Magpie Murders airs Saturdays at 11PM beginning May 3

Mystery author Alan Conway dies under suspicious circumstances, plus the manuscript is missing its crucial last chapter! This leaves two mysteries: What happened to Alan, and what happens in the final chapter of his latest potboiler? Susan Ryeland, Alan’s longtime editor, informally heads the first investigation, taking place in the here and now. Meanwhile, fictional detective Attiucus Pünd and the characters in Alan’s novel enact a separate mystery plot, set in 1955.

Oscar®-nominee Lesley Manville (The Crown, Phantom Thread) stars Susan Ryeland, who assumes the role of detective in the case. Meanwhile, Tim McMullan (Patrick Melrose) plays the fictional sleuth in the incomplete novel, whose investigation parallels Susan’s. Based on Anthony Horowitz’s (Foyle’s War) ingenious bestselling novel, Magpie Murders, the six-part series also stars Conleth Hill, Michael Maloney, Alexandros Logothetis, and Claire Rushbrook.

“There’s never been a TV mystery like this,” notes MASTERPIECE Executive Producer Susanne Simpson. “Anthony Horowitz weaves together a real world with an imaginary one, giving viewers multiple murders to solve and keeping them guessing right up to the end.”