Leafing Through Pages – The Murder of Twelve (Murder, She Wrote # 51)

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Stars: 3 / 5

Recommendation: All in all not a bad read, but some traditional elements surrounding the characters changed a little too much for comfort of the reader’s expectations. But Land keeps the plot engaged, curious and a bit sinister than normal which makes up for the faults.

The Murder of Twelve is the 51st book in the Murder She Wrote series co-written by John Land & fictional writer Jessica Fletcher. It was first published on May 26 2020. In this plot, Jessica and Cabot Cove are in the middle of an unprecedented snow storm and a tension-filled bride and groom’s families at a wedding party when a murderer lurks among them vowing take everyone one person at a time.

This is my take on the series of books written by a plethora of authors and Jessica Fletcher (fictional author) based on the 80s and 90s popular American crime drama television series Murder, She Wrote. These books are ghost written by Donald Bain and fictional author Jessica Fletcher for the first 43 books until 2015. Then Donald Bain wrote these with Renee Paley Bain and Jon Land for more books before Jon Land alone continued with Jessica Fletcher for 5 more books until 2020. Starting 2021 the series was picked by Terrie Farley Moran again pairing with the fictional writer Jessica Fletcher.

I wonder if they will stop writing these novels anymore considering the death of Angela Lansbury (the star who portrayed the role of Jessica Fletcher in the TV Series and who has her face on the covers of these books) on October 11 2022. Although they did have the 56th novel in the series, Death on the Emerald Isle, published on Jan 3rd 2023, three months after her passing away.

We saw in the 50th book, A Time for Murder, that Jessica was staying at Hill House hotel on account of her house being rebuilt because of the fire. Land brings Jessica and the town of Cabot Cove into the 21st century technology and gives us glimpses into the usage of that.

Author Land dedicates this book to Angela Lansbury that actress who played the role of Jessica Fletcher. I don’t believe I saw such a dedication in any of her books till now. Also we see a front page with list of the key characters names and their relationship / work of nature for their role listed. Again something I didn’t see in these books till now.

This is also the first book that I see Mort Metzger complaining a lot about retiring into a small town from New York City. I wonder if he gets written out in the subsequent books that come after this.

The plot vaguely resembles the 1940 US version of Agatha Christie’s novel “And Then There Were None”. The basic premise is similar but there are several differences in this book safe to say that author Land didn’t repurpose someone else’s story.

Slow to begin with the story rambles on a lot thru Jessica’s thoughts and Seamus’s apprehensions. However, it takes on a very sinister spin when evil sneaks up on them – one person’s greed and superior feeling creates a plethora of events that lead to jealousy, betrayal and murder. The way the evil person is portrayed gave me chills to my bones. And the evil is not just in humans, but even Mother Nature goes sinister further aiding the murderer.

Reading it in June when its getting summery where I live, it was interesting read about a meteorological bomb where three weather systems collide to dump 5 feet of snow in Cabot Cove. Land showed us visually what that blizzard looks like through his smart words.

Another good who-dun-it even though it sort of rambles and drones along for a few scenes. But the plot centers solely around the murder. The relationship between the key characters – Mort, Seth and Jessica – is shown in a lesser light this time around. Perhaps the plot is restricted to the location and the blizzard contributed to that.

This is a little bit less favorite for me of the books so far I read in this series, but its not bad either. May be Land could tone down Harry McGraw’s character a bit – he is rough definitely but he constantly cribs at Jessica about the payments even though he doesn’t invoice her, and then he keeps calling her “little lady” all the time which kind of grates on your skin.

All in all not a bad read, but some traditional elements surrounding the characters changed a little too much for comfort of the reader’s expectations. But Land keeps the plot engaged, curious and a bit sinister than normal which makes up for the faults. 

Spoiler Alerts:

Plot Reveals:

1. Author Land gives considerable mystery to Seamus McGilray’s character. I wonder if he resurfaces in a future book.
2. Towards the end of the book, Mort jokes that Jessica should run for mayor. Hmm…something to look forward to I suppose. 😛

Sub Plots:

1. Friends of Jessica Fletcher – her publisher Vaughan Buckley of Buckley House, his fashion model wife Olga Buckley and their dogs Sadie and Rose; Dr. Seth Hazlitt, long-time friend in Cabot Cove, Maine; George Sutherland, senior inspector with Scotland Yard; Mort Metzger, Cabot Cove Sherriff and his wife Adele; Harry McGraw, her private eye friend; Eve Simpson, realtor friend working at Cabot Cove Realty; Jed Richardson, only bush pilot for Cabot Cove; Mara, restaurant owner of Mara’s Luncheonette; Sam Booth, mayor of Cabot Cove; Ethan Cragg, Cabot Cove’s chief town elder; Hank Weathers, a homeless war vet; Seamus McGilray, manager of Hill House Hotel; Dick Mann, Fire Chief;
2. Sheriff Metzger’s office staff: Deputy Andy Jenks; Deputy Jack;
3. Jessica Fletcher’s family – Grady Fletcher, nephew that she and Frank raises
4. George and Jessica decide to meet up in London in the seventh book, A Palette for Murder – I wonder which future book was based on that trip.
5. In the 50th book, A Time for Murder, Jessica is shown at Hill House, Cabot Cove’s very own Inn due to a fire at her Victorian home at 698 Candlewood Lame. I wonder if the 49th book, Murder in Red, has anything to do with her house getting caught fire which almost killed her.
6. In the 6th book, A Deadly Judgment, Dr. Seth Hazlitt is seen dating jury consultant Jill Farkas at the end of the book. Did that spill into any subsequent books? At least I don’t remember from reading either the 7th book A Palette for Murder or the 8th book The Highland Fling Murders. May be this was only pat of the 6th book plot.

Grammatical / Character / Plot / Geographical / Historical / Mythological Errors:

1. On Pg. 36, Ethan comments that there are two plow trucks that town owns, and he had brought 12 more to supplement. But he says that that would be 8 more than usual. The math doesn’t seem to add up.
2. Land has a character named Evelyn Simpson who is editor of the Cabot Cove Gazette. But we also know there is a character called Eve Simpson who is a realtor friend of Jessica. I wonder if both are same or if Land simply reused the name.