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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2200 KP) rated Murder She Wrote: Manuscript for Murder in Books
Feb 6, 2019
Is Jessica Reading a Motive for Murder?
When Thomas Rudd approaches Jessica Fletcher after one of her signings and accuses Lane Barfield, their mutual publisher, of skimming money from their royalties, Jessica can hardly believe it. Within a couple of days, both of the men are dead. However, Jessica begins to suspect that the political thriller Lane asked her to read was to blame. Is she correct? If so, is she the next target?
I had a mixed reaction to this book. On the one hand, I got very caught up in the plot, and always had a hard time putting it down. There are twists and turns and plenty of danger, and I loved it. It would have worked better, however, if it weren’t a Murder, She Wrote book. It certainly doesn’t fit with the rest of the franchise in tone, with several events being several shades grayer than we got, at least on the TV show. (I’ve only read one other book, the previous one.) We see several of the regular side characters, but they and their relationship with Jessica was off. What I suspect was supposed to be funny came across as rather mean. These characters wouldn’t interact this way. There’s also the fact that one of the plots in the book gets dropped in favor of the other. Honestly, I think there are two good storylines here, and they should have gotten their own books. This is the second book that Jon Land has written in the franchise, and I’m wondering if his efforts to turn things darker are going to be a permanent thing or if he will adjust better to the light tone of this franchise.
I had a mixed reaction to this book. On the one hand, I got very caught up in the plot, and always had a hard time putting it down. There are twists and turns and plenty of danger, and I loved it. It would have worked better, however, if it weren’t a Murder, She Wrote book. It certainly doesn’t fit with the rest of the franchise in tone, with several events being several shades grayer than we got, at least on the TV show. (I’ve only read one other book, the previous one.) We see several of the regular side characters, but they and their relationship with Jessica was off. What I suspect was supposed to be funny came across as rather mean. These characters wouldn’t interact this way. There’s also the fact that one of the plots in the book gets dropped in favor of the other. Honestly, I think there are two good storylines here, and they should have gotten their own books. This is the second book that Jon Land has written in the franchise, and I’m wondering if his efforts to turn things darker are going to be a permanent thing or if he will adjust better to the light tone of this franchise.