Leafing Through Pages – Destination Murder (Murder, She Wrote # 20)

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Stars: 4 / 5

Recommendation: Evoking several memories of my own of train rides, this book certainly keeps the reader engaged while taking them through a juicy murder mystery. There are plethora of suspects but still I could fathom a guess on who could be the killer, but the motive came as a surprise. Another successful cozy mystery.

Destination Murder is the 20th novel in the long-running Murder She Wrote series co-written by Donald Bain & fictional writer Jessica Fletcher. It was first published on September of 2004. This time the murder is set on a rail tour that Jessica takes as a guest with the Track and Rail Club. A murder does not however deter the club members to try to make the best of the tour. However, Jessica needs to find the killer before someone else gets derailed.

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. After Donald Bain passed away in 2017, Jon Land alone took the baton and 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.

Although the title of the 9th book, Murder on the QE2, reminded me of Agatha Christie’s Murder on Orient Express, I believe this book comes closer to that plot. We are on a rail tour in Canada, and then there is a murder that occurs on the train and all the club members are suspects. Just like a Christie book.

We get details of the beautiful landscape and scenes along the rail tour that Jessica takes that begins in Vancouver up to British Columbia on the historic Whistler Northwind. Although the details were elaborate and lengthy, this time around they were enjoyable.

Pity that this tourist train was operated only for two seasons – 2001 and 2002. Interesting though that this book was written in 2004. I wonder if author Bain had checked for its existence before using it in the book. Wouldn’t it be prudent to use another train that was in existence for real? He does mention in the book thru characters who say that this would be the last trip for this train.

Despite the misrepresented fact, I still loved this book. Perhaps because I have an inclination to take one of these rail tours soon. One pet peeve I want to add though. I wish author Bain stuck to either using the last names or first names of the character after their initial introduction of full name is done. It confuses when he is going back and forth on that. I had seen this in other books as well.

Evoking several memories of my own of train rides, this book certainly keeps the reader engaged while taking them through a juicy murder mystery. There are plethora of suspects but still I could fathom a guess on who could be the killer, but the motive came as a surprise. Another successful cozy mystery.

Spoiler Alerts:

1. Plot Reveals:
   1. Track & Rail Club members: Hank and Deedee Crocker, from Pittsburgh; Junior and Maeve Pinckney, from Atlanta; Alvin Blevin, club President, his wife Theodora & step son Benjamin Vail; Winston Rendell, from England; Marilyn Whitmore & her daughter Samantha, from Vancouver; Marty & Gail Goldfinch, from Hartford, Connecticut.
   2. Staff on the Train: Bruce, guest services supervisor; Jenna C; Callie, bar tender; Karl, kitchen helper.
   3. Other characters: Detective Christian Marshall, Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Eugene “Gene” Driscoll, reporter; Detective Joe Jillian, Vancouver PD.
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; Paulette, Matt’s assistant.
   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; Dr. Jennifer “Jenny” Countryman, Seth’s partner; Reginald “Reggie” Weems, insurance agent.
   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. Even though Jessica is giving a guest lecture, she is not a full-fledged professor. Yet she is addressed as a “Professor” several times in the book. In the TV show she was never addressed that way. I think Bain deviated from the norm but this was false portrayal of the character.
   2. On Pg. 181, Line 8 from bottom, the closing quote is missing.