Moonflower Murders

I loved Magpie Murders but was concerned that a similarly complicated mystery involving two timelines and the fictional murder associated with them might prove too difficult to bring to the small screen. I was wrong.

The acting is superb; all the characters seem to be even more at home with their characters than in Magpie Murders.

The set designs are astounding considering the difficulties of the nature of the story. One in the hotel eight years earlier, one current, and one in the fictional hotel.

The cinematography is likewise excellent, and the music is supportive rather than obtrusive.

The story is, as mentioned, exceptionally complicated but was handled very well. I was particularly pleased with the Conway character knowing who murdered Parris and putting clues in his novel. Despite his general unpleasant nature, he did his best to expose the real murderer. His final scene with Susan where he insists on keeping the seemingly superfluous clues is masterful.

One of the things that annoys me in mysteries is too much time spent on character drama outside of the mystery. I thought they did a good job of keeping that to a minimum and tying it to the story.

The various mysteries were logical and reasonably solved without all sorts of twisting events into knots to achieve the ends. A common problem with most mysteries I watch these days.

Just a delight all around. Highly recommend for mystery fans.

In Magpie Murders viewers enjoyed the clever conceit of present day editor Susan Ryeland receiving help from author Alan Conway's 1950's fictional detective Herr Pund to solve a mystery. Anthony Horowitz created a delightful TV series adaptation from this book.

The second book, Moonflower Murders, is more of the same, except Susan is now hired to solve a mystery as a result of a book she edited for Alan Conway. Herr Pund is still present, guiding her in her quest. In fact, the fun double timeline and doubling of actors in the timeline roles is still present in this second adaptation. However, due to the complexity of the book's plot Horowitz made some tweaks to the TV storyline which streamlines the story, and unfortunately takes some of the punch out of the impact. This isn't a distraction unless the book was read first before watching the series which proves the saying of "The book is the book and the movie is the movie." Both the book and the movie showcase the talented writing of Horowitz.

A very good beginning to this fresh new series. After Magpie, it finds our heroine in Greece, running a restaurant with her guy. The restaurant is a disaster, in disrepair and close to financial ruin. She has about had enough. While she is trying to figure things out, a man and a woman come to her and tell her that their daughter has been missing and a book written by the man for whom she was an editor, holds the secret. They offer to pay her a huge sum of money to find the daughter. They say the secret lies in the book. We are then introduced to principle figures. We also realize, as with Magpie, we have actors double cast as characters from present and past. As she is trying to make up her mind, the figure of Atticus Pund appears--her alter ego. Things get cooking but we need to wait.

A pleasant, albeit complicated, murder mystery that juggles three timelines, three murders, and unnecessary personal drama of the protagonist, "Moonflower Murders" is a show that lays the plot(s) on thick, to the detriment of developing characters that are fleshed out, dimensional, or likeable. The plot drags halfway through the season, and I found myself forgetting what the characters' motivations were (and, frankly, who everybody was) thanks to excessive time jumping and the sheer amount of characters we're supposed to keep track of. Susan's personal drama was annoying this time around. And I found the Atticus Pund storyline much more interesting than the present day one. Wish they had time to develop that world a bit more. Great acting, but I expect nothing less from the Brits (and why I enjoy consuming so much British television even though I'm American). I hear Horowitz is releasing a third Ryland/Pund novel this spring, so we'll surely get another one of these seasons in due course. Let's just hope it's less overwrought than this one.

I agree with other reviewers. This series was good but the Magpie Murders was top notch. It just seemed to flow a little better than this series.

I found myself getting really confused with the characters. Like the actresses' husband looked just like her doctor (not sure of the names). It was just not as smooth and easy to follow as Magpie series.

The string of possible suspects was endless. Everyone was so unlikeable in their own way. This made for an interesting whodoneit.

Atticus was wonderful as usual. A great detective. I'm not sure if I really like Susan but perhaps she is not meant to be that likeable. Even her own sister did not want to confide in her. It was also nice to see Mr. Beard. I really enjoyed his character from the Magpie series as Allen's boy toy. He ended up being a great contributor.

One case had a big twist but the other case was rather obvious, really.

I do hope the series, or ones similar continues.