Moonflower Murders

I throughly enjoyed Magpie Murders. Moonflower Murders is living up to the bar that was set. I am looking forward to more of Alan Conway's books, Susan and Pund in the future. Most excellent series I highly recommend. Lots of twists and turns that leave you guessing to the end. I love the characters, the writing and the parallel investigation from the book and real time. Great writing, acting and story. Wonderful series I highly recommend for a light murder mystery. So much today is so dark and depressing. It's nice to watch something that actually makes you think about what's going on. No profanity, sex and very little violence. It engages the mind to figure out who did what when. So looking forward to future series.

I really enjoyed this, but I'm glad I watched it on BBC iPlayer, as it meant I could stop, start and go back a bit to check things I might have missed. You really need your wits about you with the different timelines and actors playing two roles. That was a fun aspect of the series. What wasn't so much fun was Susan's private life and her completely irrelevant sister and nephew. Crete provided some pretty pictures and it meant they got some funding from the Greek government, but it was also unnecessary. This should really have been a four-part serial. There was no need for six episodes. Horowitz is a clever man and the plot - while not totally convincing (others have spotted holes) is full of interesting touches. On a more mundane level, there are some anachronisms, such as "gotten" in the mouth of an 1950s' character. Also the fact that Ireland was used to stand in for England shows through at times - most crassly in the form of a bright yellow "road narrows" sign (Ireland has American-style road signs). The fact that it was Ireland was probably the reason that Susan was mostly seen driving down unmarked single-track roads. Other roads would have had markings and street furniture that gave away the true location.

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.

I enjoyed Moonflower Murders even more than the PBS production of Magpie Murders, probably because I've been to all the locales where the film was made. Both are mysteries-within-mysteries but the Moonflower series had so many enjoyable features I love: excellent cast, beautiful settings, glorious Greek Islands, 3 hotels (wonderful armchair getaways), clever plotting, even humor. I watched the first 4 of 6 episodes in all seriousness but I started laughing during Ep 5 and 6; sorry! I'm reading the novel now, very nice. I especially enjoy author Horowitz's comments on PBS after each episode - aspiring novelists would do well to listen to what he has to say. I detected one of two killers in record time: the first scene in which that character appeared; also, I detected a flaw that would never happen in real life, but I can't include those details without spoiling the conclusion for you. Moonflower is escapist fun, with clever puzzles, endearing Atticus Pund and a 2d charming "detective" - OPA!

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.