In A Deadly Invitation, a true crime enthusiast finds herself solving the mystery of her sister’s murder at a posh villa with guests who hate her sister just as much as they love her. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Agatha Hernández is the host of the popular podcast Unsolved Crimes, in which she tries to solve crimes that no one’s ever solved. Her half-sister, Olivia, whom she hasn’t met in a while, invites her to her villa, Villa Elisa.
Agatha wonders about this sudden invitation, and upon arriving at Villa Elisa, Agatha learns that she is not the only one invited.
The others who are invited are Carlos, Olivia’s ex-husband and a high-profile doctor, Sonia, Olivia’s ex-business partner, Olivia’s boyfriend, Naram, a yoga instructor who loves Olivia immensely, Cary, an actor Olivia dated once, who is in debt to Carlos, and Figue, who once worked for Carlos and has some history with him.
The guests are being taken care of by Cristina and Gustavo, Olivia’s staff, at the villa. Everyone is asked to join Olivia on the yacht later. In the meantime, a specific room is given to each guest.
On the yacht, Olivia teases that one of them is not going back to the villa alive. Each one of them has a reason to kill the person sitting next to them.
Agatha attempts to understand what Olivia is up to. Olivia says she struggled to understand Agatha’s grief when they lost Elisa, Olivia and Carlos’ daughter. It is one of the reasons Agatha is here.
Olivia’s prediction comes true, but it is Olivia who dies. Either she killed herself by jumping off the floor of the yacht onto the other or someone pushed her.
Bringing the cops in becomes a difficult choice as the murder has taken place in the middle of the waters. They are in between two police jurisdictions. On their way back to the villa, the transmission tower near the villa explodes. Now, no one has a signal on their phones to contact anyone.
The local police arrive. Captain Magallón will look into which police department will pick up this case and then come back. Until then, no one is to leave the villa, and Lieutenant Julián will keep an eye on them.
Agatha talks to Julián and tells him about her sister’s warning. They are taken for coffee by Carlos when they hear gunshots. Someone tried to shoot Sonia and Naram.
Agatha discovers a hidden passage in Sonia and Naram’s room, but without authorization, she isn’t allowed to go far. However, Julián desires to get a promotion soon, and hence, he doesn’t mind using Agatha’s skills to solve this case until it is decided who will handle it.
Agatha also promises to take Julián on her podcast, as he is a huge fan of it. The two shake hands and start by interrogating everyone in the villa.
Whatever information Agatha receives, with Julián’s permission, she sends to her partner, Iris, from a public payphone at the inn. Agatha comes to the conclusion that this is all part of Olivia’s game. She doesn’t want the police to solve this case.
Agatha explains that Olivia took them to the yacht to buy them time to solve this case. She changed the flowers on the day of their arrival. The flowers are violet in color, which hints that she was looking for justice.
Olivia’s friends agree to come together and honor Olivia by solving this mystery. Cary tells Agatha that the last time he saw Olivia, she was talking to someone on the yacht from a floor above. He couldn’t see who she was talking to. The next time he saw her, she was dead.
Cary expresses that he really wants to help Agatha, and Agatha, too, agrees that she can use Cary’s theatrical talent. At night, Agatha hears noises outside and sees the lights on the yacht.
On the yacht, she finds Figue collecting some drugs. It turns out that Figue was treating Olivia, who was sick. The two also discover certificates that are given when a baby dies.
Agatha keeps this from Julián and sends information on these babies to Iris. Agatha thinks this has to do with Governor Tomás Guzmán and his wife, Clara.
Agatha’s suspicions are confirmed when Iris sends her the information. The Governor and Clara have been trying to adopt a child for a while, and Carlos is likely involved here.
A Deadly Invitation ending explained in detail:
How is Naram connected to all of this?
When Elisa, Carlos and Olivia’s daughter and Agatha’s niece, passed away, Agatha did some investigation of her own. Elisa is actually the daughter of Renata Godoy, a teenager who tragically killed herself after losing her baby.
Renata Godoy is the sister of Naram, whose real name is Ramiro Manuel Godoy. Agatha likes to think Olivia left them many clues. These clues include the death certificates in the cabin of her yacht. Elisa’s death certificate was also found there, but it was from seven years before her death.
Agatha deduces that when Naram learned about the death of Elisa, he noticed that Elisa bore a striking resemblance to his sister. He found out that his niece had been alive all this time.
Naram believed Olivia stole her from her sister, who killed herself. Naram planned to exact revenge on Olivia, and hence, he befriended Sonia, who hated Olivia.
Naram and Sonia confronted Olivia, who confessed that she thought Elisa was an orphan and that this was a standard adoption. Olivia promised to get to the bottom of this. For that, Naram and Sonia joined her here.
Who are the culprits?
Cary investigated Cristina, as told by Agatha, and discovered a card of hers that proves Cristina worked at the hospital where Naram’s sister was admitted.
Cristina quickly brings a gun in, but Agatha has already unloaded that gun after finding out that Cristina stinks of black powder and Maja soap, which was found in the hidden path in Sonia and Naram’s room. That hidden path actually leads to Cristina’s room.
Agatha began suspecting Cristina way before Sonia’s death. She saw her having a conversation with Carlos about a baby and Miguel Guzmán. She wondered what they were talking about.
Carlos and Cristina are working together. Cristina handled the part of telling mothers the news about their babies’ deaths, while Carlos gave these babies to his clients, who were millionaires willing to pay a fortune. In Elisa’s case, he gave Elisa to his wife, Olivia.
It is proven that Cristina tried to murder Naram, as Cristina recognized Naram. Cristina knows the villa the best, and she specifically gave everyone rooms. This meant Agatha had to switch rooms.
However, since Agatha suspected Cristina, she left a camera of hers in Naram and Sonia’s room that captured Cristina shooting at Naram. Though Cristina and Carlos try to escape, they are caught.
Who killed Olivia?
Cristina’s theory says Olivia killed herself. Her cancer was terminal. Figue was treating her, and even Agatha saw Olivia wearing a wig on the yacht.
Olivia knew about Carlos’ business, but she didn’t report it to the police because Carlos is a powerful man who would have found a way to neutralize the accusations. Hence, she planned all of this. She trapped everyone in this game, which will solve this case.
However, Agatha needed to solve another mystery. Iris joined her to address this. They have Olivia’s autopsy report, which says she died of morphine.
Figue had lots of morphine in his bag. Figue admits that he gave Olivia morphine. Years ago, Olivia did Figue a favor by helping him make up for a grave mistake that he committed.
It was time to call in that favor. Figue was part of this plan. The morphine was supposed to relieve Olivia from pain once she jumped. Cary was right; Olivia was talking to someone. It was Figue.
Agatha likes to see Figue’s move as something he did to fulfill her sister’s last wish. She doesn’t report him to the authorities. Agatha now inherits Olivia’s mansion, where she can live with Iris.
Also Read: Only Murders in the Building season finale recap, review, and ending explained