Moonflower Murders episode 2 sees Atticus Pünd (Timothy McMullan) start his investigation into the murder of Melissa James, while Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) begins her search for Cecily.
The episode opens with Susan on the plane. The passenger next to her sees she's reading Alan Conway and says she's read all of his books. She says it's a shame he died last year and she is sure he was a lovely man — of course, he wasn't at all! Susan gives her a look.
We go back eight years to Alan and Susan meeting in a café. He's being obnoxious as she asks how his latest book is going. Susan says she's heard he's leaving the school, and he replies that he's pleased to be leaving all of those "over-privileged stuck-up kids." Susan points out that her niece and nephew go there!
Alan then spots Frank Parris's photo in a newspaper on the next table. He says he once knew him and he borrows the paper. Alan is engrossed in reading the story of how Frank was murdered at a hotel. "That would be a good setting for a book," says Susan. Alan says it happened at a wedding and Susan chips in that would be a great opening to a story. “Blood stains on the bridal gown,” smiles Alan. "That's gothic," replies Susan. And we get the titles…
We join Atticus Pünd in his office. His assistant tells him a New York agent is coming in at 11 am. She suspects he wants Pünd to investigate the murder of Melissa James. Pünd is reluctant, but she points out that Melissa was a high-profile Hollywood actress and it would be good for his profile.
The agent arrives in the office. He says he wants Pünd to help the police with the investigation. He says how kind Melissa was and that they owe it to her to find her killer.
Back in the present, Susan gets back behind the wheel of her beloved car. She drives… and "nearly" collides with Pünd’s car and we return to the 1950s detective, who's talking in the back of a car with his assistant. Meanwhile, we see Susan arrive at the hotel where Frank was murdered. A delighted Lawrence greets her and we see Chase the dog — is Chase going to be important somehow?
Lawrence shows Susan to her room. He asks Susan to have lunch with him and Lisa. He warns her that Lisa can be rather direct. Susan looks out of the window and sees Aiden hugging his daughter. Susan goes to lunch with Lawrence and Lisa. We discover that Aiden lives in a cottage, that Lisa is the general manager, that Cecily does the accounts, and that Aiden does the PR. Lisa loves filling in that Cecily was pregnant at the time of her wedding. She thinks Aiden's a lazy golddigger. As to her sister, she's unconcerned and thinks she's run off after an argument with Aiden. Lisa then gets up to leave and rudely tells Susan she finds it incredible she's being paid £10,000 to read a book.
After Lisa departs, Susan asks how she got her scar and Lawrence says that was Cecily. Cecily threw a glass and it smashed, hurting Lisa, but Cecily hadn't meant to injure her. Susan observes Melissa in the book had a scar.
Later she has a video call with Andreas and says she blames herself for what happened. She ends the call and picks up the book. She starts chapter seven.
Pünd arrives at the Moonflower Hotel with his assistant Madeline Cane (Pippa Bennett-Warner). Maureen greets them and mistakenly calls him Pound. DI Chubb walks into the hotel and introduces himself.
Chubb says he doesn’t believe Melissa had any enemies but says between 6.28 pm and 6.38 pm someone broke into her house and strangled her. Chubb explains she called Dr Leonard Collins, her personal physician, at 6.28 pm but by the time he got there at 6.38 pm she was dead.
Chubb goes through his suspects including Oscar, who Melissa had argued with on the day of her death. He also mentions dodgy Algernon. They arrive at Melissa's house. Pünd meets housekeeper Phyllis and Chubb adds that she lives here with her son. He explains they were out on the night of the murder. Chubb explains that she called her doctor because she was terrified someone was in the house. They go into Melissa's bedroom. Pünd notes the telephone chord — the murder weapon — has been ripped from the wall. Chubb says Melissa called from downstairs he thinks as there's evidence she cried there. Chubb illustrates how he thinks the murder took place, noting a bloodstain on the headboard. Madeline dramatically faints. Pünd doesn’t seem overly concerned with Madeline.
Melissa's husband John arrives and Pünd starts questioning him. He says they met six years ago while she was making her final film. He explains he went alone to the opera. He says Melissa stayed at home to meet the financial advisor. John says he suspects Lance and Maureen as Melissa was aware they werent cheating her. Pünd suggests to useless Chubb he should check John did actually attend the opera.
In the present, we see the equally useless Locke emerge from Aiden's cottage. Locke asks Aiden to make a public TV appeal. He agrees. Susan hides from Locke and goes into Aiden's cottage. Aiden seems very in love with Cecily. He reveals that Alan came to the hotel and asked lots of questions about Frank’s murder.
Cecily picked up the book in a charity shop and was annoyed when she saw Alan had put her family in the novel and thought they should sue. On the day she disappeared, Cecily told Aiden she’d found something in the book.
Gwyneth (Phyllis in the book), who’s the mother of night manager Derek (Eric in the book), comes in with Aiden's daughter. Aiden reveals that on the day Cecily vanished, he came home and found her gone. Gwyneth said she’d gone out with the dog. He only knew something was wrong when he heard the dog barking. Aiden suddenly acts oddly and says he needs to attend to his daughter. Susan leaves.
She heads back into the hotel and talks to Derek at the reception desk. He said Frank wasn't very polite when he stayed and didn't even thank him when he booked him a taxi. Susan points out he was a key witness. We go back to the night of Frank's murder, with Derek doing a jumbo crossword while on reception. About midnight he heard the dog in distress and went upstairs to check on him. He then sees "Stefan" walking past, although he appears to have only had a very brief glimpse. He recalls wondering why Stefan should have been in the hotel so late. Susan asks if he's sure it was him and Derek says he was wearing Stefan's hat and carrying Stefan's maintenance kit. Derek told Locke he only got a partial look but Locke as ever didn't want to listen. Derek adds that it was Natasha and not Stefan who was the thief. Susan asks Derek if he can recall where Frank ordered his taxi to and he says to a firm of solicitors.
Next, Susan meets Liam, the spa manager. Susan notes that Liam is Australian like Frank. He says he was mates with Stefan. Liam is blunt, bordering on threatening.
Susan goes back to her room and picks up the book. Pünd goes to talk to the doctor. Outside the house, he spots something on Algernon’s car and comments he's clearly not reliable behind the wheel of a car. Chubb looks baffled despite the obvious damage to the front of the vehicle!
Chubb — who is in danger of becoming Inspector Chubby — munches his way through a load of cake, while Pünd questions the doctor. He also accuses Lance and Maureen of stealing from Melissa. His wife Samantha (Jeany Spark) complains that Melissa was constantly calling him. The doctor says someone was stealing small things from Melissa's house. We go back to the day of Melissa's murder. Samantha picked up Melissa's frantic call and gave the phone to her husband. Melissa pleads for help and says a man is trying to kill her. The doctor gives a string of reasons why the very short journey ended up taking him 10 minutes. His wife appears to be jealous of him and Melissa. Chubb congratulates Samantha on her cake and says he will take Pünd to the hotel.
After they leave, Samantha wonders if they should have mentioned the inheritance but the doctor says he doesn't think it has anything to do with it. They embrace and agree to move far away from the area.
Back in the present, a frustrated Susan asks Pünd how he works it all out. Pünd says the moment he arrived in the village he was aware of something wrong, something evil and he says he has the same sense here as well. Pünd says she needs to be careful and then vanishes. In bed, Susan looks frightened and the episode ends...
