Anthony Horowitz’s Marble Hall Murders: Everything We Know So Far

After the runaway success of Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders (one of the BBC’s most watched series in 2024), it makes perfect sense that the BBC has been working hard on 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.

Susan Ryeland (LESLEY MANVILLE) & Atticus Pünd (TIM McMULLAN) in Marble Hall Murders. (BBC/Eleventh Hour Films/Sony Pictures Television/Jonathan Hession)

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) in Marble Hall Murders. (BBC/Eleventh Hour Films/Sony Pictures Television/Jonathan Hession)

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?

Elmer Waysmith (MARK BONNAR) in Marble Hall Murders. (BBC/Eleventh Hour Films/Sony Pictures Television/Jonathan Hession)

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…

Fitting the sun-soaked setting, Marble Hall Murders was filmed in Corfu, as well as the less sunny Dublin and London.

Miriam Crace (PATRICIA HODGE) & Leilah Crace (YASMIN AL MASSRI) in Marble Hall Murders. (BBC/Eleventh Hour Films/Sony Pictures Television/Jonathan Hession)

The Cast

Lesley Manville will return as Susan Ryeland while Tim McMullan will return to play fictional detective Atticus Pünd. They will be joined by a cast of suspicious characters as Susan unpicks this series’ mystery.

The cast we know so far is as follows:

• Lesley Manville as Susan Ryeland
• Tim McMullan as Atticus Pünd
• Patricia Hodge as Miriam Crace
• Yasmine Al Massri as Leilah Crace
• Mark Bonnar as Elmer Waysmith
• Zubin Varla as Achilles Vassilikos
• Phoenix Laroche as Cedric Chalfont
• Jamie Blackley
• Daniel Cerqueira
• Harry Lloyd
• Rupert Penry-Jones
• Anneika Rose
• Danny Sapani

Atticus Pünd (TIM McMULLAN), Achilles Vassilikos (ZUBIN VARLA) & Cedric Chalfont (PHOENIX LAROCHE) Marble Hall Murders. (BBC/Eleventh Hour Films/Sony Pictures Television/Jonathan Hession)

Release Date

The BBC has confirmed Marble Hall Murders will air on BBC One and iPlayerin 2026, but no specific date just yet.

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