The First 'Magpie Murders' Trailer Is Missing The Final Chapter

Ever since the debut of Sherlock Holmes, murder mysteries have tended to skew towards an all-male cast of characters. From Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings to Endeavour Morse and Fred Thursday, most of these series are male-centric stories, viewpoints, and attitudes. But with mystery audiences tending to skew heavily female, the rise of women detectives like Miss Fisher and Miss Eliza Scarlet has been a belated follow-up to Miss Marple. The newest female-centric mystery to head to PBS' Masterpiece is Magpie Murders, stars future Dame Lesley Manville (World on Fire) as editor Susan Ryeland, who becomes an unlikely detective.

Adapted by British author Anthony Horowitz from his own novel, Magpie Murders is an interesting puzzle box of a story, a novel within a novel that will help solve the overall mystery. When Ryeland finally receives the long-awaited manuscript for the next book from author Alan Conway, she's over the moon to get it ready for publishing — until she realizes the last chapter is nowhere to be found. Her hunt for the missing pages turns into a gruesome discovery of Conway's body; however, it's the realization the unfinished novel holds the key to his death that turns her into an amateur sleuth.

Aided by Conway's leading detective on the page, Atticus Pünd, Ryeland digs into the case, and the results are not what she expects. Check out the trailer: