(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.
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