The last Atticus Pünd book – also titled Magpie Murders – is missing the all-important final chapter. But more concerning to her is the matter of his final manuscript, which he delivered the day before his death. Or was he pushed? Susan soon discovers that there’s no shortage of people who might have wanted Conway out of the way, from his former lover James (Matthew Beard) to his resentful sister Claire (Pippa Haywood). The prickly Conway turns up dead in episode 1, having taken an accidental fall from the tower of his sprawling country mansion. He puts that knowledge to good use in the delightfully meta Magpie Murders, which focuses on a book editor named Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) who sets out to investigate the death of her publishing company’s golden goose, Alan Conway ( Game of Thrones’ Conleth Hill), the author of the best-selling Atticus Pünd mysteries. In addition to writing multiple best-selling whodunits, he created Foyle’s War and has written for Agatha Christie’s Poirot and the venerable series Midsomer Murders.

Horowitz knows well what goes into crafting a good mystery.

earlier this year) is based on a novel of the same name by Anthony Horowitz, who also adapted his work for the screen. Magpie Murders (which debuted on BritBox in the U.K. | (C) Eleventh Hour Films Photographer: Nick Wall A book editor turns detective in ‘Magpie Murders’ Lesley Manville as Susan Ryeland and Timothy McMullan as Atticus Pünd in ‘Magpie Murders’ on PBS 16, cleverly sends up the genre with its story-within-a-story format that offers a fresh twist on the classic detective story.

The six-episode series, which premieres Oct. It’s cozy and predictable and a little staid, which is why the new series Magpie Murders is such fun. Any PBS viewer who’s tuned in to be pleasantly entertained by Agatha Christie’s Marple, Father Brown, Grantchester or one of seemingly countless other series knows the format. The detective: Perhaps a cerebral outsider, or maybe a disarmingly observant local.

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