The Masterpiece series is based on the novel by Anthony Horowitz, who will adapt his work for the six-episode series.
Timothy McMullan and Lesley Manville reprise their lead roles as famed literary detective Atticus Pünd and editor-turned-sleuth Susan Ryeland, respectively. The story follows the pair as they investigate the death of a mysterious author.
PBS revealed more about the new series in a press release:
"PBS' Masterpiece announced today on its Television Critics Association press tour that it will co-produce and air Moonflower Murders, a new six-part drama based on Anthony Horowitz' bestselling novel, CBE. Moonflower Murders is a sequel to the critically acclaimed Masterpiece 2022 film adaptation of Horowitz's Magpie Murders is produced by Jill Green and Eleventh Hour Films and edited by Horowitz, with the BBC as the British partner for the series.
Anthony Horowitz (pictured below) said: “I can’t wait to get started on the scripts of Moonflower Murders. We had a fantastic response to Magpie Murders and, speaking personally, it was a joy bringing Susan Ryeland and Atticus Pünd to life on the screen. There are lots of surprises in the second book, including something I’ve never done before in a murder mystery. It’s going to be great fun.”
Lesley Manville (The Crown, Dangerous Liaisons) as editor and sleuth Susan Ryeland and Timothy McMullan (Patrick Melrose, The Crown) as famed literary detective Atticus Pünd, return in the same lead roles they played in Magpie Murders.
Masterpiece Executive Producer Susanne Simpson said: “We are thrilled to be teaming up with Eleventh Hour Films on another ingenious mystery from Anthony Horowitz. Magpie Murders was a hit with our audience, who loved the clever story of a mystery within a mystery. It's great to know that Lesley and Tim will return to Masterpiece in Moonflower Murders." Masterpiece is presented on PBS by GBH Boston.
More than 5.5 million viewers watched Magpie Murders and the series has been streamed more than 3.1 million times. The press was also a fan: the Los Angeles Times wrote, "It has everything you look for in a British mystery" and TV Guide called it "a superior brain teaser".
Executive Producer Jill Green said: “We had the best reviews ever for an Eleventh Hour Films drama, which was hugely satisfying given the creative attention given over to every aspect of the series, by every member of cast and crew. So, it is wonderful to be all returning again with the equally complicated and riveting Moonflower Murders.”
Moonflower Murders is the second novel in Horowitz’s Susan Ryeland series. Published in 2020, it was lauded as “a fiendishly plotted crime novel, with a fabulous twist” by the Guardian and picks up where Magpie Murders left off: Susan has left the cut-throat world of publishing and is living in Crete with her longtime boyfriend, Andreas. She ends up returning to London when she is asked to investigate a mystery relating to Alan Conway, the author of the best-selling Atticus Pünd mysteries, whose death changed her life in Magpie Murders.”
Moonflower Murders is an Eleventh Hour Films production in association with Salt Films for Masterpiece and BBC One, distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Television and PBS Distribution in North America."
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