Magpie Murders

Susan Ryeland, an editor for Cloverleaf Books is about to read the final novel in the Atticus Pünd series “Magpie Murders” by famed author Alan Conway.

In 1955, Mary Blakiston was found dead at the bottom of the stairs at Pye Hall in Saxby-on-Avon. Most people suspect Mary’s only son, Robert as the murderer as he snapped at her in public. Due to the gossip, Robert’s fiancé, Joyce “Joy” Sanderling tries to hire famed detective Atticus Pünd and his assistant, James Fraser. But Pünd doesn’t want to help due to his having cancer and it is just gossip.

During the time, Sir Magnus Pye and his wife, Lady Frances come home from their trip to find their home broken into and their gold and silver stolen, due to that, the gardener Brent (who gave the burglar access to the house due to him breaking down a door with Dr Redwing when they found Mary’s body and should’ve been watching the house).

Sir Magnus threatens to destroy Dingle Dell, a garden near Pye Hall, angering Reverend Robin and Henrietta Osborne who live near the garden. His twin sister, Clarissa Pye resents her older brother for inheriting Pye Hall and all the money. Later that day, Sir Magnus Pye is murdered with his head chopped off and is later found by his wife, returning home.

Pünd and Fraser hear about the news and go to Saxby where they are greeted by Detective Inspector Chubb, who believes the killer was a burglar. The three later find a burnt scrap of paper in the fireplace, a typewritten letter with a handwritten envelope, and a paper in Sir Magnus’ handwriting saying “Mw Ashton H. A Girl”.

They question Lady Frances and her son, Frederick Pye, and find out that the telephones don’t work upstairs. They then question other suspects like Brent; Clarissa; Dr. Redwing; Dr. Redwing’s cleaning lady, Dianne Weaver; pawnshop owners Johnny and Gemma Whitehead who had bought the stolen silver from a mysterious person; Robin and Henrietta, who were away on a trip; and Robert and Joy.

Joy mentions that Mary disapproved of Joy and Robert’s marriage due to Joy’s brother having Down’s syndrome. They also tell the story of Tom, Robert’s brother, who was found drowned in the lake twelve years prior during a treasure hunt arranged by Sir Magnus, and Tom’s body was found by Brent.

While the three investigators talk about the case, they find Lady Frances having an affair with a man named Jack Dartford. The three question them about it but the two have a remarkable alibi. Frances talks about a car that came out of the road when he was driving minutes before discovering Sir Magnus’ body.

Some secrets are revealed: Johnny Whitehead is actually a thief named John Whitehead and was being blackmailed by Mary; the silver was sold by Brent, having found it on the lawn; Dianna Weaver wrote the threatening message; a bottle of poison was stolen by Clarissa to try to kill herself; Clarissa was actually the firstborn but Sir Magnus’ father forced the doctor to do forgery so Sir Magnus can be the oldest, wanting a male heir; Matthew Blakiston, Mary’s ex-husband mentions Tom’s dog, Bella having been murdered and at the end of the chapter Pünd says to Fraser that “Matthew Blakiston killed his wife”.

Susan notices the last chapter is missing, therefore, the murderer is not revealed: although she suspects Brent, Robert, Matthew, Robin and some others of the murders of Mary Blakiston and Sir Magnus Pye. She receives a call from her employer, Charles Clover, the head of Cloverleaf Books that Alan Conway had died, apparently from suicide by jumping off a tower from his house, Abbey Grange as a suicide note in Alan’s handwriting was mailed to Charles. (Although Susan finds it suspicious how the letter was handwritten yet the envelope was typed)

Susan decides to go to Alan’s home village and look for the last chapter called “A Secret Never to Be Told” (based on the nursery rhyme about Magpies) and talks to Alan’s boyfriend, James Taylor; Alan’s sister, Claire; Alan’s neighbor, John White; Alan’s solicitor, Sajid Kahn who found the body; Detective Superintendent Locke who suspects suicide and others. Susan later learns that all the people play a role in Magpie Murders (James Taylor being James Fraser; Claire Jenkins becomes Clarissa Pye; John White becomes Johnny Whitehead; Detective Superintendent Locke becomes Detective Inspector Chubb; Charles' dog, Bella becomes the dog in the story; a reverend named Robeson becomes Robin Osborne; Alan’s village is the inspiration for Saxby-on-Avon with his house being the inspiration for Pye Hall and even Atticus Pünd’s cancer was based on Alan Conway having cancer in real life)

Meanwhile, during the investigation, Susan is given a choice to either be head of Clover Books when Charles retires or go to Crete with Andreas, her boyfriend.

Susan finds out some proof that Alan was actually murdered (like all the copies like first drafts, handwritten drafts, etc. have disappeared mysteriously) and begins investigating. She talks to Charles about a dinner with Alan when Alan gave Charles the manuscript. He mentions a waiter dropping a bunch of plates. Susan later talks to the waiter, who is Donald Leigh who once gave Conway a book he wrote which turned out to be the plot for “Night Comes Calling” one of the Atticus Pünd books.

She and Charles go to Alan’s funeral where Susan makes another list of potential suspects, like Claire, James, Alan's wife Melissa and many more. She sees a man with a fedora at the funeral, it is a man who wants to make a television adaptation of the Atticus Pünd mysteries, using Midsomer Murders as an example. Later, during the investigation, Susan is given an envelope with a photo of John White and Alan fighting over the tower Alan was pushed off. White denies killing Alan.

When returning to London, she meets Charles, ex-secretary, Jemima, who says that Charles received "Magpie Murders" on Wednesday, a day before the dinner at the restaurant.

When she goes to Cloverleaf Books, she finds the last chapter and confronts Charles and tells him why Clover murdered Alan. Alan was upset that "Magpie Murders" would have been named "The Magpie Murders" because the first letter of all nine books:

Atticus Pünd Investigates,

No Rest For the Wicked,

Atticus Pünd Takes The Case,

Night Comes Calling,

Atticus Pünd's Christmas,

Gyn and Cyanide,

Red Roses for Atticus,

Atticus Pünd Abroad,

Magpie Murders

All spell out "AN ANAGRAM" but an anagram for what? Susan figures out that Atticus Pünd is an anagram for "A STUPID C-" and if that got public, Clover would have been ruined. He killed Alan after taking a photo of John and Alan arguing and used the last chapter (that involved Pünd writing a suicide note to James) as a cover up for the murder and got rid of all drafts of the last chapter.

When Susan is about to leave Charles' office, he hits her over the head and set the office on fire, but is saved by Susan's boyfriend, Andreas. She managed to save the last chapter and begins to read it in the hospital.

Pünd meets up with Reverend Osborne to ask about the speech for Mary Blakiston's funeral and reveals him to be a naturalist who took photographs of their last holiday there, which Mary noticed, but Pünd knows the reverend didn’t kill her.

Pünd writes to James Fraser a suicide note, explaining that he had stole the poison from Clarissa Pye and plans to kill himself with it. Afterwards, he meets up with James, Detective Inspector Chubb, Robert Blakiston and Joy Sanderling and explains who the murderer of Mary was: nobody.

Matthew Blakiston called his wife at Pye Hall, since none of the phones worked upstairs, Mary had to go downstairs to answer it, resulting in her tripping and dying. But he reveals who the murderer of Tom and Sir Magnus.

He explains that Robert had murdered Bella the dog and Tom 12 years prior due to his jealousy of Tom. Mary knew that and feared her life. She wrote an envelope for Sir Magnus in the event of her death by suspicious circumstances and told Robert what she did. She was scared that Joy and Robert’s child would be as psychopathic as Robert.

Robert jumped when the Reverend said "We must remember what she (Mary Blakiston) had left behind" and Robert tried to get it back, but couldn’t open the safe so he faked the burglary.

When Sir Magnus comfronted Robert, he killed Sir Magnus and burned the letter, but got the wrong envelope (explaining why the letter Diana Weaver wrote was type yet the envelope was handwritten). Matthew saw Sir Magnus' body and drove off, as Lady Frances Pye witnessed. Chubb arrests Robert for the murder of Sir Magnus Pye.

Later, a newspaper clipping details Pünd’s death and what James Fraser will do next now not being an assistant.

Susan finishes the chapter and when out of the hospital, goes to Crete with Andreas with all her co-workers complaining to Susan about catching Charles and she even considers maybe she would’ve killed Alan herself.

Horowitz first developed the concept of Magpie Murders during the first season of Midsomer Murders, which premiered in 1997. He has stated that he wanted the novel to "be more than just a murder mystery story" and to be "a sort of a treatise on the whole genre of murder mystery writing. How the writers come up with the ideas; how these books are formed."[1]

Magpie Murders was first released in hardback and e-book format in the United Kingdom on 6 October 2016 through Orion.[2] An audiobook adaptation narrated by Allan Corduner and Samantha Bond was simultaneously released through Orion and BrillianceAudio.[3] The novel was given a release in the United States the following year through HarperCollins and HarperAudio in hardback, e-book, and audiobook format.[4][5] Paperback editions were released in the United Kingdom in 2017 and the United States in 2018.[2][5]

In the following years the novel has been published in several languages, including Korean and Japanese (2018, through The Open Books (열린책들) and 東京創元社, respectively),[6][7] as well as Chinese and German (2019, 新星出版社 and Berlin Insel Verlag, respectively).[8][9]

Reception for Magpie Murders was largely positive, with a "Rave" rating from the book review aggregator Book Marks based on eight independent reviews.[10] It was reviewed by The New York Times and Time magazine, the latter of which called it the "thinking mystery fan’s ideal summer thriller."[11][12][13]

Common praise for the series centred upon its characters and the use of the story within a story, with some criticism noting that the story within a story also made it difficult to keep up with the goings on.[14][15][16]

In July 2020 Deadline announced that PBS's Masterpiece would adapt the novel into a six-part drama series and air it in the US, and on BritBox in the UK.[17] Horowitz was to prepare the script and Masterpiece was to produce it along with Jill Green and Eleventh Hour Films.[18][19] Tim McMullan was signed to portray the character of Atticus Pünd after actor Timothy Spall pulled out of the production due to scheduling issues.[20] Lesley Manville agreed to play the other central character, Susan Ryeland, who has a more significant role in the series than in the book. Daniel Mays appears as the local police detective, Alexandros Logothetis as Susan's lover and Claire Rushbrook as her sister. Jude Hill and Matthew Beard were also part of the series' cast.[21]

The role of author Alan Conway was played by Conleth Hill.[22] Other members of the cast included Pippa Haywood, Michael Maloney, Ian Lloyd Anderson, Karen Westwood, Dorothy Atkinson, Lorcan Cranitch, Danielle Ryan, Harry Lawtey, Nia Deacon, Chu Omambala, Karl Collins, Sutara Gayle, Sanjeev Kohli, Paul Tylak, David Herlihy, Nathan Clarke, San Shella, Kate Gilmore and Beverley Longhurst.[23] Director for the series was Peter Cattaneo.

The television series was filmed in 2021. Some exteriors were shot in London, and extensive shooting was completed in Suffolk, where much of the story takes place; the production spent more than three weeks in the village of Kersey,[24] where the Bell Inn became The Queen’s Arms.[25][26] Filming also took place in and around Dublin, with Dublin City University properties used for some scenes.[27] Other filming took place in Bloomsbury in County Meath.

On Britbox in the UK the series began streaming on 10 February 2022,[23] while in North America, the PBS series premiered on 16 October 2022.[28]

On Rotten Tomatoes the series has a 100% rating based on reviews from 12 critics, with an average rating of 8 out of 10.[29]

The adaptation aired on BBC One on 1 April 2023 and released all episodes on BBC iPlayer, but aired the six episodes each week on BBC One.

• Official website
• Magpie Murders (TV Series 2022) at IMDb