PAULINE: We think it may be because of one of your books: "Atticus Pünd Takes the Case."

Maybe I did say that it would make a good story, but I didn't tell him to write it!

ALAN: Chapter One: Melissa James had made a great many enemies.

(engine revving, tires screeching) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (thunder claps) (whimpering) (click) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (string music playing, guests applauding) (music ends, guests talking in background) I'm the luckiest man in the world.

(guests chuckling) When I first met this beautiful, talented, gorgeous woman, I never dreamed that two years later, we'd be standing here together as man and wife.

(guests chuckling) The simple truth is, I fell in love with Cecily the moment that I saw her.

(murmuring) And when she introduced me to her amazing family, I felt like I'd come home.

And I also want to say to my mum, I'm so glad that you were able to come down all the way from Derbyshire for today.

Literally, none of this would have been possible without you.

(murmuring, chuckling) But one thing you need to know about the Trehernes... ...is that in this family, the women have a powerful voice.

(guests laughing) Which is why I'm passing the mic to my all-powerful wife, Cecily.

(applauding and laughing) I met the man who was to become my husband... (guests laugh) ...on August 16, which also happens to be his birthday.

(breath trembling) ...and I was trying to buy a flat in London.

(guests laughing) (breath trembling) I knew from the day we met that we were 100% compatible.

And every day that Aiden's been here, helping run the hotel with me and Lisa, I've had it proved over and over again.

(breath trembling) And I just want to say, I'm so proud of my mum and dad, who bought Branlow Hall all those years ago and together turned it into the most successful hotel in Suffolk.

Natasha?

I want to promise you that I... (breath trembling) (speaking Russian) (speaking Russian) (guests gasp, murmur) (crying, speaking Russian) He's dead!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (bird calling) (insects buzzing) (sheep bleating, bells clanking) Kalimera.

It has nothing to do with the cleanliness of the hotel.

And zero sympathy or understanding from the staff?

(chuckles) (birds chirping) ♪ ♪ (car horn beeps) ♪ ♪ Yassas, kalimera.

Yassas.

ANDREAS (speaking Greek): YIORGOS: ANDREAS: YIORGOS: ANDREAS: YIORGOS (raising voice): ANDREAS (raising voice): YIORGOS: (water spraying, both shouting in Greek) (sparks erupt, all yelp) (exclaiming in Greek) ANDREAS: VANGELIS: Okay, okay.

ANDREAS (speaking Greek): (speaking Greek) (Andreas speaking Greek) ANDREAS: VANGELIS: (speaking Greek) VANGELIS: (speaking Greek) VANGELIS: Um... (water streaming) (sighing, muttering): Oh, for God's sake.

(murmuring) (both speaking Greek) (speaking Greek) What did he say?

We have plenty of water, but it's all over the kitchen.

♪ ♪ (computer keys clacking) (crickets chirping) Are you coming to bed?

Getting a new water tank is one thing, but the whole structure of the roof is damaged, and that means rebuilding half the kitchen.

(groans) This is the most beautiful place in the world, and you want to talk about plumbing.

All right, maybe you'd prefer to talk about your cousin Yannis.

Yannis.

Yes, he's supposed to be your partner, our main investor.

Because you may have not noticed, but we just lost our chef.

♪ ♪ (talking in background) (brakes squeak) (car doors close) Thank you.

Um, I'm afraid the kitchen's closed at the moment, but we will be serving salads and snacks on the terrace.

We were wondering if we could talk to you about a personal matter-- my name's Lawrence Treherne.

And we've traveled all this way out to speak to you, Susan, because we think it may be because of one of your books.

♪ ♪ SUSAN: What is it exactly that you want me to do, Mr. Treherne?

Lawrence, please.

I am afraid it's a long story-- I have to go back eight years.

(exhales): Lawrence, I, I'd like to help you, but this is not a good time.

The kitchen's just flooded and there's a lot of things that I really should be doing.

LAWRENCE: I'll try to be as succinct as possible, Susan, but we honestly believe you're the only person that can help us.

Did you ever read about the murder of a man called Frank Parris?

LAWRENCE: It was where our daughter got married in June eight years ago.

♪ ♪ We stayed open for the whole weekend, and on the Friday evening, Frank Parris checked in.

Parris-- P, A, double R, I, S. LAWRENCE: As it happened, I saw him arrive, and I knew at once he was going to be trouble.

You call yourself a country hotel, so a glimpse of the countryside might be nice.

Yeah, I'm afraid that's true-- we have a wedding this weekend.

It's actually my daughter who's getting married tomorrow.

Congratulations-- but I have to say, if I'd wanted to stay in a shoebox with a view of a car park, I'd have stayed in Ipswich.

But the guests haven't arrived yet, a, a late check-in.

I'm sure they won't mind.

Room 12 has a, uh, a half tester and a freestanding bath.

(card keys rearranging) Derek will show you up, Mr. Parris.

♪ ♪ LAWRENCE: That was Aiden's talent-- people liked him.

Um, we thought it would feel more homely if we gave them names.

There was a staff party at 8:00 the night before the wedding.

Hi.

LAWRENCE: Everyone would be working the next day, and Cecily wanted them to be part of the celebrations.

My husband was running an outreach program for young offenders.

LAWRENCE: Sadly, it didn't work out with Stefan.

We had a series of petty thefts, and it turned out he was responsible.

LAWRENCE: So our daughter Lisa gave him his notice, and this was his last week.

(people talking and laughing in background) Are you drunk?

(music playing in background) LAWRENCE: Frank Parris was murdered in his room just two hours later, and it was Stefan Leonida who became the main suspect.

(exhales) ♪ ♪ LAWRENCE: The body was discovered the next day.

LAWRENCE: That was about the same time that Aiden began his speech.

(gasping) (sirens blaring) LAWRENCE: So, we called the police and they arrived about 20 minutes later.

SUSAN: Out of interest, who was in charge?

LAWRENCE: His name was Detective Superintendent Locke.

SUSAN (chuckling): Why was I afraid you were going to say that?

(people talking in background) LOCKE: Frank Parris arrives from Australia and checks into your hotel.

Nobody knows him, and yet sometime after midnight, someone enters his room and murders him in a particularly violent way.

So, I imagine the detective superintendent might be interested in talking to him.

LOCKE: Well, Derek Endicott, the night manager, says otherwise.

He says he saw you in the Moonflower wing just before midnight.

Mr. Parris's wallet was empty and there were bloodstains inside the fold of the leather.

Which suggests to me it was opened after he was killed.

♪ ♪ (people talking in background) LAWRENCE: It was an open and shut case.

But by then, he'd confessed, so, there was no doubt in the matter.

I mean, it's a, it's a dreadful story and I feel sorry for all of you.

But you began by saying that your daughter had disappeared.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

And that you thought it was connected to one of my books.

And it's clear that he used the real events that have taken place as some sort of inspiration.

He calls us Lance and Maureen and he turns us into crooks.

We're running a hotel that's called the Moonflower.

Frank Parris, the man who was killed, becomes Oscar Berlin.

He turns up as some sort of idiot swindler, Algernon Marsh.

Stefan Leonida's been in prison for seven years, and as far as the police are concerned, it's case closed.

She really wanted to believe that he was innocent, but even she'd accepted all the evidence against him.

LAWRENCE: The day after she finished it, she rang me.

You know that book I bought, Atticus Pünd, it's got the answer.

♪ ♪ LAWRENCE (voiceover): She didn't say-- someone came into her room and she ended the call.

(speaking Greek) (speaking Greek hesitantly) Have you reported her as missing?

We know she's still alive, there have been sightings.

Her face was in the newspapers, and there was someone who was sure they'd seen her in Norfolk.

LAWRENCE: If you can see what she saw, maybe you can help us find her.

(Vangelis coughing, pans clattering) Oh, God-- no, I'm sorry, I, I've got to go.

(groans) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (clicking teeth) (sighs) (tapping) ALAN: Chapter one.

Atticus Pünd was the greatest detective in the world.

But his next case was going to be his greatest challenge.

(blows) ALAN: Tawleigh was a picturesque village in the county of Devonshire, known for its lush countryside and cream teas.

In the summer of 1954, its most famous resident was, without doubt, Melissa James, the British actress who had climbed to the very peak of the Hollywood heights, until an accident on the set of a Hitchcock film had brought a sudden end to her career.

♪ ♪ She had used the insurance money to purchase a small hotel one mile from the village.

She renamed it the Moonflower, which was also the title of the film for which she had been nominated for her first Academy Award and which had given her the fame which, due to the accident, she had left behind.

It's a pretty good start... (exhales) (door opens) (radio continues) Miss James.

LANCE: We were just talking about you, as it happens.

Uh, we were going through the mail and this came for you.

MAUREEN: We knew who it was from.

It was soaked in lavender-- I don't know what they're thinking of.

I've been looking at the accounts up until February.

Ah, the winter months always gonna be a bit slow when you're near the seaside.

That may well be the case, but even when the hotel is full, we are still losing money hand over fist.

The rooms are already the most expensive in Devonshire-- no.

I've asked my financial adviser to do a complete audit.

("The Marriage of Figaro" overture playing) ♪ ♪ (tires skidding) (Henry grunts, music stops) (tires skid) (engine idling) ♪ ♪ (engine idling) (gears shift) (people talking in background) Will you be staying for supper, Miss James?

(match strikes) It is the work of almost three years, Melissa.

OSCAR: I have the script, the director, the contract-- I have the costumes.

One thing I do not have, your signature.

Why will you not sign the contract when production begins two months from now?

(exhales) And everything I've done, the finance I have raised, without you, I have nothing!

You know, I don't know the Greek for "floods" and "exploding water tanks" and "going very rapidly mad."

(sighs) ALAN: Melissa's journey took her past the local church of St. Daniel's.

This was close to the home of Dr. Leonard Collins, her personal physician.

As things turned out, he would be one of the last people to see her alive.

♪ ♪ But right then, Dr. Collins was not interested in his celebrity patient.

Even as her life seemed to be collapsing around her, his had just taken a significant turn for the better.

He will spend every waking minute trying to wheedle the money out of you.

She was not in a good mood as she returned to her home at Clarence Keep.

And the sight of her husband's car in the driveway only made things worse.

(slow classical piece playing) I was waiting for you.

Something you just take for granted which I've always worked for.

It's "The Marriage of Figaro"-- you loved it when we saw it at Glyndebourne.

I was bored stiff when we saw it at Glyndebourne, and I don't want to see it tonight!

(groans): A night at the opera with Mummy and Daddy and Lord and Lady So-and-so.

Black tie and political chit-chat at the interval.

(music continues) And you can sleep in the spare room when you get back.

Try not to wake me.

("Marriage of Figaro" playing) ♪ Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso ♪ ♪ Notte e giorno d'intorno girando ♪ (engine starts) ♪ Delle belle turbando il riposo ♪ ♪ Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor ♪ (gears shift) ♪ Delle belle turbando il riposo ♪ ♪ Narciset... ♪ ♪ ♪ (doorbell rings) (doorbell rings) Oh!

I don't suppose you could rustle up a whisky and ginger, could you?

("Marriage of Figaro" playing) ♪ Si potrebbe ♪ ♪ Si potrebbe con l'astuzia, coll'arguzia ♪ ♪ Col giudizio, col criterio ♪ ♪ Si potrebbe, si potrebbe, si potrebbe, si potrebbe ♪ (brake engages) (breathing deeply) ♪ Il fatto è serio, il fatto è serio ♪ ♪ Il fatto è serio ♪ Uh, Mr. Marsh is waiting for you in the living room, Miss James.

Thank you, Phyllis.

I'd like to have a word with you and Eric before you leave.

I've been having a terrible day, if you want the truth.

Well, so, if you're not in the mood for a drink, what can I do for you?

I do want to talk about that-- I want to talk about everything!

That is why I recommended Day's End, it'll make you rich.

♪ ♪ The shares aren't worth anything, of course, because Algernon's ripping her off.

(sighs) I'm not gonna find the answer written in a book eight years ago, am I?

And how am I supposed to know what's happened to Cecily Treherne?

He showed me a picture of Frank Parris in a newspaper, a murder on a wedding day, and maybe, maybe I did say that it would make a good story.

(sighs) (inhales) She sees something in the book that tells her who killed Frank Parris.

She calls her parents, and someone overhears the conversation.

Yes, but the, the book is set in a boutique hotel in Devonshire.

It's about a famous actress who gets strangled.

It's got nothing to do with what happened at Branlow Hall.

(chuckles) (music playing in background) Andreas, I'm going back to England.

You know that everything to do with that man is bad, eh?

Well, you never said it was gonna be miserable, either.

♪ ♪ (exhales) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (people talking in background) ALAN: Melissa James had made a great many enemies in the village of Tawleigh.

There were the hotel managers, Lance and Maureen, in fear of her.

The film producer, Oscar Berlin, whose life had been ruined by her.

What was Algernon Marsh, her financial adviser, hiding from her?

And what would her husband, John Spencer, do after she had rejected him?

(engine starts) ♪ ♪ Fear and hatred lead to an inevitable conclusion.

♪ ♪ (click) ♪ ♪ SUSAN: I'm trying to find Cecily before it's too late.

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