Who DI Chubb is
Detective Inspector Chubb is the police officer who works alongside Atticus Pünd in Alan Conway’s fictional mysteries. He belongs to the books’ 1950s world. His presence gives Pünd someone with official standing to question, disagree with and ultimately persuade when the detective’s explanation departs from the apparent evidence.
Chubb is also one of television’s clearest links between the two storylines. Daniel Mays plays him and the contemporary Detective Superintendent Locke. The resemblance invites comparison, but Chubb has his own duties and reactions. He is not Locke in disguise, a flashback to Locke’s younger self or a policeman who can meet Susan outside her imagination.
Role in Magpie and Moonflower Murders
In Magpie, Chubb investigates the disturbing events around Pye Hall. The death of housekeeper Mary Blakiston and the killing of Sir Magnus Pye appear to form a single dark pattern. Pünd and James Fraser enter a village already crowded with suspicion, resentment and apparently useful explanations. Chubb supplies information about the scene while Pünd asks whether the arrangement of objects means what everyone assumes.
In Moonflower, Chubb returns in the earlier novel Atticus Pünd Takes the Case. Pünd now has Madeline Cain as his assistant. Their inquiry centres on the death of Melissa James, whose former film career and present hotel business give several people a stake in her decisions. Chubb proposes working with the visiting detective rather than simply defending his own territory.
The chronology can seem confusing because the same policeman returns while the assistant changes. Susan’s contemporary story has moved forward, but the book she is reading comes from an earlier point in Pünd’s career. Chubb’s continuity helps make the fictional series feel like an established collection of cases, not a new cast created only for Susan’s latest problem.
Key relationships
Atticus Pünd is the independent investigator whose conclusions Chubb must assess. James Fraser shares their Magpie inquiries; Madeline Cain occupies the assistant’s position in Moonflower. Both assistants can ask the straightforward questions that allow Pünd to expose an overlooked detail.
Sir Magnus Pye and Melissa James belong to different fictional investigations. Keeping their households separate is important even when a familiar actor appears in both the contemporary and manuscript strands. Chubb must work from the testimony of people in his own case, not from the audience’s knowledge of Susan’s encounters.
Played by Daniel Mays
Daniel Mays plays DI Chubb. Mays’s contemporary role is DS Locke. The two roles appear in both Magpie and Moonflower.
Their story and fate — spoilers
Magpie’s conclusion reveals that Mary’s fatal fall was accidental. Her son Robert had killed his brother years earlier and later killed Magnus to keep Mary’s written disclosure from being discovered. The burglary and subsequent killing of Brent helped conceal that purpose. Chubb’s investigation therefore requires Pünd to disentangle different crimes rather than identify one person responsible for every death.
In Moonflower, Pünd identifies Dr Leonard Collins as Melissa’s killer. John Spencer’s death is another part of the chain of violence, not a simple confirmation that the first likely suspect must have committed the original crime. Chubb is present within a classic gathering of suspects, where the detective must convert a persuasive story into a sequence that accounts for timing, access and physical evidence.
Books and television — book spoilers
The screen adaptation uses Mays’s double role to make Conway’s habit of turning real acquaintances into fictional types visible. Chubb offers a useful contrast with Locke: Pünd’s relationship with the fictional officer is not simply a copy of Susan’s more adversarial relationship with the contemporary one.
This contrast changes how viewers read authority across the two mysteries. The courteous literary detective can often arrange a hearing for his ideas; the modern editor has to earn one. Watching Chubb beside Locke makes that difference tangible without requiring either man to explain it. The novels establish the two investigative worlds through prose, while the television series repeatedly invites the audience to recognise a face and then reconsider the personality attached to it.
Read or listen to the book
Magpie Murders (2016)
Anthony Horowitz’s novel behind the first television mystery.
Waterstones · print Audible · audiobookPaid links may earn commission, at no extra cost.
Daniel Mays plays both DI Chubb and DS Locke, connecting the two story worlds.