A good editor has an eye for detail, a knack for clarity and operates out of the spotlight. The same goes for a good detective. So when a bestselling author of murder mysteries dies in suspicious circumstances, it seems natural for his editor, Susan Ryeland, to lead an (unofficial) one-woman investigation.
That’s the premise of Magpie Murders, a cosy whodunnit and sharp-witted mystery-within-a-mystery based on Anthony Horowitz’s novel of the same name. Having aired on parochial streamer BritBox last year, the six-part crowd-pleaser has now earned a well-deserved transfer to the bigger stage of BBC1.
The main narrative thread follows Lesley Manville’s Susan, whose slightly frazzled manner belies a probing mind. Her mission is not just to solve what happened to Alan Conway (Conleth Hill) but — even more pressingly for her publishing house — to locate the missing final chapter of his last manuscript. As Susan snoops around the author’s village in Suffolk, the show jumps between her sleuthing and dramatised scenes from Conway’s book, in which the detective, Atticus Pünd (Tim McMullan), examines the murder of a roundly-despised country estate owner. The victim is not unlike the author — in fact, most of the people that Susan meets also pop up as unflattering caricatures in the novel. Conway’s fiction, it seems, might hold the key to his demise.
The Russian doll narrative structure can be unwieldy but the series is anchored by Manville’s brilliant performance, which feels organic despite the various plot contrivances — not least the direct conversations with Pünd himself. In one of these daydream exchanges, Manville deftly hints at her character’s instability as she muses about the reassurance and closure that whodunits provide.
But Magpie Murders generally keeps things light and lively, balancing meta-reflections on the genre with good old-fashioned twists and turns. Let’s just hope the final episode doesn’t disappear in mysterious circumstances.
★★★★☆
On BBC1 from April 1 at 9.15pm
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