Leafing Through Pages – Knock ‘Em Dead (Murder, She Wrote # 13)

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Stars: 3 / 5

Recommendation: Since guessing at least one of the killers, and not quite satisfied with the other killer, I felt this book fell a little short of rating 4. Yet it’s a wonderful and fun and cozy story that keeps you wanting to read the next in the series.

Knock ’em Dead is the 13th novel in the long-running Murder She Wrote series co-written by Donald Bain & fictional writer Jessica Fletcher. It was first published on October 1, 1999. This time Jessica is pulled into the world of Broadway where one of her novels is being made into a play. But all the charm of Broadway is marred by murders and Jessica might be the next victim in the twisted mind of the killer. 

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 four 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. As of 2023, 56 books have been written in this series. They are all written in first person narration.

I still cant begin to understand the careless and callous nature of Jessica when she talks about the knife incident with an actress in the theater play. Albeit the knife was a prop, it wasn’t a small incident to put it down as “silly misunderstanding”. She is much more thoughtful about such incidents in the TV show. Bain portrays her differently in the book. However, readers will be pleased that she is back to solving her mysteries again.

We again see George Sutherland surface for a brief period of time in this tale. Although as of this 13th book, he had never come to Cabot Cove. I remember however reading the 32nd book, A Fatal Feast, (Yes, I had been reading them out of order and now started to read from beginning the ones I havent read yet) where George Sutherland finally visits Cabot Cove. Although since I havent yet read a few before this book he might have come to Cabot Cove in an earlier book too. **Shrugging my shoulders**

Since we are still a few years away from 9/11 incident in New York City, we see that references to the buildings have been made in the plot. We also see again history of many places that Jessica visits in NYC. Also she explains why NYC is called as Big Apple, interesting!

Of all the things that I didn’t expect to see was ghosts in this book. But again theater people are very superstitious so it seems fitting. But it was painfully obvious who was one of the killers at least. The other one was a surprise towards the end, not because the character was unexpected, but there was no explanation of motive other than saying that the killer was a maniac.

Since guessing at least one of the killers, and not quite satisfied with the other killer, I felt this book fell a little short of rating 4. Yet it’s a wonderful and fun and cozy story that keeps you wanting to read the next in the series.

Spoiler Alerts:

1. Plot Reveals:
   1. People in the theater: Harry Schrumm, the producer; Aaron Manley, the playwright; Arnold “Arnie” and Jill Factor, backing the play; April Larsen; Cyrus Walpole, director; Linda Amsted, casting director; Priscilla Hoye and Joseph Scott, publicists; Joseph McCartney; Brett Burton; David Potts; Hanna Shawn; Pamela South; Charles Flowers; Victor “Vic” Righetti, manning the stage door; Peter Monroe, theater manager; Roy Richardson, acting teacher; Wade Agus, Assistant director; Jenny Forrest;
   2. Other characters: Detective Henry Hayes, divorced; Detective Tony Vasile; Martin Willig, assistant manager of the hotel Jessica stays in NYC; Wendell Watson, Jessica’s bodyguard, son of Gloria Watson;
   3. I have read in a recent book that mentioned Broadway street in NYC as Great White Way. It fails my memory which one was that. But we see the same thing being referred here in this plot.
   4. Wendell Watson becomes a rookie cop at the end of the book.
2. Sub Plots:
   1. Friends of Jessica Fletcher: Dr. Seth Hazlitt, long-time friend in Cabot Cove, Maine; George Sutherland, senior inspector with Scotland Yard; Morton “Mort” Metzger, Cabot Cove Sherriff and his wife Adele /  Maureen?; Eve Simpson, realtor friend working at Cabot Cove Realty; Sam Booth, mayor of Cabot Cove; Ethan Cragg, Cabot Cove’s chief town elder;
   2. Literary contacts and friends: her publisher Vaughan Buckley of Buckley House, his fashion model wife Olga Buckley and their dogs Sadie and Rose; Harry McGraw, her private eye friend; Matt Miller, her literary agent & his wife Susan;
   3. Other Characters appear frequently: Josh, the mailman; Jed Richardson, only bush pilot for Cabot Cove and owner of Jed’s Flying Service, and his wife Alicia; Mara, restaurant owner of Mara’s Luncheonette; Hank Weathers, a homeless war vet; Seamus McGilray, manager of Hill House Hotel; Dick Mann, Fire Chief; Charlene Sassi, a baker; Susan Shevlin, travel agent and her husband Jim who is the Mayor of Cabot Cove; Professor Donskoy; Roberta Dougherty, bookstore owner; Richard Koser, photographer; Tim Purdy, real estate agent; Barbara DePaoli, Chamber of Commerce’s secretary; Anthon Colarusso, dentist; Beth and Peter Mullin, owners of flower shop Old Tyme Floral; Sam Davis, investment advisor; Jack Decker, publisher of Cabot Cove’s monthly magazine; Peter Eder, Cabot Cove’s symphony orchestra; Bob Daros, owns Heritage Fuel; Tim Purdy, treasurer of chamber of commerce; Pat Hitchcock, Cabot Cove’s popular nurse
   4. Sheriff Metzger’s office staff: Deputy Andy Jenks; Deputy Jack;
   5. Jessica Fletcher’s family: Grady Fletcher, nephew that she and her late-husband Frank raise, his wife Donna and child Frank;
   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.
   7. George and Jessica continue to meet in every other book, increasing their intimacy. But I guess the romance will still have to wait.
   8. From the 9th book, Murder on the QE2: Mary Ward has been a prominent character in this book. Will she resurface again?
   9. From the 10th book, Murder in Moscow:
      1. There is still no resolution as to who or how Ward Wenington was killed in D.C. and why Vladislav “Vlady” Staritova was killed in Russia. What was the connection?
      2. Alexandra Kozhina disappears at the end of the plot. And will she surface in another book?
   10. From the 51st book, The Murder of Twelve:
       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.
   11. 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.
3. Grammatical / Character / Plot / Geographical / Historical / Mythological Errors:
   1. Mara owns a restaurant called Mara’s Luncheonette. However, in this book we see that she has a dockside restaurant too. Does she have two restaurants?
   2. Mort’s wife in this book is named Maureen. But she was named Adele in the TV show…and also in the 50th book, A Time for Murder, she was back to Adele. Did author Bain correct it after feedback from the readers?