'Moonflower Murders' Recap: Episode 4

Moonflower Murders airs Sundays at 8:00 pm and is available to stream. Recap the previous and following episodes. 
Recap and stream the previous series, Magpie Murders.
Keep up with your favorite dramas and mysteries by signing up for our newsletter, Dramalogue.

Susan arrives in London to stay at the enviable house of Craig Andrews – a house she helped him afford, as his editor. He has connections to the prison system via a literary program, and can arrange to have Susan visit the prison in which Stefan Leonida, the man who confessed to the murder of Frank Parris, is being held. But Stefan will have to agree to speak to Susan on his own.

First, Susan has a meeting with a friend at an independent publisher about a possible job. He says he wants to hire her but will have to convince his partners – the publishing world has changed, and Susan disdains social media and the “romantasy” that is now popular. He asks her opinion on a book cover they’re about to release, and she criticizes its sensationalism. She leaves assuming she will not ever be able to get another job in publishing.

She at least receives some new information on Frank Parris from a meeting with James Taylor, Alan Conway’s last partner, who is now rich from selling Alan’s house after his death. James knew Frank from his days as a male escort. In fact, Frank introduced James to Alan. Frank was encouraging Alan to come out as a gay man, but Alan feared the consequences. James disliked Frank, who was cruel and liked to exert power.

Alan dedicated Atticus Pünd Takes the Case to “Frank and Leo: In Remembrance.” James says that Leo was another escort used by both Frank and Alan. James never met him, but Alan once mentioned via a joke that Leo was Australian. Leo disappeared from the scene; James suggests that he could have died of AIDS.

James also gives Susan Alan’s notes for Atticus Pünd Takes the Case and his recorded interviews of people at the Branlow hotel about Frank’s murder.

Susan listens to some of them. Alan was open that he was collecting material for his novel, although he falsely assured everyone that he wouldn’t include them in the book. He arrived at the Branlow only a few weeks after Frank’s murder and Cecily’s wedding to Aiden, but Cecily and Aiden had yet to go on their planned honeymoon to Antigua; it had been postponed.

Learning that Alan knew Frank, Cecily asked him if Frank was prone to inventing things. He gave Aiden a keycard to his room in front of Cecily, claiming that it wasn’t working – but they tested it and it was. He also claimed to several people that he was seeing The Marriage of Figaro the evening he was killed, but Cecily had been looking at the local performance venue’s schedule – and the opera wasn’t on that night.

Aiden interrupted Alan’s interview with Cecily. Alan already knows Aiden – Aiden quickly says he checked Alan into the hotel, even though Susan hears Lawrence checking Alan in on Alan’s recording of his interview with Lawrence. Aiden tells Alan to stop asking questions around the hotel.

Susan takes a break from her research for dinner with Craig, who recently separated from his partner. They drink a lot and Susan admits that she’s not happy running the hotel in Crete; she probably won’t return. Craig offers to move with her to a new publisher if it helps her get a job. And then he makes a move on her, and she politely turns him down. He accuses her of leading him on and tries again to kiss her. She quickly gathers her things to leave, catching a taxi to the nearest hotel since she’s too drunk to drive. She accidentally leaves her phone at Craig’s house but assumes she forgot it in the taxi.

Back in Crete, Andreas has realized that he can’t run the hotel without Susan and wants to be with her even if she doesn’t want to live in Crete. He asks his cousin Yannis to buy him out of the hotel. He’s flying to England for a quick trip to see Susan, and he won’t come back to Crete if she decides she wants to live in England.

In the cold hard light of day at a noisy hotel, Susan now regrets coming to England in the first place. She doesn’t think she can get a job in publishing and doubts she will find Cecily MacNeil. She wonders when the next flight to Crete is.

Andreas calls Susan as he’s leaving to get on a flight in the opposite direction. Craig picks up and implies that Susan spent the night with him.

Driving back to Suffolk, Susan passes her sister Katie’s house – and sees a for sale sign.

Algernon Marsh has searched Dr. Leonard Collins’ desk and learned that Leonard’s wife, Samantha – Algernon’s sister – is due to inherit £980,000 from an aunt while Algernon gets nothing. Leonard tells Algernon that the aunt knew Algernon was a fraud, as did Melissa James. She told Leonard that she knew Algernon was lying to her about the Day’s End company he had her investing in and that it was a scam. But Algernon says Melissa also shared damaging information about Leonard with him. Leonard must convince Samantha to split the inheritance with Algernon, or else.

Pünd treats his assistant Madeline and the police detective Chubb to a dinner – his client Edgar Schultz is paying, after all. Madeline opines that the murderer of Melissa James should hang, and Chubb agrees – but Pünd dislikes violence in all forms. Chubb reveals that he looked into the opera Melissa’s husband John Spencer went to see the night she was murdered – The Marriage of Figaro – as Pünd asked, and found that it was canceled. The lead was hit by a car – presumably Algernon’s.

The detectives go to confront John about his lie. First, they ask him if he knew Melissa was having an affair, reading him the letter the Gardners found in Melissa’s office. John says he isn’t surprised by an affair even if he didn’t know about it, and becomes flustered. Confronted with the fact that the opera was canceled that night, he admits that he left the house but quickly turned around, not being in the mood for opera. He confronted Melissa, she told him she was leaving him, and he killed her. He’s relieved to finally admit it.

Chubb lets John go upstairs to get a coat and shoes – he has two officers outside, so John can’t escape. Pünd thinks things don’t add up, but Chubb says they can’t dispute a confession. Madeline sees movement outside, and Pünd and Chubb rush to see who it was. The posted officers didn’t see anybody, nor did the Chandlers, who were in the kitchen.

Madeline screams from another room. John is at the top of the stairs, an ornamental Turkish dagger previously mounted on the wall stuck in his chest.