How to Solve Your Own Murder

Archie Foyle is inside the manor with his daughter Beth, who cooked for Frances. Annie goes into the room where Frances’s old filing cabinets are. The files are organized by indiscretions, not names. She finds her father’s under “I” for infidelity and takes it. She removes other files containing names she recognizes and takes them upstairs. She looks in the bedrooms to choose one and finds Elva and Oliver have taken the biggest ones. She looks in Elva’s blazer pockets and finds the Post-It notes Elva tore down from Frances’s murder investigation board. She then finds a comfortable room and is surprised to find her bag already there. She goes to the kitchen and meets Beth Foyle, who dresses in vintage style. She feeds Annie, and they talk about the fate of Beth’s family farm if the wrong person inherits the estate. Annie sees a woman looking in at the back windows. Beth invites Rose Forrester, now Rose Leroy, inside. Rose is pleased to meet Annie but is upset about Frances’s death. She rages about no one believing Frances’s fortune and that justice must be served. Beth persuades Rose to take Archie into town as a way to calm her down.

Detective Crane is there for the reading of the will along with Elva, Oliver, and Mr. Gordon. Saxon is late but when he shows up is personable and handsome—the opposite of what Annie suspected after meeting Elva. Mr. Gordon reads a letter from Frances saying that between Annie and Saxon, whoever solves her murder in a week will inherit everything. If neither solves it or Detective Crane solves it first, Oliver will sell the land, which includes the town, through his employer, and all the money will go to the Crown. Oliver asks if she died of natural causes. Detective Crane notes that the flowers didn’t kill Frances. They see the autopsy report showing she was murdered by being injected with something that gave her a heart attack.

In 1966, Frances is out again with her friends, talking with Rose about how Emily is borrowing and not returning more things like Frances’s favorite jacket with the stag buttons. It disturbs them both. Rose is sorry she didn’t tell Frances about going to the estate and said Emily told her Frances was sick so didn’t come. It’s clear to all of them that Emily is going up to the manor house. Emily says she has a game and pulls out a revolver. No one likes this but they are disturbed by people telling them to leave where they are sitting on the village green, as they’re being noisy. Rose thinks Emily has gone too far. Frances has witnessed Emily being mentally abused by her mother and the way Emily has grown darker in her games and ideas since then. She wonders what current game Emily is playing and thinks about how Ford knows how to play games and win. She can’t stop thinking about him.

In the present, Crane doesn’t think the flowers had anything to do with the murder, but the idea doesn’t feel right to Annie. She wants to solve the mystery to help her mother keep the house, the Foyles to keep their farm, and the community to keep their town. Saxon says the idea is brilliant as it means the entire town has to help solve the murder they’ve been disregarding for decades if they want to survive. Crane interprets the autopsy report for Annie, saying Frances was injected with a large amount of iron. Saxon tells Annie he will level the playing field and tells her the only place one would get injectable iron in that amount is from a veterinarian. Beth’s wife Miyuki is a large animal vet on the Foyle farm.

In 1966, Emily drives them to the Gravesdown estate and convinces them to go to the abandoned farmhouse where she claims there is evidence Ford killed his first wife. While going she taunts Frances, repeating back words Ford had said to both of them and confirming he is playing with them. The farmhouse is still furnished as if someone lives there except for one room that’s smashed up. Rose and Frances feel uncomfortable and leave. Saxon surprises them. He offers to tell them a secret about Emily that he says she got from John, Frances’s boyfriend. He mimes a rounded belly.

In the present, Annie updates Jenny and walks through suspects with her. Jenny sets Annie straight about trusting Saxon and points out that just because he has a ferry ticket doesn’t mean he was on it and has an alibi. Annie finds a photo of her mother and Reggie Crane together at an art event in a file about Crane family infidelity. There is also a Cease and Desist letter to Frances from Detective Crane, which confuses Annie, as the detective said he liked Frances. She adds him, the vicar John Oxley (Frances’s old boyfriend,) the doctor, and the paramedics to the suspect list. She reads her great aunt’s diary until she gets to the part about Saxon revealing Emily’s pregnancy. She wonders why Frances was killed now after 60 years of being a busybody.

In 1966, Frances demands her coat back. When Emily refuses, Frances yanks it off, revealing Emily’s pregnancy. Walt is furious, declaring that she’d stopped sleeping with him months ago. John looks ashamed and Walt tries to attack him but is stopped by Teddy Crane. Frances takes back the coat and finds the revolver is still in the pocket. When Walt attacks Emily and hits her, Frances pulls the gun out and fires. She runs through the rain to the manor house where Ford puts her next to the fire and calms her down. Rose and Emily arrive wet and bleeding. Ford and the housekeeper take care of them. Rose waits for Teddy, who is driving Walt home and then coming back for the girls. While Ford goes to get his car to give them a ride, Frances confronts Emily for wanting everything she has including her boyfriend John. Emily says she used to, but now she’s going to be the lady of the manor. Rose waits for Teddy while Emily and Frances get a ride back home with Ford, who relegates a smiling Emily to the back.

In the present, Detective Crane calls Annie, telling her Saxon wasn’t on the ferry as he said. He tells Annie to lock her doors since Saxon is staying there. Crane is coming to the estate. Annie doesn’t like him telling her what to do and finds after seeing the letter that she doesn’t trust him. She goes to Frances’s file room and finds Saxon and Elva going through the files. They can’t open one with a padlock on it. They try a number of combinations involving birthdates and none work. Annie takes pictures of the murder investigation board. She wanders through the house and goes into a boot room off the solarium. She sees the trunks she sent Frances from the Chelsea house’s basement. One has a piece of fabric sticking out with buttons that have stags on them. She recognizes the coat from Frances’s journal and lifts the lid, revealing a skeleton.