Marble Hall Murders: First look at Lesley Manville's 'brilliantly entertaining' sequel with more fiendish twists
Susan dives into a new Atticus Pünd mysteryMarble Hall Murders, the third and final BBC adaptation of the best-selling crime series by Anthony Horowitz, has revealed first-look images and confirmed the new cast.
Lesley Manville will reprise her role as book editor turned sleuth Susan Ryeland in the wonderfully fun crime drama.
Anthony Horowitz’s ingenious novels featuring Susan follow an unusual format where there’s a book within a book.
In the first of Susan’s adventures, The Magpie Murders, Susan was editing a murder mystery featuring a 1950s detective called Atticus Pünd. But then Susan found herself in a real murder mystery when someone murdered the book’s writer, Alan Conway!
In the second story, Moonflower Murders, Susan was again editing an Atticus Pünd story. This time she found links between Conway’s book and a murder at an English hotel.
Marble Hall Murders will see a fresh mystery for Susan. Tim McMullan is back as Atticus Pünd, the literary detective who steps out of the books to help Susan. The BBC promises it will be “brilliantly entertaining”.
Here’s everything we know…
***Warning: spoilers ahead if you’ve not watched the previous series***
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What is the plot of Marble Hall Murders?
Susan’s relationship with Andreas has collapsed. So, she’s no longer with him running a hotel in Crete and is back in England. She’s working as a freelance book editor and is shocked when she’s asked to edit a new Atticus Pünd story. Given her terrible history with books by Conway, she’s reluctant. But she needs the money.
With Conway dead, it’s a continuation novel by young author, Eliot Crace. Eliot is the grandson of the late legendary children’s author, Miriam Crace.
Susan begins reading the first chapters of the new book, Pünd’s Last Case. Set in 1955, Pünd is dying, but he bumps into an old associate, Margaret Chalfont. She is scared and asks him for help. But by the time Pünd arrives at her fabulous home in Corfu she’s been murdered!
All the clues point to her husband being the murderer, but Pünd is unconvinced.
Susan gets a bad feeling when she reads the book which grows when she discovers Miriam died in strange circumstances. She hears accusations that far from being a national treasure, Miriam had been an evil, spiteful old lady. But the family are hugely rich and Susan must tread carefully. There’s even talk of a huge TV series based on Miriam’s beloved creations.
Eliot then declares that Miriam was murdered and the clues to the killer are contained in his Pünd novel! Once again Susan “talks” over the real case with Pünd.
To add to her woes, she also has to visit in jail her former boss, who tried to burn her alive.
Are there any major changes from the book?
Yes, having read the book, the big one that leaps out is a huge change in location. Marble Hall is the key location in Pünd’s Last Case. It’s described as a beautiful villa in the South of France. By the time Pünd reaches Marble Hall, its owner, Lady Margaret Chalfont, is already dead.
However, in the TV version the makers have revealed Lady Margaret’s luxury property is in Corfu. It’s not explained why the location has been changed.
It does though mean the feel of Pünd’s Last Case will have to change. The sights and sounds of the south of France play a big part in the book. Plus, one of the key characters, Frédéric Voltaire, is a French a detective. Voltaire is in charge of investigating Lady Margaret’s death.
Much is made of the fact that he’s French. But having a French detective turn up in Corfu doesn’t make much sense, so we suspect that character has been changed to the Greek detective in the cast list Zubin Varla.
Who is in the cast of Marble Hall Murders?
Lesley Manville, who’ll also be seen soon in Sherwood series 3, is back as book editor Susan Ryeland. Plus, Tim McMullan reprises his role as Atticus Pünd.
We still don’t know who will be playing the new Atticus Pünd writer, but other cast members have been revealed.
The wider cast for Marble Hall Murders includes The Last Kingdom’s Jamie Blackley, Down Cemetery Road’s Mark Bonnar, and Patricia Hodge, who took part in All Creatures Great and Small and A Very English Scandal. You may also recognise Harry Lloyd from Wolf Hall, Rupert Penry-Jones from Spooks and Anneika Rose from Line of Duty. There’s also Killing Eve’s Danny Sapani taking part, as well as Andor’s Zubin Varla.
One character who does return from the first series, Magpie Murders, is Susan’s old boss, Charles Clover. So, we expect Michael Maloney to reprise his role as Charles, if this series stays true to the books. We’re not sure if Alexandros Logothetis will be on the bill as Susan’s romantic interest Andreas, as he hasn’t yet been named among the cast list.
Is it true Lesley Manville convinced Anthony Horowitz to write a third adventure?
Yes! Anthony Horowitz penned it as a standalone. But then Anthony’s TV producer wife Jill Green said it would be easier to make a TV series if there were two books. So, Anthony wrote Moonflower Murders and that seemed the end.
However, on the last day of filming on Moonflower Murders, Lesley Manville told Anthony she’d love Susan to have a third case!
Marble Hall Murders comes billed as the third and final adventure. However, Anthony has revealed he’s thinking of penning a fourth story.
He said: “I do have one more title in mind. Mile End Murders. It’s another book within a book, but this time the whole thing is set in modern times. I hope to start writing it in 2027.”
So, this might not be the end for Susan.
What happened in Magpie Murders?
While you don’t have to have watched Magpie Murders and sequel Moonflower Murders to enjoy Marble Hall Murders, it will help. So, he’s a brief recap.
Susan was given an Atticus Pünd murder mystery by Alan Conway, a hugely successful crime writer. But the last chapter was missing! Her boss Charles Clover told her Conway was dead and showed her a letter suggesting he took his own life.
Susan grew certain someone had killed Alan and that Conway’s final book held the clues. She started reading the story, which saw a housekeeper found dead at the bottom of some stairs at Pyle Hall. Susan realised that the characters in the book were viciously based on people Alan knew in real life. Alan, like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who came to loathe his creation Sherlock Holmes, hated the detective he’d invented.
Alan dreamt up a wicked plan to mock the readers of his books. Charles Clover found out Alan’s plan and the pair argued. Charles then shoved Alan off a roof to his death. Susan discovered the last chapter in Charles’ office.
She confronted him, but he knocked her out and set his office on fire. Susan almost died. Magpie Murders ended with the police arresting Charles for Alan’s murder. Charles will likely be back for Marble Hall Murders!
What happened in Moonflower Murders?
Susan is approached by the owners of a hotel. They told Susan that a murder happened there eight years ago. They explained they believed Alan Conway based Atticus Pünd Takes the Case on the real life murder of hotel guest Frank Parris.
Their daughter Cecily read the book and told them it proved the man jailed for Frank’s murder, Stefan, was innocent. But then Cecily vanished.
So, they paid Susan £10,000 to investigate Cecily’s disappearance and Frank’s murder. Susan carefully read the Pünd adventure and discovered a number of key clues. As ever, the local police were useless. But Susan revealed that Cecily’s husband Aiden killed Frank and Cecily.
Aiden had been a sex worker. When Frank recognised Aiden, he attempted to blackmail him. But Aiden murdered him. When Cecily discovered the truth, Aiden killer her.
Aiden framed Stefan because he had a fling with Cecily which resulted in their daughter.
So, not surprisingly when Marble Hall Murders begins, Susan wants nothing to do with Alan Conway’s books. But a new case draws her in…
How many episodes is the Marble Hall Murders?
Marble Hall Murders will be six parts. Both Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders were six episodes long.
Each episode is about 45 minutes.
Talking about the show’s return, creator Anthony Horowitz said: “I’m so happy to bring the team back – stars, director, producers, and crew – for a third instalment of what has been a fantastically successful TV series. I have a feeling this could be the best yet.”
When is the start date? How can I watch it?
BBC One will show Marble Hall Murders in 2026. No release date has been announced yet. Hopefully, it will be on within the next few months as filming has already finished.
The makers shot the new series in London, Corfu and Dublin.
Both Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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