A Time for Murder

September 29, 2003
At the invitation of Cabot Cove denizen Reggie Weems, TV's Jessica Fletcher takes a murderous jaunt by rail through British Columbia in the 20th competently constructed "collaboration" between her and real-life mystery writer Bain. Not long into the trip, which is sponsored by the Track and Rail Club, the club's wealthy and domineering president, Al Blevin, falls victim to a poisoned cocktail. Jessica and Reggie do their best to assist an RCMP detective, Christian Marshall, in sorting out the various suspects. The victim had engendered strong feelings in a number of other club members, and he had also incurred the hatred of his stepson, Benjamin Vail, whose father had disappeared mysteriously on a previous rail journey. As the train continues on its way, Jessica gets to know her fellow travelers better and keeps on the trail of the killer. The authors telegraph an important clue early on, allowing seasoned mystery fans to get to the truth ahead of Mrs. Fletcher. In novel form, Jessica has little personality, and thus readers will have to keep the image of Angela Lansbury firmly in mind to endow the sleuth with the qualities viewers of "Murder, She Wrote" appreciated. (Oct. 7)Forecast: The first in this enduring series to be published in hardcover, it's unlikely to make converts among mystery buffs who aren't already devotees of the TV program.

March 5, 2018
The well-plotted 47th series entry (after 2016’s Hook, Line and Murder) shows that Land (Strong to the Bone and eight other Caitlin Strong novels) is a worthy successor to Bain (1935–2017), the author of all the previous Murder, She Wrote mysteries starring mystery writer Jessica Fletcher. When 47-year-old entrepreneur Hal Wirth dies of an apparent heart attack at his annual Labor Day party in Cabot Cove, Maine, Hal’s widow, Babs, a close friend of Jessica’s, is devastated. Babs must also cope with unexpected financial worries after Hal’s lawyer tells her that what was once a $10 million company is nearly bankrupt due to bad investments Hal made in recent months. Meanwhile, Jessica finds a note to Hal from Eugene Labine, a former business partner, threatening to sue him. The stakes rise with Labine’s subsequent shooting murder. Jessica once again turns sleuth, and eventually figures out that a ruthless killer is at work. Series fans will be pleased to find this popular franchise in Land’s able hands.

September 3, 2018
Land’s farfetched second entry in the Murder, She Wrote franchise (after A Date with Murder) takes mystery author Jessica Fletcher from Cabot Cove, Maine, to New York City, where her publisher, Lane Barfield, is eager to tell her about his latest acquisition: Benjamin Tally’s first novel, The Affair. Lane says it’s the best political thriller he’s ever read, and he gives Jessica the manuscript to get her opinion. The next morning, at her Manhattan apartment, Jessica turns on the TV and learns that Lane is dead, an apparent suicide. On the train ride home, Jessica reads The Affair and realizes that Tally must have insider information about the current U.S. president’s family, which includes her friend, First Lady Stephanie Albright. Jessica later goes to Washington, D.C., where she meets with Stephanie, President Robert Albright, and a couple of top aides, who are worried that Tally knows some family secrets that could be potentially damaging to the president. That Jessica winds up an unlikely action hero won’t daunt series fans.

April 1, 2019
When Mimi Van Dorn, a well-liked resident of Cabot Cove, Maine, collapses and dies without regaining consciousness in Land’s strong third contribution to the Murder, She Wrote franchise (after 2018’s Manuscript for Murder), mystery author Jessica Fletcher, who was a good friend of Mimi’s, notices some anomalies and is soon assisting Sheriff Mort Metzger in his investigation. She is suspicious of the Clifton Clinic, the new private hospital in town, where Mimi recently went for a simple procedure. Ads for the clinic tout its “cutting-edge treatments” and “regenerative medicine,” but the hospital’s director, Charles Clifton, refuses to answer her questions. When Jessica’s former beau, Scotland Yard inspector George Sutherland, checks into the same facility, she’s determined to ensure that he doesn’t also meet an early death. In her search for answers, Jessica plunges into the intricacies of clinical trials and eventually goes on a fact-finding excursion to Washington, D.C. The complex plot builds to a clever, if foreseeable, resolution. Land does a seamless job of maintaining the quality of this popular, long-running series.

September 30, 2019
Jessica Fletcher becomes entangled in mysteries past and present in Land’s diverting fourth novel—the 50th in the overall series—to feature the indefatigable writer-sleuth from Cabot Cove, Maine (after Murder in Red). When a local high school journalist interviews Jessica, she wonders why the girl persists in asking about the first case she investigated 25 years ago, despite her expressed opposition to revisiting the painful event. At that time, Jessica was an English substitute teacher dreaming of a writing career, and the victim was high school principal Walter Reavis. When other deaths occur in the present, Jessica is convinced that the murders are connected to Reavis’s murder. Recalling the details of the first case, she delves into the complex relationships of the principal’s loved ones and co-workers and concludes that a vendetta might exist against Reavis’s family. Readers will enjoy appearances by Jessica’s familiar associates, including retired sheriff Amos Tupper and current sheriff Mort Metzger, as the action builds to a nail-biting climax. This long-running franchise remains as strong as ever.

March 16, 2020
It’s winter, and Cabot Cove, Maine, is expecting the blizzard of the century in Land’s solid fifth Murder, She Wrote mystery (after 2019’s A Time for Murder). Before it hits, writer-sleuth Jessica Fletcher, Sheriff Mort Metzger, and family doctor Seth Hazlitt are called to a crime scene—a dead body inside a car. It looks like suicide, but Jessica thinks it’s murder. A second call takes them to an abandoned car. Then the storm arrives, and Jessica returns to the hotel she’s staying at while her house is being renovated. The hotel is bristling with wedding guests consisting of two warring families with secrets to hide. Thanks to sporadic outside contact with the sheriff, Jessica learns the murder and abandoned car from earlier in the day are connected to the wedding party. The stakes rise as someone starts killing the 12 trapped guests one by one. This is very much a throwback to the classic TV show, and Agatha Christie fans will enjoy the And Then There Were None homage. Agent: Robert G. Diforio, D4EO Literary.

September 7, 2020
Land’s satisfying sixth Murder, She Wrote mystery (after The Murder of Twelve) finds writer-sleuth Jessica Fletcher reluctantly agreeing to play Mrs. Claus in the Cabot Cove, Maine, annual Christmas parade, and glad the renovation of her lovely old house is coming to an end. Then workmen digging up her lawn to install a new septic system discover the remains of two bodies, one dating from the late 18th century, as well as a colonial-era oak chest. While Jessica and friends are investigating the scene, Tad Hollenbeck, a reporter for a “tawdry tabloid show... promoting wacko theories,” arrives with his camera crew. He tells the startled Cabot Covians he’s doing a story on their town’s alarming per capita murder rate. A further examination of the evidence does indeed prove that the two bodies have been murdered, and the chest contains documents relating to the founding fathers of Cabot Cove. Then Tad, too, is murdered. Planning for the parade and other Christmas festivities provides counterpoint to the crime solving. This appealing—if murder-prone—world is a splendid place to spend a bit of the holiday season. Agent: Robert G. Diforio, D4EO Literary.

December 4, 2023
In Fletcher and Moran’s routine latest Murder, She Wrote mystery (after Death on the Emerald Isle), writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher is at work on a new novel when former Cabot Cove Gazette editor Evelyn Phillips returns to the small Maine town to check in on her and Jessica’s mutual friend, Bertha Mae Cormier. After Evelyn and Jessica visit Bertha Mae, they become less concerned with the addled letters she’s been sending to Evelyn and more concerned that her young, handsome next-door neighbor, Martin Terranova, is taking advantage of her. Bertha Mae is clearly smitten with the decades-younger fitness junkie, and her friends come to suspect he’s a serial predator intent on manipulating older people into granting him access to her finances. When Martin is found murdered, Evelyn’s public distrust of him makes her the prime suspect. Jessica, however, believes one of Martin’s other elderly victims has taken him down, and sets out to clear her friend’s name. Fans will know exactly what they’re getting into, but newbies may balk at the surplus of overdescribed tea times and the stilted dialogue. It’s a forgettable installment in a venerable series. Agent: Kim Lionetti, BookEnds Literary.