Marble Hall Murders

Susan finds Eliot at Boon’s club and buys him a drink. She tells him she likes the new pages but hasn’t figured out the shoe polish clue. Because Elaine encouraged him to do the Front Row interview, Eliot is planning on doing it. Susan offers to come with him, but Eliot refuses. Susan asks about Gillian. Eliot changes the subject and talks about Susan going to Marble Hall, as well as talking to Frederick and Lambert. She explains that Alan mixing real-life into his fiction got him killed, so she needed to discover if Eliot was doing the same thing.

He condemns Susan for talking to Jonathan and Roland and says her advice has been unconstructive, leading him to doubt himself. She says she isn’t sure she wants to continue working on the book with him. Susan tells Eliot to talk to Gillian, and Eliot says Gillian has nothing to do with Susan. Susan says Gillian should have nothing to do with Eliot. Eliot tells her to go to hell, and she tells him to drop dead. She leaves the club.

Samira Ahmed interviews Eliot. He admits that he hated living in Marble Hall. Kenneth’s taxidermied kingfisher scared Eliot as a child. Kenneth and Miriam didn’t get along. Eliot talks about Jasmine being named after one of the characters from the Little People series and how death was her only escape from Miriam’s control of the family. He also talks about when he showed Miriam one of his stories when he was 10; she laughed at it and told him he was a bad writer.

Miriam’s death inspired him to write murder mysteries. Eliot says he saw someone sneak into her bedroom the night before she died, and this person poisoned her. Samira points out that Eliot was only 12 when he saw this; perhaps he was mistaken. Eliot says he’s put clues about Miriam’s murder in Pund’s Last Case, which he’s considering renaming The Man with White Hair.

There is an article about this interview in the Daily Mail by Kate Greene. She praises the Little People series and Miriam. Kate says Eliot was drunk during the Front Row interview. Miriam was rude when Kate interviewed her a while ago, but Kate doesn’t understand why Eliot would publicly berate Miriam. Kate doesn’t believe that Miriam was murdered and thinks Eliot is lying about Miriam to promote his book.

Susan hasn’t heard from Eliot or Michael in a week. Jonathan leaves Susan a voicemail complaining about the interview but doesn’t uninvite her from the party for Miriam. Susan takes public transportation to the party. Elaine is there and says Gillian never went to the doctor, but Elaine stayed with her. When Eliot got home that night, he broke down crying. Gillian won’t name the father of her child. Elaine says they should forgive Eliot.

After Elaine leaves, Susan drinks champagne and talks to Frederick. He introduces her to Julia. Frederick insists that Miriam’s personality doesn’t matter because her books have brought many people joy, then leaves the conversation. Julia asks if Susan believes Miriam was murdered, and Susan replies that Julia knows more than her. Julia admits she hated living in Marble Hall; Miriam was awful to her, and she changed her last name. However, the estate is too powerful; she couldn’t tarnish Miriam’s reputation. Susan doesn’t want to go against the estate; she advised Eliot against doing the interview.

Julia says she came to the party to see the people in her family she does like: Roland and Eliot. In order to inherit money from Miriam, Julia had to sign an NDA. Now, she can’t say negative things about Miriam in public. Family gatherings offer an opportunity to talk about the past truthfully. They talk about Jasmine’s death. Julia recounts how she, Roland, and Eliot were the “Rogue Troopers” (376) when they were young. They plotted to do many things they never did, including killing Miriam. Julia says Roland was always her savior.

Susan sees Roland talking to Michael. Julia tells a story about how Miriam called her Miss Piggy when she wore a pink dress. Susan is outraged at Miriam’s cruelty. Julia says Roland helped her get through it, and she has been in therapy for a long time. Julia’s parents were too afraid of Miriam and losing access to her money to stand up for Julia. While Roland working for the estate upset Julia at first, she forgave him and says he isn’t like Jonathan. At the end of their conversation, Julia asks Susan to look out for Eliot; he hasn’t recovered from the past like she and Roland have.

Eliot arrives and is extremely drunk. Jonathan berates Eliot for the Front Row interview. Roland agrees that it wasn’t a good idea. Eliot tells them to go to hell. Leylah intervenes and asks Eliot to go downstairs and lie down. Julia encourages this. Eliot sees Susan and tells her she’s not working on his book anymore. Jonathan says Susan isn’t welcome. Eliot yells to the crowd that Susan is a useless editor. He says Miriam was murdered and that he will reveal the truth about her murder in his book. Jonathan has security guards escort Susan out of the party. As they leave, Leylah asks Susan to meet her tomorrow at the Savoy.

Susan drinks whiskey after getting home from the party, which she regrets attending, and wakes up with a hangover. She misses working at the hotel in Crete. Detective Inspector Ian Blakeney and Detective Constable Emma Wardlaw arrive at her apartment at seven o’clock. They tell her Eliot was killed after leaving the party the previous night. It was a hit and run. They are looking through camera footage to learn the driver’s identity.

Susan tells them how Jonathan ejected her from the party and how she was Eliot’s editor. Blakeney says he loves the Atticus Pund novels. Susan clarifies that Michael was the one who commissioned Eliot. She also tells them what Eliot said at the party about his book and Miriam’s death. Wardlaw doesn’t believe someone would kill Eliot to keep him from finishing his book. Susan tells them she took public transportation to the party. She compares the word games of Eliot and Alan. Susan welcomes them to look at her car and finds the keys in her coat pocket, which makes Wardlaw think Susan drove to the party.

Her car has a dent in the grille and some fabric is caught inside. Susan notices it is the color of the jacket Eliot was wearing at the party. Blakeney says they are impounding her car during the investigation. Susan insists that CCTV cameras will prove her innocence. Blakeney asks her to stay in the country but doesn’t take her passport. Wardlaw gives her a receipt for the car.

Susan goes into the office to talk to Michael. She asks what’s going to happen with Pund’s Last Case and if Eliot left notes that another writer could use to finish the book. Michael doesn’t like the idea of a third writer for the Atticus Pund books and says they should forget about the book. He also isn’t interested in having Susan work on the Nordic mystery he sent her.

She asks him about the party, and he says she shouldn’t have attended it. He condemns her going to Marble Hall and not keeping Eliot under control. Michael admits that he is working with Jonathan and the estate to expand the Little People series after the Netflix series and movie come out. Michael only asked Eliot to work on the Atticus Pund series because he thought it would help him seal the Little People deal.

Susan says Michael commissioning Eliot might have caused his death. Michael is certain it was a hit and run, but Susan says the police are investigating it as a murder. The person who killed Eliot wanted to silence him about Miriam’s death. Michael thinks Susan is imagining things and accuses her of imagining that Charles killed Alan. Susan points out that Charles confessed to the murder.

Susan goes to Eliot’s family home, planning to talk to Gillian. However, Edward, Eliot’s father, answers the door. He looks like Elmer in Pund’s Last Case. Susan offers her condolences, explaining that she was working with Eliot on a mystery novel. Edward says Gillian is resting upstairs; he was in town for work but was staying at a hotel. He would never attend a party for Miriam; he disliked her. Edward breaks down crying over his guilt for not getting Eliot away from Miriam. The Crace family felt like a royal family that he couldn’t escape.

Edward believes Gillian is pregnant with Eliot’s child and says she’s probably not going to be up for talking. He asks Susan to leave. Susan tells Edward that Eliot believed Miriam was murdered and was putting clues about the murder in his book. So, she needs Eliot’s notes to discover what he knew. Edward believes this was just a fantasy of Eliot’s; he doesn’t trust that Eliot remembers what happened when he was 12. However, Eliot became close with Charles and might have said something to him.

Edward realizes how Susan is connected to Charles and blames her for destroying the Cloverleaf. She argues that Charles tried to kill her. Edward calls her a liar and blames her for Eliot getting into trouble over the novel and again asks her to leave. She begs for Eliot’s notes. Roland comes into the house and says he needs to talk to Gillian. Susan says she also wanted to talk to Gillian. Edward says Susan actually wants Eliot’s notes.

At the front door, Roland apologizes to Susan and tells her Jonathan wants her to stay away from the Crace family and estate. Susan accuses Roland of being the father of Gillian’s child. Roland doesn’t deny this and asks Susan to leave.

Over the phone, Elaine tells Susan that the police interviewed her about Eliot and Susan’s relationship. Elaine claims she only said nice and supportive things about Susan. They discuss how the police think Eliot publicly firing Susan was her motive for killing him. Susan says she wants to ask Charles about his relationship with Eliot, and Elaine says she’ll try to arrange a visit at the prison for Susan.

Blakeney and Wardlaw arrive at Susan’s flat. They identified the fabric in the grille of Susan’s car as a piece of the jacket Eliot was wearing. Susan asks if they are going to arrest her, and Blakeney says they just want to talk. Susan reminds them she took public transportation to and from the party. An anonymous caller identified the car that hit Eliot as the kind of car Susan drives and included two digits of her license plate number in their description. Susan says she is being framed.

They ask who would frame her. She guesses the person who Eliot identifies as the murderer in his book could want to frame her. Other members of the Crace family could want to frame her for holding up the Netflix deal. Wardlaw asks about the argument Susan and Eliot had at Boon’s; that she “told him to drop dead” (422) is suspicious. Susan asks about the CCTV cameras at the transit stations, and Blakeney says one of them is broken. Wardlaw tells Susan she should confess, and Blakeney asks Wardlaw to step outside.

When they are alone, Blakeney apologizes for Wardlaw’s aggression. He asks Susan who she thinks killed Eliot. Susan mentions Gillian’s affair with Roland, which makes Roland a suspect. Roland also wanted the Netflix deal to go through, which Eliot jeopardized. Susan suggests that Blakeney find Eliot’s notes. The notes probably contain enough clues for Blakeney (an avid mystery reader) to discover the identity of Miriam’s killer, who is the same as Eliot’s killer. Susan notes that Gillian’s literary alter ego is killed. Susan asks Blakeney to save her. He gives her his card after writing his personal number on it and says he doesn’t believe Susan is the murderer.

When Susan sees Leylah at the Savoy Hotel, she compares her with Lola in Pund’s Last Case. Leylah apologizes for what happened at the party. She is upset over Eliot’s death, as well as his substance use. Leylah doesn’t believe Susan is a murderer or an enabler. She asks Susan to keep their meeting a secret from Jonathan. Jonathan, like Roland, is a cheater and felt entitled to all the profits from the Little People series. He convinced Leylah to name their daughter after Miriam’s character. He believes Jasmine’s death was an accident, even though it was clearly a death by suicide.

As she talks, Leylah drinks heavily. She claims that Miriam was good to her. Miriam made some inappropriate jokes but didn’t seem to hate her because she is Egyptian. Also, adopting Frederick indicated that she was not racist. Overall, Miriam was “a dreadful woman” (434), but not racist. However, the family had to censor their comments about her in public. Leylah says Eliot is a liar and believes Eliot’s death was an accident. She warns Susan to stay away from the Crace family.

Elaine arranges for Susan to visit Charles in the HMP Belmarsh prison. Charles is almost unrecognizable. Susan remembers him attacking her but apologizes for discovering he was Alan’s murderer. Charles makes small talk about Susan leaving Crete and how he’d be willing to give her a reference, since her career has stalled. Then, he talks about the horrible conditions in the prison, which they call Hellmarsh: the sounds, smells, and food. In exchange for working with the literacy programs in the prison, he got his own cell.

Susan changes the subject to Eliot. Charles is unwilling to talk about his relationship with Eliot. Instead, he hopes Susan will end up in prison for killing Eliot; Elaine has been keeping him informed about the investigation. They talk about who killed Miriam. Susan thinks it’s Roland or Julia. Charles thinks it’s Kenneth because Miriam cheated on him repeatedly. The information about her affairs is in a biography by Sam Rees-Williams that the Crace estate prevented from being published; Charles read it. Charles claims Eliot told him who killed Miriam.

Charles describes how the Rogue Troopers were planning to kill Miriam: The siblings made poison from the garden and hid it in Julia’s room. Eliot saw Roland taking the bottle out of Julia’s room and walking toward Miriam’s room the night she died. Susan thinks about how Roland’s affair with Gillian made Eliot want to reveal that Roland was the killer. Charles says he will deny telling her this story.

Charles talks about Alan’s determination to destroy the Atticus Pund series; this forced Charles to push Alan off the tower. It didn’t matter because Alan was dying, Charles says. Charles wasn’t planning on killing anyone else, so Susan shouldn’t have revealed he was Alan’s killer. The revelation ruined Susan’s life. Charles complains that he hasn’t seen his new grandson and blames Susan for everything bad in his life. He only agreed to see Susan in order to gloat that she is going to end up in prison for killing Eliot. Susan leaves.