Jessica Fletcher is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to tell us about Fit for Murder, the latest novel in the Murder, She Wrote mystery series.

Welcome, Jessica. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

Hi All, my name is Jessica Fletcher and I am a former school teacher. When my beloved husband Frank died, I filled the solitary evenings and weekends by writing a murder mystery. I suppose it was a kind of therapy for me. I was shocked when, without my knowledge, my nephew Grady presented it to a publisher, who purchased the book and that was the start of my second career, J. B. Fletcher, mystery writer.  I am quite pleased that readers can follow along in all my adventures. Murder, She Wrote, Fit for Murder is book #57 in the series. It seems that a fitness professional has come to Cabot Cove and he seems to have a great fondness for ladies of a certain age, particularly those with comfortable incomes. When he is found dead in his gym lying on a press bench with a bar of heavy weights crushing his windpipe. Was it an accident? Or murder?

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

Fortunately, my co-writer Terrie Farley Moran has been watching Murder, She Wrote since the very first television episode appeared in 1984 and has also read all of the books so we understand each other and work well together. To find the answer to your question, all you need to do is look at the book cover. Whose picture do you see? And the authors are listed by name: “Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran”. Whose name comes first?

How did you evolve as the main character?

One thing followed another. Once I was selected as the main character for the Murder, She Wrote television show, and the creators came up with the idea of having companion books, well, I just transferred to a different medium. I suspect the creators thought the books would have a wide audience because, as you know, I have a flair for stumbling across murders wherever I may be, and an even greater flair for solving them.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

When a murder occurs in Cabot Cove, I can always rely on my dear friends, Doctor Seth Hazlitt and Sheriff Mort Metzger to help satisfy my innate curiosity by sharing information with me. In this particular story, it happens that Evelyn Phillips, former editor of the Cabot Cove Gazette, pushes me to help solve the murder even as she becomes a suspect, while her replacement and direct opposite personality wise, Dan Andrews, contributes to the resolution of a different crime entirely.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

Home! I am home in Cabot Cove, Maine, the warm and friendly community that sits on the shore of the cove that gives the town its name.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

Well, as I mentioned, these books are based on the Murder, She Wrote television series and on September 30, 2024 we will celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the first episode of the television show which was titled “The Murder of Sherlock Holmes”. I would like to thank the many viewers and readers who have kept the Murder, She Wrote franchise so popular for these forty years. I frequently hear from adults who, as children, watched Murder She Wrote on television or read the books with their grandparents are now watching and reading Murder, She Wrote with their grandchildren. I hope that we will all remain friends for many years to come.

Thank you for answering my questions, Jessica, and good luck to you and your author, Terrie Farley Moran, with Fit for Murder, the latest book in the Murder, She Wrote mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Jessica Fletcher and her author, Terrie Farley Moran by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook page.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

 Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Bookshop.org – PenguinRandomHouse

About Terrie Farley Moran: Terrie co-writes the Murder, She Wrote mystery series including Murder, She Wrote: Killer on the Court. She is the author of the Read ‘Em and Eat cozy mystery series and also co-writes the Scrapbooking Mysteries with Laura Childs. Recipient of both the Agatha and the Derringer Awards, Moran has published numerous mystery short stories. The only thing Terrie enjoys more than wrangling mystery plots into submission is hanging out with any or all of her seven grandchildren.