a Masterpiece series), they are the highlights of this upcoming season. The return of Lesley Manville as Susan Ryeland in Anthony Horowitz's meta-take on mystery fandom using a show-within-a-show format was the most creative series of the lineup when the first installment, Magpie Murders, debuted in Fall 2022. 

The follow-up mystery, using the same format, is now set in Ryeland's new home in Greece and is based on the book of the same name, the second installment of Horowitz's trilogy of novels. The as-yet-untitled third novel, which is expected out in the next year, will almost certainly find its way to Masterpiece once it is greenlit. The only question that remains (other than whodunit this time) is if fans will have to wait until 2026 or 2027 to see it. Until then, check out the new trailer for Moonflower Murders.

Here's the finalized synopsis for Moonflower Murders:

Susan Ryeland has left publishing and lives in Crete with her long-time boyfriend, Andreas. But her idyll is disturbed by the shadow of a murder committed at a British country hotel eight years ago. Alan Conway visited the hotel and wrote a novel based on what happened there. Cecily Treherne, the young woman who helps run the hotel, read the book and believed the wrong man had been arrested. Now she has disappeared. Can Susan uncover the secret hidden in the book and find Cecily before it is too late?

Along with the new Moonflower trailer, Masterpiece also released a trailer highlighting their three contributions to the Sunday night lineup this fall.

Here's the full rundown of PBS' mystery lineup for the fall of 2024.

• Ridley Season 2 will debut on Sunday, September 15, at 8 p.m. ET. It will run eight episodes  (which are really four feature-length episodes divided into eight installments), concluding on Sunday, November 3, 2024. 
• Moonflower Murders (aka Magpie Murders Season 2) will debut on Sunday, September 15, at 9 p.m. ET. It will run six episodes, concluding on Sunday, October 20, 2024.
• Van der Valk Season 4 will debut on Sunday, September 15, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET. It will run six episodes (which are really three feature-length episodes divided into six installments), concluding on Sunday, October 20, 2024.
• The Marlow Murder Club Season 1 will debut on Sunday, October 27 at 9 p.m. ET, taking over the Moonflower Murders slot. It will run four episodes, concluding on November 17, 2024.

As always, these times and release dates are for most local PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. PBS Passport members will have access to all episodes of these shows on premiere day to watch as a binge (or in the cases of Ridley Season 2 and Van der Valk Season 4, as initially intended. As always, check your local listings and streamers.