Marble Hall Murders

Blakeney comes over, and Susan explains that an intruder injured her cat and destroyed her place while she was at HMP Belmarsh. He is shocked she was at the prison and looks around. Susan doesn’t have any CCTV or alarms. He confirms the person got in through the French doors by the garden and suggests Susan stay somewhere else. She says she can stay with friends in Muswell Hill. He asks if she’s eaten. She hasn’t, and he suggests they get dinner after Susan gets cleaned up; she’s covered in Hugo’s blood.

They go to a restaurant, and Susan asks if he usually goes to dinner with murder suspects. Blakeney offers to leave if he’s making her uncomfortable, and she says he isn’t, as long as she can call him by his first name: Ian. He says the “jury’s out” (466) on her being the murderer. Susan tells Blakeney about her visit with Charles. Susan thinks Lambert was bribed to cover up Miriam’s cause of death and used the money to buy his Jaguar.

Blakeney’s children didn’t like the Little People books, but they are grown now. He asks if anyone knew she was going to Belmarsh. She didn’t tell anyone she was going. Blakeney will question her neighbors and the Amazon delivery person. He asks Susan about Alan. She explains how Alan’s books mirrored real life. Eliot is following in his footsteps by putting Miriam’s killer in Pund’s Last Case.

Blakeney has been with the police for 32 years and says law enforcement was all he ever wanted to do. He describes the case that got him promoted. In addition to being a fan of Alan’s books, and other mystery novels, Blakeney wants to write a mystery novel himself. His wife encouraged him to do so, but she died three years ago from breast cancer. Susan is a person of interest, and there is evidence against her, but Blakeney thinks she’s innocent. Susan insists she is. Blakeney obtained Eliot’s notes, and he’s willing to let her see them. He thinks she can help him find more anagrams or other clues. Blakeney drives Susan home.

Susan stays with a couple, Rob and Steve, that she met at university. They go out of town with their dogs, and she moves Hugo into their place. She hires some construction workers to fix up her flat. When Blakeney and Susan meet up again, he seems distant, and she asks if he has any news. He says they need to focus on Eliot’s manuscript and notes. Susan offers a list of correspondences between characters in the novel and people in real life. Margaret is Miriam, but Margaret is more beloved than Miriam. Jeffrey is Jonathan, and Lola is Leylah.

Elmer is Edward, and Judith is Julia. The name Harry Lyttleton is a reference to Miriam’s Little People series, but Harry doesn’t correspond with a real-life person. Cedric is Eliot, and Robert is Roland. Susan wonders if Robert is Margaret’s killer in the novel, which would mean Roland is Miriam’s killer in real life. Blakeney says Roland doesn’t know how to drive, so he couldn’t have killed Eliot. Frederic is clearly Frederick. Susan mentions Leylah said Frederick lied about his accident, and Blakeney will check it out. Wardlaw will talk to Lambert, who has the same name in the novel and real life.

Blakeney discovered in Eliot’s notes that Alice Carling was originally named Gabrielle Mazin. Susan guesses Eliot changed the name after discovering that Gillian was having an affair. Eliot’s notes include other anagrams for Alice/Gillian, as well as notes about the previous Atticus novels, a Chalfont family tree, timelines, photographs of paintings, and other research. Eliot had questions about the plot and clues. Susan wants to take her time, but it seems like Blakeney is in a rush.

She, again, asks him if there has been a development in the case because he’s behaving differently. He says that Eliot’s expensive watch was found in Susan’s flat.

Susan and Blakeney go to Alexandra Palace. She asks if the search that uncovered the watch was legal, and Blakeney is upset she would suggest he would do something illegal. He admits he’d get in trouble if his superiors discovered he was sharing information with her. Blakeney says famous authors are rarely murdered, police funding has been cut, and the internet has changed how crimes are investigated. It’s nothing like how Atticus describes it in his book, The Landscape of Criminal Investigation. As such, the department wants to close the case on Eliot quickly.

Blakeney doesn’t want to arrest Susan because she doesn’t have the temperament of a killer and wouldn’t have stolen Eliot’s watch. Her DNA that was on the watch was taken from her toothbrush; her fingerprints weren’t on the watch. Blakeney warns Susan that the person who is framing her might go back to her place. Susan apologizes for accusing him of doing something illegal. Blakeney says the discussion about Eliot’s book gave him some good ideas about who Margaret’s killer is. When he’s sure he’s figured it out, he will tell her.

Susan remains at her friends’ house. Wardlaw delivers a package from Blakeney. Wardlaw says Blakeney is only pretending to like Susan so he can catch her. After Wardlaw leaves, Susan worries that she’s telling the truth. The package contains a letter from Blakeney saying that he wrote the last chapter of Eliot’s book after having figured out the identity of the killer. Susan’s comment that the only person Robert wanted to murder was his father was what helped Blakeney figure out the ending. Additionally, he discovered a third anagram. Susan starts reading the pages.

In Pund’s Last Case, Atticus and Frederic gather the Chalfont family in the salon. Cedric wanted to come, but Lola wouldn’t allow it. James is there, taking notes in a corner next to Lambert. The art historian Harlan Scott is present. Atticus’s investigation into Margaret’s murder will enrich his book, The Landscape of Criminal Investigation. Margaret had bequeathed most of her money to Elmer because he was the most responsible with money.

Atticus asks where the Spring Flowers painting is, and Robert says it is at their gallery. Elmer insists that his partner bought the painting, and no one came forward to claim it. Harlan says the owners didn’t because they are dead. Elmer insists he didn’t know the painting was stolen, and if he did, he would have talked to the owners. Margaret overheard the conversation about the painting, and it is presumably why she planned to change her will. The only person who had motive to kill her for changing her will is Elmer.

Elmer starts to speak, but Frederic tells him to be quiet and let Atticus finish. Atticus notes that the evidence points to Elmer and goes over the actions of the white-haired man in the pharmacy and hotel, including his use of turquoise ink. Then, Atticus reveals that the time in the pharmacy was a lie told by Alice. The only people in the Chateau Belmar when the tea was made were Lola, Judith, and Elmer. Judith insists she was reading. Robert says Elmer didn’t kill Margaret and that Atticus has made a mistake.

Atticus points out Elmer is too smart to have left so many clues, including the clothing in a trashcan near the hotel, the matchbook, and not replacing the tea lid. It doesn’t make sense that Margaret would ask Atticus to investigate Elmer and change her will. Furthermore, it is suspicious that Judith was upset to see Atticus in London but didn’t mention it to anyone. All this led Atticus to deduce that Elmer is not the killer. Margaret’s death was “a means to an end” (516). The murder was planned before Margaret encountered Atticus, and it was done without guilt because Margaret was dying.

Atticus says Judith told the whole family about meeting him in London. The whole family worked together to frame Elmer. Jeffrey tries to interrupt, but Frederic says he will arrest anyone who interrupts Atticus again. Atticus continues: The police report of Margaret’s death had too many details, there were too many obvious clues, and everyone pointed fingers at Elmer. The person in the pharmacy was pretending to be Elmer. They used shoe polish that smells like surgical spirit to color their hair white.

James asks why everyone was framing Elmer. Atticus explains that if he was convicted of murder, his sentence would have been death, and he wouldn’t have been able to inherit Margaret’s money. Atticus claims that Harry killed Alice after pretending to be her fiancé. Harry says Robert is the one who killed Alice, and Atticus admits this is the truth. Robert was the mastermind behind the plot to frame Elmer. Robert gets angry at Harry. Frederic stops their argument and encourages Atticus to finish.

Atticus explains that Robert left Antibes earlier than he claimed and impersonated his father at the pharmacy. Robert hated his father because he made Robert stop painting, and Robert blames Elmer for his mother’s death. Harlan says Robert was the one who opened the windows during Elmer’s conversation with Harlan about the painting being stolen by Nazis. Lola was the one who called Lambert, using her skills as an actress to impersonate Margaret. Lola says she only did what she was told to do. Harry admits that Robert obtained Harry’s picture and had Alice kiss it. This switch was because Harry had an alibi during Alice’s murder, and Robert didn’t. Robert was the one who seduced and killed Alice.

Frederic says Robert will be charged with the murders of Margaret and Alice. Jeffrey, Lola, Harry, and Judith will be charged as accessories to murder. Elmer’s art business will be investigated. There are cars outside to take them away.

A couple days later, Atticus, Frederic, and James meet at the Grand-Hotel. Frederic apologizes for his initial hostility toward Atticus. Atticus forgives him. Frederic compliments Atticus’s brilliant work on the case. Elmer will probably not be prosecuted for his art crimes, Frederic says unhappily, but he believes there will be divine retribution. Frederic asks about Atticus’s illness. Atticus says his time is limited, but he is tired and has lived a full life; he is at peace with the idea of his death. Being a detective means he’s had to think like a criminal, and he’s ready for that to be over.

Susan is impressed with Blakeney’s writing ability and speed, but annoyed that Blakeney solved the mystery of Pund’s Last Case and she didn’t. Susan hesitates to call Blakeney to talk about the chapter because of Wardlaw’s comments about Blakeney pretending to like her. Susan is determined to solve Eliot’s third anagram without Blakeney’s help. Robert Waysmith is an anagram for “IT WAS MY BROTHER” (533). This is the final clue Eliot left about Miriam’s murder.

Elaine comes to the house in Muswell Hill. After talking about how she met Charles, Elaine tells Susan that Wardlaw spoke to her and the police are going to arrest Susan soon. There was another anonymous tip about Susan’s car. Elaine offers to lie and say she saw Susan come out of the public transit station. Susan rejects the offer. Elaine starts telling Susan how awful prison has been for Charles and everyone he loves. Prison will ruin Susan’s life and the lives of her loved ones.

Elaine says Charles has been contemplating dying by suicide because of the conditions in prison. Elaine says death might be better than prison for Susan, and Susan should run. Susan says running will make her look guilty. Elaine says they already think she is guilty. Susan asks Elaine how she knew where her Crouch End flat was. Elaine claims Eliot told her.

Susan points out that Elaine was the only one who knew when Susan would be away from her flat long enough to destroy her belongings and stab her cat. Elaine is the only one who could have identified Susan’s car; the Crace family didn’t see it. When Elaine called Susan as she was leaving the prison, a doorbell sounded, but it wasn’t Elaine’s doorbell. Charles had recorded himself playing piano for their doorbell. The doorbell was Susan’s Amazon delivery. Elaine is the one who trashed Susan’s flat and hurt her cat, and she planted evidence on Susan’s car and called in the anonymous tips about it. Elaine is taking revenge for Susan putting Charles in prison. Coming over and suggesting Susan die by suicide caused Susan to finally put it all together.

Elaine says Eliot wasn’t involved in her plan to destroy Susan, and no one will believe Susan didn’t kill Eliot. Elaine wishes Charles had killed Susan. Furthermore, Elaine doesn’t care who killed Eliot; she just found him dead on the street and grabbed the evidence to plant on Susan’s car. Susan shows Elaine that she has been recording the conversation. Elaine demands that Susan give her the phone.

Elaine grabs one of the knives off the counter and threatens Susan with it. Susan tries to calm Elaine down, but she is beyond reason. Elaine cuts Susan in her arm and chest. Susan picks up a chair and parries Elaine’s slashes. Elaine screams incoherently. Susan pushes Elaine into the pantry with the chair, but Elaine knocks the chair out of Susan’s hands.

A trashcan comes flying through the window. Blakeney walks through the hole it leaves, tells Elaine he is a police officer, and orders her to drop her weapon. Elaine drops the knife and starts sobbing. He has her kneel and put her hands behind her back. Susan calls the police at Blakeney’s request, hands the phone to him, and passes out.

Susan’s knife wound is treated at the Royal Free Hospital. Blakeney visits her there and admits he came to the house because he wanted to know what she thought of his chapter. It is his first time showing anyone his writing. Susan compliments his work, both the style and the content. They discuss Elaine attacking Susan and framing her for Eliot’s death. Elaine has been taken into custody, and Susan’s phone has been taken as evidence. Then, they talk about the third anagram. If Blakeney is willing to write the chapters between where Eliot left off and the final chapter, Susan could publish the book.

Blakeney talked to Roland. Roland admitted he and his siblings made a poisonous mixture, but he took it out of Julia’s room so she wouldn’t get in trouble and poured it down the toilet. He never used it on Miriam. Blakeney is getting Miriam’s body exhumed so they can reevaluate the cause of death. Eliot was incorrect about Roland being the murderer, but his book was a way to get back at Roland for sleeping with Gillian.

Susan thanks Blakeney for saving her life. Blakeney is sure Susan figured out who killed Miriam, but she wants to think about it for one more day and tell him when she’s out of the hospital. She asks if Wardlaw was telling the truth about Blakeney only being nice to her in order to find proof to use against her. Blakeney says it isn’t true and apologizes for Wardlaw’s behavior. She recently got divorced and is jealous of Blakeney’s feelings about Susan. Susan asks what these feelings are, and Blakeney says Wardlaw didn’t want them to be friends.

Susan gives Blakeney a clue to who she thinks killed Miriam. In the book, there is a minor character named Bruno: the gardener. In real life, Bruno was Miriam’s chauffeur. Eliot’s notes include the question “Why did Bruno leave?” (554). The gardener didn’t leave, but the chauffeur did. Blakeney asks Susan to call him by his first name, and she says she only will after the case is closed. She wants to talk to Jonathan, Roland, and Julia. Blakeney will arrange for them to meet at Marble Hall.

Wardlaw drives Blakeney and Susan to Marble Hall. The police are keeping Susan’s car as evidence against Elaine. Blakeney ordered Jonathan to close the museum for the day. Susan compares the real-life dining room with the room where the parlor scene takes place in the novel. Blakeney invites Frederick to the meeting.

Jonathan asks if Susan knows who killed Eliot, and she says she does. Eliot was killed by the same person who killed Miriam. Jonathan insists that Miriam died of natural causes. Susan says Lambert was bribed to say so. Jonathan denies paying off Lambert. Blakeney says Lambert gave the police a statement saying Jonathan did bribe him and turned in the check that Jonathan signed as evidence. Blakeney tells Jonathan about the exhumation of Miriam’s corpse. This upsets Jonathan.

Susan explains that Miriam was poisoned by arsenic. Some of the older taxidermy specimens that Kenneth collected had been cleaned with arsenic-based soap. They made Kenneth sick; Lambert treated him for arsenic poisoning. Jonathan could have obtained enough arsenic from the taxidermied animals to kill Miriam in order to prevent her selling the estate to Americans, but he didn’t. Susan asks Julia about Frederick’s car accident. Julia says Frederick ran a red light while taking Julia to the airport.

Susan says Frederick didn’t see the light because he is color-blind. He is also left-handed. Jonathan notes that Miriam was left-handed. Susan adds that Miriam was color-blind as well. These are genetic traits that Frederick inherited; Miriam is his mother, and Bruno is his father. Bruno was one of Miriam’s many affairs. She claimed to have a mental breakdown and went away for six months to hide her pregnancy and birth. Miriam fired Bruno after Frederick was born and adopted Frederick.

Frederick realized he was Miriam’s child when he ran the red light and discovered he was color-blind as well as left-handed. He started looking into his birth parents after the accident. Frederick knew the estate would destroy his life if he went public with the information. Eventually, he tracked down Bruno, but only found him after he died. Frederick decided to kill Miriam because Bruno died in poverty because of her. Eliot and his siblings stealing poisons from the garden inspired Frederick to use the arsenic from the kingfisher taxidermy. Frederick confirms that Jonathan bribed Lambert.

Frederick admits to killing Eliot because he said that he knew who killed Miriam. Susan explains that Eliot thought Roland killed Miriam. Frederick didn’t know that and couldn’t take any chances. Wardlaw arrests Frederick. Susan apologizes to him for the horrible way that Miriam treated him; killing her was understandable. However, killing Eliot was unforgivable. Frederick thinks he did Eliot a favor because Eliot was so unhappy in life. Blakeney and Wardlaw take Frederick away in the police car, and Susan starts to walk toward public transit. The case is closed.

After Frederick’s arrest, the Netflix deal failed, people began getting rid of their Little People books, and the Marble Hall museum was closed. Susan founded her own publishing company, Nine Lives Books, funded by her friends at whose house she stayed. She published Pund’s Last Case by Eliot Crace and Ian Black after buying the rights from Michael. She convinced Michael to sell by threatening to go public about him working with Jonathan to try and incriminate Susan. Ian Black is Ian Blakeney’s pseudonym; he finished the book.

Nine Lives Books also published the biography of Miriam by Sam Rees-Williams: Miriam Crace and Her Little Shop of Horrors. Susan made sure the biography was kind to Julia, Leylah, Edward, and Eliot’s mother. The publishing company’s third book will be a new mystery novel, the first in a series Blakeney is writing under his pseudonym. Blakeney and Susan became lovers after Frederick was arrested and have been together since.

Blakeney, his children, Susan, Susan’s sister, and other people celebrate at the launch party for Pund’s Last Case. Susan is finally happy with life now that she’s found love and become her own boss. She is happy to use Eliot’s original title because she never wants to work on an Atticus Pund novel again.