An Interview With ‘Moonflower Murders’ Writer Anthony Horowitz

Guilt can be very a powerful thing. Sometimes it can even convince people to start investigating murders like Susan (Lesley Maville) does in Moonflower Murders. A follow-up to Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders follows former editor Susan Ryeland, whose deceased client’s books keep stirring up trouble in the present day. While the paycheck doesn’t hurt either, will Susan be able to shine some light on the case of a young woman (Amy Griffiths) who disappeared after reading one of Conway’s books and claiming the book proved an innocent man (Alec Secareanu) was sitting in jail? Here’s what writer Anthony Horowitz had to say about the miniseries adapted from one of his books:

Rachel Bellwoar: Speaking as someone who would eagerly watch anything Lesley Manville was in, what was your reaction when you found out she had been cast as Susan and has her take on the character changed how you write for Susan at all?

Anthony Horowitz: I couldn’t have been happier. But you should know that Lesley agreed to do the part long before we raised the finance and got the green light to film. She stuck with the project and supported it for about eighteen months – and it was largely thanks to her that we were able to make it. She is a wonderful Susan Ryeland and a great friend.

Bellwoar: One would think it would be hard enough writing one mystery but, like Magpie Murders before it, Moonflower Murders includes two – one fictional and one real. Do you have a strategy for keeping the different timelines straight?

Horowitz: I don’t really have a strategy. I just have a notebook which I fill with doodles, diagrams, questions to myself, plot notes, character questions and ideas. It takes me longer to structure the novel (and the TV adaptation) than it does to do the writing. What matters is that no matter how complicated the plots, the audience should never feel lost.

Bellwoar: What’s been the biggest challenge in adapting your own work for television and has it offered any opportunities to change your story?

Horowitz: The story has to change – it would be impossible to take a 357-page book and somehow nail it to the screen and one major difference is that the two timelines, the fictional world of Atticus Pünd (1955) and the real world of Susan Ryeland (2023) are acted out simultaneously. In the books, Susan and Atticus never meet – and we don’t have the fun of actors playing two roles. A good adaptation is always an opportunity to do things differently, I think.

Bellwoar: Moonflower Murders picks up with Susan having moved to Greece with Andreas (Alexandros Logothetis), but she doesn’t seem any fonder of the hotel business. How is she doing personally when we encounter her this season?

Horowitz: I’m afraid the hotel doesn’t go too well for Susan. It’s not just that “The Trifilli” is one step away from a Greek “Fawlty Towers”, it’s that her heart isn’t in it. She loves books and – as she said in Magpie Murders, she’s no Shirley Valentine. This has put a strain on her relationship with Andreas. She’s homesick and even the beauty of Crete can’t make her happy. Incidentally, do check out the guy in the swimming pool.

Horowitz: You have to remember that “Atticus Pünd Takes the Case,” the novel that takes center place in this series, pre-dates “Magpie Murders” so to all intents and purposes, its author, Alan Conway, is very much alive. But the simpler answer to your question is that I loved Conleth Hill’s performance in the first season and was delighted to find a way to bring him back.

Bellwoar: While there are definitely some familiar faces this season, are there any new characters you are especially excited to have viewers meet?

Horowitz: I was generally very happy with the cast – and particularly to have our core team back again – but I have to mention Pippa Bennett-Warner who gives a standout performance as Pünd’s assistant, Madeline. On set, I always thought of her, Danny Mays (DI Chubb) and Tim McMullan (Pünd) as The Three Stooges. And I’ve always been a fan of Mark Gatiss so I was thrilled he agreed to play Oscar Berlin and Mark Gatiss and went straight to my desk and wrote several new scenes for him.

Bellwoar: Susan struggles with feeling qualified to investigate another murder, but what do you think it is about her character or her background as an editor that makes her so good at the job?

Horowitz: I love the fact that Susan is not a detective. She is an editor and at the end of the day, these are literary mysteries, with the secrets concealed inside books. I also enjoyed writing as a mature woman (in the novel, the narrative is in the first person). And it certainly helped having Lesley Manville playing the part.

Bellwoar: Is there anything you can tease about Marble Hall Murders, the third Susan Ryeland book coming out this May?

Horowitz: This time, Susan is inveigled to work with a new writer on a “continuation novel” – Alan Conway is well and truly deceased. The writer is Eliot Crace, grandson of Miriam Crace, the most famous children’s writer who ever lived. Eliot believes his grandmother was murdered and, in order to emulate Alan Conway, hides the name of the killer inside his new book. More death inevitably follows. My publishers think it’s the best book of the three and I’m very much hoping to see it on TV soon.

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Anthony!

Moonflower Murders airs Sundays on PBS and is available to stream on the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.