A Third & Final Susan Ryeland Series Is Coming To The BBC

After the runaway success of Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders (one of the BBC’s most watched series in 2024), the BBC has revealed it will be adapting Anthony Horowitz’s third and final Susan Ryeland murder mystery novel into a brand new TV series. Here’s everything we know so far about Marble Hall Murders – plus when we think it’ll air on TV.

Marble Hall Murders: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Lesley Manville is back – and book editor turned reluctant sleuth Susan Ryeland is ready to solve another mystery. She will be joined by returning co-star Tim McMullan as fictional detective Atticus Pünd in front of the camera, with director Rebecca Gatward and producer Suzanne McAuley returning behind the scenes.

‘I’m so happy to bring the team back – stars, director, producers, and crew – for a third instalment of what has been a fantastically successful TV series,’ says Horowitz, who wrote the adaptation as well as the original book. ‘I have a feeling this could be the best yet.’

Susan Ryeland (LESLEY MANVILLE) & Atticus Pund (TIM MCMULLAN) in Moonflower Murders. (Sony Pictures Television/Jonathan Hession/BBC)

What Will Happen?

Marble Hall Murders begins with Susan back in England, before she is reluctantly drawn into yet another Atticus Pünd – this time written by a new, young writer. Set in 1955, Pünd’s Last Case is set in an exotic villa in Corfu, with another real killer hidden between the lines of the text. As Atticus moves between the pages, Susan unravels the real mystery: who killed Miriam Crace, the most famous children’s author in the world?

The novel’s blurb reads as follows:

Editor Susan Ryeland has left her Greek Island, her hotel and her Greek boyfriend Andreas in search of a new life in England.

She is freelancing for Causton Books, where she is asked to work on a ‘continuation’ novel, Pünd’s Last Case, by a young author, Eliot Crace. Eliot Crace is the grandson of one of the most well known children’s authors ever, Marian Crace. Think Enid Blyton, then double her sales. Marian Crace died some 15 years previously and Eliot is sure she was poisoned.

Rather doubtfully, Susan starts to read the opening chapters, finding to her relief that Pünd’s Last Case is actually pretty good. Set in the South of France, it revolves around the mysterious death of Lady Margaret Chalfont who, though mortally ill, is poisoned – perhaps by a member of her own family. But why? And who did it?

It soon becomes clear to Susan that the clues to who was responsible for the death of Eliot’s grandmother, Marian Crace, are hidden from view in this Atticus Pünd mystery.

Eliot’s behaviour becomes increasingly erratic as his alcohol and gambling addictions increase. But when he is killed in a hit and run accident, Susan realises that she is suspected of his murder.

Three mysterious deaths and a group of people with multiple motives for Susan realises that if she doesn’t solve the mystery in Pünd’s Last Case, her death may well be next…

The Cast

Lesley Manville will return as Susan Ryeland while Tim McMullan will return to play fictional detective Atticus Pünd – and the rest remains to be seen.

‘Anthony has once again brought his unique and original perspective to the world of murder mystery,’ says executive producer Jill Green. ‘Marble Hall Murders completes the trilogy, and the scripts and lead actors are once again at the top of their game.’

Release Date

Filming on Marble Hall Murders is set to take place in March in Dublin, Corfu and London – so we think it could land on TV screens before the year is up.

WATCH

All episodes of Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.