Leafing Through Pages – Blood on the Vine (Murder, She Wrote # 15)

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Stars: 3 / 5

Recommendation: It is a decent read that looks simple and easy murder to solve, but we get to see how horrible and cruel one can be towards your own family and friends, and even betrays them. The final chapters were more chilling than the entire plot.

Blood on the Vine is the 15th novel in the long-running Murder She Wrote series co-written by Donald Bain & fictional writer Jessica Fletcher. It was first published on April 1, 2001. Jessica heads to the wine country in San Francisco for researching for her next book. And again she gets caught in a murder mystery. However this time the Scotland Yard Chief Inspector George Sutherland is right beside her helping her solve the crime. 

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.

George and Jessica are reunited for the entire plot this time. In fact, George helps her in the investigation of the murders. Interesting to see that even though Jessica denies about any romance between them, there is apparent attraction that neither can deny. I hope one of the 56 books so far written has at least made them a couple.

Finally we see Jessica taking flying lessons and in fact she gets private pilot’s license too in this book. We also get to ride along with Jessica seeing San Francisco and Napa Valley through her eyes and learn a lot about the buildings and history behind some of them.

I found Sherriff Davis’s character really off-putting. He behaved as though he was the owner of Ladington house as opposed to being a Sherriff. That was why perhaps I considered him as one of the suspects who had gotten away with the murders. But later he looked more helpful though.

The whole episode of George getting hurt seemed unnecessary. The author could have omitted that and have George and Jessica working together on the murder. With George laid down it falls on Jessica’s shoulders to do her sleuthing alone. So what was the need of George here other than to keep stressing on their romance that they deny.

It is a decent read that looks simple and easy murder to solve, but we get to see how horrible and cruel one can be towards your own family and friends, and even betrays them. The final chapters were more chilling than the entire plot.

Spoiler Alerts:

1. Plot Reveals:
   1. William “Bill” Ladington’s family and staff, owns Ladington Crreek and a person embroiled in one conspiracy after the other: Raoul Sebastian, driver; Robert Jenkins, Ladington’s neighbor; Bruce, Ladington’s son; Laura, Bruce’s wife; Wade Grosso, vineyard manager; Tennessee, Ladington’s eighth wife; Roger Stockdale, business manager; Consuela and her husband Fidel, work around Ladington house; Nick Potmos, chef at Ladington’s restaurant; Mercedes, cook; Willy, security;
   2. Other characters of interest: Marsha Monroe, executive at St. Francis Hotel; Margaret and Craig Sansdell, owners of Cedar Gables Inn; Barbara, manager at Cedar Gables Inn; ; Winston Wallace, reporter; Edith Saison and her lover Yves LeGrand, Ladington’s new partners; Sherriff Davis; Mary Jane Proll, waitress; Bill Ayala, Medical Examiner;
   3. The puffer fish poison reminded me of a Columbo episode from Season 7, Episode 22, Murder Under Glass. The key murder weapon is puffer fish poison here too.
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; Richard “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, and his wife MaryJane; 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 and historian and president of  Cabot Cove’s historical society, also an investment advisor; Pat Hitchcock, Cabot Cove’s popular nurse and teacher?; Gloria Watson, Wendell’s mother; Joseph “Joe” Turco, an attorney; Marcia Davis, costume designer; David and Jim Raneri, owners of Charles Department Store; Ralph Mackin, town attorney; Ed and Joan Lerner, retirees; Brenda Brody, copy editor of Cabot Cove Insider; Doug Treyz, dentist, and his wife Tina; Jack and Marilou Decker, publishers of Cabot Cove Insider; Peter and Roberta Walters, owners of the radio station; Horace Teller, publisher of Cabot Cove News; Doris Sitar, assistant manager at Cabot Cove Savings Bank; Dmitri, owner of local taxi company; Phil Wick, field manager of the phone company; John St. Clair, professor of business law at Cabot Cove Community College;
   4. Sheriff Metzger’s office staff & other law enforcement: Deputy Andy Jenks; Deputy Jack; Rookie Wendell Watson; Deputy Harold; Deputy Jerry; Alfred Gillo, medical examiner; Judge Kaplan; Marie Poutre, dispatcher;
   5. Jessica Fletcher’s family: Grady Fletcher, nephew that she and her late-husband Frank raise, his wife Donna and child Frank;
   6. We continue to see Mort Metzger’s wife being called as 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. Not sure when Bain changed it back to Adele since I have a few more books to go before I reach the 50th book, but perhaps the readers made him change it back.
   7. From the 9th book, Murder on the QE2: Mary Ward has been a prominent character in this book. Will she resurface again?
   8. 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?
   9. 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.
   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.
3. Grammatical / Character / Plot / Geographical / Historical / Mythological Errors:
   1. On Pg. 29, Margaret actually gets irked by the reporter Winston Wallace and calls him “That devil”. But on Pg. 129, Jessica calls Margaret and Winston to be friends. That is contradictory for sure.
   2. On Pg. 196, Line 10 from bottom, a missing opening quote before “Mr. Ladington”.