Magpie Murders: Season 1 Masterpiece Mystery!

(In regards to how many episodes you get to watch, I got a 7-day free trial of PBS Masterpiece and could watch all six episodes, since there were already five here at Amazon. I have a PBS app on my Smart TV, however, where I saw last night I could have watched all six episodes there also for free. There are also many short extras on the series to watch with the PBS app.)At the very beginning, I didn't find this story interesting. I even stopped watching after so many minutes, but picked it up again another night. It's when Atticus Pünd first appeared that I suddenly loved the series, and wanted to watch all the episodes. Tim McMullan does an outstanding job at creating a most likable German-born private investigator, who is trying to solve multiple deaths in 1955. He is actually a fictional character in a murder-mystery series, written in contemporary times, by a jerk author named Alan Conway.When the jerk gets killed, his editor Susan Ryeland tries to solve his murder, as well as find the final chapter of his final manuscript in the Atticus Pünd series. What "Magpie Murders" does is brilliantly interweave the murder investigations in both time periods. Only, Herr Pünd appears to Ms. Ryeland as a real person, but one only she can see and talk to about the murders and manuscript. She bounces ideas off of him and he gives her clues.Who killed Alan Conway? I guessed who by the third episode and I wasn't even trying. I'm not the biggest murder-mystery fan and can't stand to read books in that genre. Yet I enjoy watching murder-mystery shows, as long as there is at least one character I really like, in a totally passive way. I don't care to know who the killer is until the end. In this series, however, it was limited who the killer could be, unless it was someone really obvious. I didn't guess the motive, though, but also didn't try.What was going on in 1955 was much more complicated and interesting. I did not guess who killed the victims and why. Watching and listening to Atticus Pünd was rewarding enough, but it was indeed an extra bonus to have a more complex mystery going on. It was interesting to see, too, when one of the characters in the '50s story showed up as a character in the contemporary story. I particularly liked supporting actors Matthew Beard and Nia Deacon. In addition, the magpie birds throughout the episodes were most welcomed. The number of birds one sees is supposed to be a sign of either bad or good luck.One magpies nursery rhyme:"One for sorrow,Two for joy,Three for a girl,Four for a boy,Five for silver,Six for gold,Seven for a secret never to be told."(Note: There are different versions of that nursey rhyme.)P.S. The series has a great soundtrack, too.

I'm a huge fan of Horowitz; I believe I've read every book he's written except the Alex Rider ones (because I'm not a YA). Horowitz is very much in love with his own cleverness, which doesn't always make for good storytelling -- I'm looking at you, "Five Red Herrings" by Dorothy Sayers -- but in his case, he's so extremely clever that I can just sit back and enjoy the ride. So I was prepared to love this, and I did. The book version was structured quite differently: the first half was the entire book-within-a-book, so I pretty much had the impression that this was just Horowitz doing Christie, and he did a very creditable job of it (he also does flawless Conan Doyle and Ian Fleming), and then, bam, cut to the present day and it's a whole different mystery. Cool, but there was no way a screen adaptation could work like that. This one doesn't, but the way it's structured works flawlessly, in a way that wouldn't have worked as a book. I thought it was terrific. There's another Susan Ryeland/Atticus Pund book, "Moonflower Murders," and I really hope they're going to adapt it too.Everything about this adaptation is flawless. Lesley Manville is terrific -- in this, as in everything else -- and everyone else was too. Highly recommended. (And when are they going to start adapting the Horowitz/Hawthorne novels? Please please please?)BTW, all those reviews that kvetched about having to pay for the later episodes missed the point that they were charging for the ones that hadn't officially aired on PBS yet. Basically, you had to pay to see them early. But the PBS run is finished now, so the entire series is available with a Prime membership.

A masterpiece of juggling different timelines and real and fictional characters. Took me a couple episodes but I was drawn into the story and ended up really liking the approach. I am sure some will never embrace this series but I think I can say with confidence most will like it if you give it a try. Good subtitles, pace and acting. Very nice mystery with great casting. No nudity and gore.

The more I watch it , the more things I discover. Absolutely stellar cast, humor, so many aspects of life and human nature were depicted in the most interesting way. I wanted to memorize all their dialogs and observations. I've always loved British movies, but lately it's become harder and harder to understand the language. So," Magpie murders " is such a joy to watch even from this point of view. I discovered Lesley Manville and fall in love with her completely. I watched other movies with her, after that, she is wonderful everywhere, but Susan character is more colorful and has more dimensions . Alexandros Logothetis is a great balancing match for her personality and he is a dream man. I even sympathized with Alan Conway who's brilliant writing about social issues { ...landscape ravaged by locust cloud of ancient hatred ..., loss of civility ...) could not go through people's mind. And Atticus Pund of course and his relationship with Susan and interaction with different people. Everybody was interesting, real, believable. Million thanks to the whole crew and Anthony Horowitz.