Murder Most Puzzling episode 1 recap: Who is the graveyard killer?

Murder Most Puzzling is a new murder mystery series based on the bestselling novel franchise of The Puzzle Lady Mysteries by American author Parnell Hall. Here's everything that happened in episode one as the puzzle lady, Cora Felton (Downton Abbey star Phyllis Logan) investigates a murder in a graveyard...

We meet Cora, The Puzzle Lady, filling in a puzzle with her "granddaughter". Cora says it was easy, and the "granddaughter" says, "Yes, it’s your puzzle". Cora replies: “The real puzzle, how do I make these biscuits so tasty?”. Turns out it's an advert! And we see a biscuit tin labeled The Puzzle Lady and Crossword Biscuits.

The action switches to a churchyard and the body of a young woman. As the rain pours down, DCI Derek Hooper (Adam Best) inspects the scene. He finds what appears to be a crossword clue, and the title sequence begins.

At the police station, Hooper fills in the team that the victim was fully clothed except for her socks and shoes, which are missing.

Hooper shows the team the slip of paper. Danny says it looks like a crossword clue. Another member of the team, Sam, agrees.

Hooper says he knows nothing about crosswords, and Danny suggests he ask The Puzzle Lady, who’s just moved to Bakerbury.

The puzzle is after a five-letter word meaning line. The team goes over some ideas just as their puzzled mayor walks in. "Word games at a time like this," he scoffs. The mayor is worried, saying only serial killers leave notes on bodies. The mayor has serious doubts about Hooper's ability, but he assures him he's already well on the case.

Hooper phones Cora's house, but her niece Sherry (Charlotte Hope), picks up. Cora is crashed out in her car and still appears drunk. Sherry cleans up her aunt. Sherry quickly gives her a sweet to cover up her alcoholic breath and answers the door.

Hooper explains he needs help with the murder of a teenage girl. Hooper asks them about the clue, and Cora rather unhelpfully says instead of "D" for down, it could be "D" for Dead! Sherry hastily tells Hooper to leave the clue with them, and she's sure her aunt can solve it.

Hooper is walking along the street when Anton (Alistair Brammer), a journalist, starts asking him about the case. But Hooper brushes him off.

Cora and Sherry watch a news report of the case where Hooper says he hasn't got any leads, and the mayor says he's holding a town meeting at a luxury spa. Cora is intrigued, especially by the free bar.

Cora goes to the hotel for the mayor's conference. Hooper says they know the victim was killed last night at about 10 pm. Someone called Jimmi asks how she died, and Hooper says she had a blow to the back of the head, probably from a hammer. Hooper says there's no evidence of blood splatter in the graveyard, so she could have been killed somewhere else. Hooper stomps off as people start talking over him.

Hooper talks to Cora and isn't impressed that she's only come up with "queue" as the five-letter word for line. Anton notes Hooper talking to Cora. And the next day’s local paper has the headline: "Puzzle Lady Helps Police Hunt The Graveyard Killer." Cora and a reluctant Sherry head out to look for clues.

Cora heads to the church and talks to a worker there who found the body. Hooper arrives. Cora says, what if 4D Line 5 isn't a crossword clue at all? Maybe the killer wants them to count 4 graves down and 5 lines across.

They do just that and reach a grave. On the gravestone is marked our loving daughter Bonnie Burnside, who died aged 21 in 2015. Hooper says Bonnie died of a car accident and tells Cora and Sherry to stop wasting his time.

Cora heads to the library. Cora gets help from library assistant Jimmi. Cora asks Jimmi to dig out anything he can find about Bonnie.

Anton turns up at Cora's and talks to Sherry. She tells him to do some proper journalism and accidentally blurts out Cora's grave theory.

Cora goes to visit Bonnie's parents. She looks at a photo of Bonnie with her boyfriend, Cassie. Cora says perhaps Bonnie was the killer's first victim. Not surprisingly, Bonnie's dad is furious with Cora for coming up with such a wild theory and throws her out.

Anton asks Jimmi about the puzzle lady going to the library. Anton gives Jimmi some money, and he tells her what Cora was looking for.

Sherry shows Cora the latest newspaper report about her. Cora says she's determined to continue.

Cora goes to visit Hooper. He shows Cora footage of the victim arriving at Bakerbury station. The victim tries to make a call, but can't because her mobile is dead. Patricia and her daughter Chloe, who are from York, are at the station. Patricia says her elder daughter, Donna, has been missing since Wednesday.

Donna is the victim. Chloe says her parents have just gotten divorced, and now her big sister is dead. Chloe says she was always messaging someone, and it might have been a boy. Cora gives Chloe her mobile in case she remembers anything.

Anton gets blasted by his editor about his story. Bonnie's boyfriend at the time she died walks into the office and blasts Anton for writing rubbish about her and threatens him if he writes anything more.

Anton has a note on the desk, he opens it and it says: "Drop the Burnisde story or else."

A solicitor called Becky knocks at Cora's and Sherry answers.

Cora is out drinking and playing cards. Stewart, the husband of one of Cora’s pals, Vicky, turns up and asks for his house keys. Becky arrives with a legal letter telling Cora to stay away from the Burnsides. Interestingly, she knows Stuart. When she goes, Stuart says Becky used to work in his London practice, but they had to fire her. Cora wins at bridge.

Meanwhile, Anton calls at Sherry’s. Sherry says she edits Cora's crosswords, Cora walks in from her bridge night, and says she’s being modest and she could probably create them without her. Anton shows them his threatening note. Anton adds that the boyfriend also threatened him. Cora gets a call, and it seems Vicky has vanished on her way home. Cora says that when Vicky was at the bar, she got a text and seemed to blush when she read it. “She said it was from her husband, but what if she was lying. What if it was a lover?”

The trio drives to where they think Vicky might have gone with her lover and, by a stroke of luck, find her car! They then find her shoes. Cora says she thinks she knows where Vicky might be, and they head to the graveyard where they find her body. Hooper arrives at the scene. Like the first victim, her shoes and socks have been taken, and she was murdered with a hammer. Hooper finds a clue in her pocket. Her distraught husband, Stuart, arrives at the scene.

Later, Cora, Anton, and Sherry discuss the case. The clue this time is 14 across, a three-letter word for sheep. Sherry says it's yew. They pop the clue on the grid. Cora notes that Vicky’s body was dumped on Bonnie’s grave.

The next day, the mayor walks into Hooper's office and berates him over his lack of progress. The police do have a lead; the first victim was meeting someone called Sean. Cora asks about Vicky’s text message and the police check, and oddly, her husband texted her: "Don’t talk to strangers."

Cora goes to speak to Stuart, who starts crying.

Sherry and Anton speak to the cop who worked on the Burnside case in 2015. He recalls it was Bonfire Night and Bonnie had argued with her boyfriend. He said she drove off drunk, and he stayed to watch the fireworks. Bonnie's car hit a tree. Sherry asks if there was anything odd. He says the boyfriend's upset friend stated initially that his mate borrowed the car before the fireworks, and then he said he was mistaken, it was after.

Sherry and Anton go to the tree Bonnie hit. They talk about where the boyfriend drove after Bonnie in anger and forced her off the road. He then drives back to the party, makes a big show of being worried, and gets them to come with him to look for Bonnie so they witness him finding the wreck. Anton goes to kiss Sherry, but she backs away.

Hooper goes to visit Sean, who turns out to be someone called Gary. Gary pretended to be much younger and had set up a meeting with 16-year-old Donna. Hooper accuses him of murder. Gary says he never met up with Donna.

Cora follows Stuart as he heads into the police station. Hooper says they’ve interviewed a suspect, but they’ve had to release him. Cora sees the suspect, Gary, leaving and follows him.

Later, Anton goes to speak with Cora and asks for help with his crossword. She can't help, and he says that's because she doesn't know the first thing about crosswords and that Sherry does it. Cora admits she’s just a front for Sherry. Cora says Sherry wasn’t making much from puzzle setting and asked Cora to be the face of it. Cora says they had no idea it would make her famous.

The next morning, Sherry explains to Cora her theory that Bonnie’s boyfriend ran her off the road and killed her.

Cora goes to speak to solicitor Becky. She says that she behaved slightly oddly around Vicky at the bar because the previous week she had seen her with her husband, and he was pretending to be a mystery man. “Creepy couple thing,” as Becky puts it.

Cora speaks to Hooper and wonders what made Vicky drive to a remote spot that night. Cora wonders if her secret lover was in fact her husband, and they were playing a saucy game. Cora thinks that Stuart could have killed both victims. Cora tells Hooper to see if the message don’t talk to strangers pops up anywhere else on Vicky’s phone.

Hooper asks Stuart about the three times he sent Vicky the message don’t talk to strangers. Stuart says the message meant what it said, and he didn’t like his wife talking to strange men. Hooper says that sounds rather possessive. Stuart breaks down in tears.

Hooper’s daughter turns up at the station and says she thinks she knows who the killer is because she found a scrapbook belonging to Jimmi the librarian with loads of gross pictures.

Anton and Sherry go for a coffee. Sherry explains she’s just got divorced, and that’s why she acted weirdly when he tried to kiss her. Becky comes over. Things get awkward, turns out Anton was with Becky at one point. Cora calls Anton’s phone.

We next see Cora, Anton, and Sherry in an underground car park. There’s another body. The victim is called Ali, and she ran the antique shop. Again, the killer again took the shoes. Hooper says it’s unlikely Stuart is the killer because when the murder took place, he was questioning him. Anton solves the latest clue. The answer is aye. Hooper sums up that they have three bodies, three clues, and no answers.

Cora gets a call from a couple of youths she's asked to follow Gary. She sees Gary in a pub talking to a woman. Cora snaps the pair.

Anton and Sherry are about to kiss when Cora walks through the door. Cora has a mysterious note telling her to follow the clues. They head to the graveyard. This time they go 14 across and then 18 down. On a grave, they find a box with a question mark on it.

Inside is a hammer, and the clue is a three-letter word for Earl Grey. Cora is delighted, as for once she knows the answer: tea. Cora, on a roll, says the first letters of the answers spell out quit. Is it a threat, or is the killer saying they’ve finished? Cora notices a piece of tape inside the box and what looks like hair underneath.

Anton turns out not to be meeting his mother but Becky in a bar! Becky says she’s sorry for hurting him. Becky wants to get back together, but Anton says he’s met someone else. And he leaves.

The next day at the police station, Becky marches in and asks why the Burnsides have been asked to provide a printing sample, and Hooper says because Anton was sent a threatening note.

Hooper confirms the hammer in the shoebox is the murder weapon. The hair is a match for Gary. Cora says he can’t be the murderer and that he’s being framed. Becky then sticks the knife in with Sherry and says to her to tell Anton thanks for their dinner last night. Ouch!

Cora gives a TV interview, and Sherry is horrified because it means Dennis, who is her ex-husband, will know they’re in Bakerbury. Cora says sorry to Sherry.

Cora takes a call from Chloe, who says it's her fault Donna is dead. Cora and Sherry talk to Chloe. She says they had an argument about a maths exam paper. Chloe explains she was better at maths and was helping her. Sherry asks to have a look at Donna's exam paper. Sherry asks if Donna got the first three questions right, and she says yes. Sherry says the answer to the fourth question is D Line. Cora says so; it was never a crossword clue. Later, Sherry tells the team that it explains why the note in Donna’s pocket was the only handwritten one. Cora says the killer then added clues to put the police on a false trail.

Cora says the killer is clever, and thus it seems unlikely dopey Gary is the murderer. Hooper gets angry and says Cora is getting in the way of the case, and throws her out of the station.

Sherry sees Anton outside and tells him she doesn't want anything to do with him because he lied about seeing Becky. Anton hits back that she’s been lying about who The Puzzle Lady is, but she leaves.

The cop’s daughter Katy, follows the librarian, Jimmi, to a shed. She looks inside the shed when he leaves, and there’s a hammer inside and what may be blood.

At the station, Hooper says one of the killer's letters is a match for the library. He then remembers what Katie said about being suspicious of Jimmy.

Cora and Sherry head to the antique shop run by the latest victim. They break into the shop. Cora produces a gun, which she says she got off her fourth husband! Cora looks at her diary and discovers the victim cancelled a meeting on the day she died. The meeting was meant to be with AA. Cora and Sherry argue. Cora finds a certificate on the wall, Art Authentication, AA.

She calls the number for AA and says on the phone, it’s The Puzzle Lady here. Ali made a copy of the certificate. Let’s not play games. She says she can hand it to the police, or they could come to an arrangement.

Hooper is looking for his daughter.

Sherry has a message from her ex threatening to expose The Puzzle Lady as a fake. Bonnie's boyfriend then walks in and threatens Sherry with a knife. He admits being responsible for Bonnie’s death but insists he's made up for that by being a good person. Sherry is shocked and starts whacking him over the head with a frying pan. Becky then walks in, and Sherry asks for help tying him up!

Katy is watching Jimmi at the graveside, and he spots her. He just helps her up.

The police arrest the boyfriend for Bonnie's murder. Anton arrives. Becky says she came over to say she recognised the mystery woman who Cora saw in the pub with Gary. She saw her in a lift at her old job in London, and she was with Stuart.

Sherry has a text from Cora: "Gone to meet the killer in the graveyard. Send the police".

Jimmy has creepily got Katie to pose as a victim in the graveyard, but they’re disturbed by the sound of a car.

Cora confronts killer Stuart

Cora is there, and so is Stuart. He asks if she has the certificate. Cora pulls out her gun. Cora says she wants to know she's right. She says Stuart had no idea his first victim, Donna, had a note in her pocket later mistaken for a crossword clue. When the story was printed in the paper Stuart decided to use it to his advantage. His real goal was to murder his wife. So he picked a random victim, Donna, to make Vicky’s murder appear random.

But Cora says his mistake was his third victim was far from random. Ali was an art expert helping Vicky sell her late mother’s antiques. She found something priceless in that house. Stuart killed her so no one would know about the priceless object.

Stuart says he was with Hooper when Ali was killed. Cora says the meeting in the diary, scheduled for 12, was for Ali to give Stuart the art authentication certificate. After finding the police station closed, he changed the meeting time to four. Cora says Stuart has an accomplice. She killed Ali in the car park to get the certificate and to give Stuart an alibi. At that moment, Stuart’s accomplice arrives on the scene. They have a tussle, and the gun goes off. The accomplice now has the gun but gives it to Stuart.

Then, from nowhere, Jimmi tackles Stuart, and they land in an empty grave. They fight. Stuart comes out the best and gets out of the grave and starts to strangle Cora. But she strikes him on the head with a vase and grabs the gun. The police arrive.

Hooper hugs his daughter. Cora says the priceless piece of art must be in Stuart's car, and she finds it in the boot. "I know a Turner when I see one," boasts Cora. "Do you? It’s a Constable," retorts Hooper.

Sherry tells Anton she ca''t date him as she needs to work things through. Sherry leaves a message on her ex’s phone saying that if he exposes Cora, she will tell the world he’s a wife-beater.

The next morning, Sherry and Cora discuss the case and read Anton's newspaper report about their expertise.