Leafing Through Pages – Murder in Red (Murder, She Wrote # 49)

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Stars: 2 / 5

Recommendation: This was my least favorite of Jon Land’s books as he continuously misses the mark. The longtime characters seems more sarcastic than usual. It still lacks something that Donald Bain had infused so well. Perhaps future books may be better by Jon Land.

Murder in Red is the 49th novel in the long-running Murder She Wrote series co-written by Jon Land & fictional writer Jessica Fletcher. It was first published on May of 2019.

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 October 2024, 59 books have been written in this series. They are mostly written in first person narration.

A new medical care center has opened on the outskirts of Cabot Cove, that specializes in medical treatments that no one practices anywhere in the world. Despites several doubts and questions, people seem to be joining the care center to make them better in looks wise and may be health wise. However, when two people die, even though the circumstances are natural to look on the face, Seth’s comments convinces Jessica to look into those deaths, and may be get a shot at shutting the place down, before she is shut down permanently.

In the 47th book A Date With Murder, I noticed that Land forgot that Jessica has fondness for George Sutherland, Scotland Yard Inspector, that we had seen him in several of her books penned by Donald Bain. He has Jessica reminisce about George in this book. Perhaps feedback was provided.

I was wondering if Jon Land would bring George Sutherland back in his books. He did indeed bring him in this book. George has a significant presence in Jessica’s investigation although there is a kind of pain involved. Nothing a pain that wont bring two people closer, but Jessica still doesn’t take on George as her beau in the end even though she goes through lot of heartache with him.

And so does Harry McGraw make an appearance. I never understood why the authors made him very cynical and sometimes rude in the book as opposed to how he was in the TV series. Even they make Sherriff Mort frustrated with Jessica and at times sarcastic too. He was more open to her involvement in the TV series. In fact when he gets frustrated he calls her Mrs. Fletcher otherwise she is Jessica to him.

This story reminds me of one episode on Murder, She Wrote TV series, Armed Response from Season 1 (Episode 19) where Jessica while recovering from a fractured leg at a hospital investigates the murder of a doctor.

Jessica also takes us back to one of her old case where she is almost run down by a vehicle and gets her bike destroyed. I believe it was three books or so before this.

This was my least favorite of Jon Land’s books as he continuously misses the mark. The longtime characters seems more sarcastic than usual. It still lacks something that Donald Bain had infused so well. Perhaps future books may be better by Jon Land.

Spoiler Alerts:

1. Grammatical / Character / Plot / Geographical / Historical / Mythological Errors:
   1. On Pg. 71, Line 1 it should be “…of those pictures.”

1. Plot Reveals:
   1. Characters we see here: Dr. Charles Clifton, Director of The Clifton Clinic and Clifton Care Partners; Mutt and Jeff, part of Zoning Board; Tripp Van Dorn Jessup, song of Mimi Van Dorn who gets murdered; Fred Cooper, Tripp’s lawyer; Frank, security guard at Cabot Cove Hospital; Amy Billings, chief ICU Nurse; Arthur Noble, FDA field agent; Jane Willow, nurse; Barnes, State police captain; Jeffrey Archibald, CEO of LGX Pharmaceuticals, and his wife Allison; Tom Grimes, Police Chief of Marblehead; Alvin McCandless, ex-police chief of Marblehead;
   2. George Sutherland is diagnosed with Pheochromocytomas, for now benign tumors of the adrenal gland. But we come to know in the end that he makes it up as part of undercover investigation. Nonetheless Jessica went thru a lot of heartache.
   3. Jessica’s maiden name is MacGills per this book, not sure if it was the same in the TV show.

1. Sub Plots:
   1. Friends of Jessica Fletcher: Dr. Seth Hazlitt; George Sutherland, senior inspector with Scotland Yard, formerly with British Special Air Service; Morton “Mort” Metzger, Cabot Cove Sherriff and his wife Maureen / Adele ?; Eve Simpson, realtor friend with Cabot Cove Realty aa Simpson Realty; Sam Booth, mayor of Cabot Cove; Ethan Cragg, Cabot Cove’s chief town elder.
   2. Literary contacts and friends: her American 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; her British Publisher Griffin Semple, son of her original publisher Archibald Semple; Herb Mason, her accountant.
   3. Other Cabot Cove characters: Josh, the mailman; Jed Richardson, bush pilot and owner of Jed’s Flying Service, and his wife Alicia / Barbara?, His brother Harvey, owns the local Gas-and-Go; Mara, owns Mara’s Luncheonette; Hank Weathers, a homeless war vet; Seamus McGilray, manager of Hill House Hotel per the 51st book / Thomas Wilkerson per the 47th book; Richard “Dick” Mann, Fire Chief; Charlene Sassi, baker; Susan Shevlin, travel agent and her husband Jim, 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 Old Thyme 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, and investment advisor, and his wife Ellen; Pat Hitchcock, Cabot Cove’s popular nurse and teacher?; 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; Richard Jenkins & Sal Marterella, city council members; Jack Wilson, the Veterinarian, and his wife Tobe; Evelyn Phillips, editor of Cabot Cove Gazette; Maniram Chatterjee & his wife Hita, jewelry shop owners; Sanford Teller, public relations agency; Lee, postmistress; Loretta Spiegel, owns beauty salon; Barnaby Longshoot; Brad Crandall; SeaBasket, a supermarket; Father Donald Barnes; Becky Thayer, owner of Cabot Cove Catering; Doris Ann, librarian; Ansell Hodges, homeless veteran; Clara, Seth’s longtime receptionist;
   4. Sheriff Metzger’s staff & other law enforcement: Deputy Andy Jenks; Deputy Jack; Rookie Wendell Watson and his mother Gloria; Deputy Harold; Deputy Jerry; Deputy Evan; Deputy Chip; Alfred Gillo, medical examiner; Judge Kaplan; Marie Poutre, dispatcher; Officer Edgar; Gladys, a civilian dispatcher; Deputy Billy Simms; NYPD lieutenant with Major Case Squad Artie Gelber.
   5. Jessica Fletcher’s family: Grady Fletcher, nephew that she and her late-husband Frank raise, his wife Donna and child Frank.
   6. We know the reason as to why Mort Metzger’s wife is called Maureen as of the 20th book A Slaying in Savannah. Mort and Adele get divorced and Adele goes back to New York. Mort marries Maureen who becomes his second wife. All of Donald Bain’s novels starting 20th book have this scenario. However Jon Land novels they remain married and his wife is back to being called Adele. However, I distinctly remember her name being changed to Adele in the 50th book, A Time for Murder.
   7. I remember reading one of the later books (and couldn’t figure out which one was that) where we see Sam Booth as the mayor of Cabot Cove. However, since I started reading the series from the beginning, looks like the mayor of Cabot Cove is Jim Shevlin. I wonder if Sam Booth surfaces as I remember from way back read.
   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. In the 27th book Coffee, Tea or Murder? we see that Jed’s wife is named Barbara. But up until then she was named Alicia. Now that Bain is gone and Land has taken over, will there be a back story or will he just leave it as one of the names without explanation.
   11. From the 30th book:
       1. Tom Craig offers Michael Haggerty a book deal to write about his escapades as an undercover British spy.
       2. There is no closure as to who actually kills the person in the first murder.
       3. Will Jennifer Kahn, the alleged jewel thief, walk away free since they could only find circumstantial evidence against her and nothing concrete?
   12. From the 37th book: If I ever try the sidecar recipe I will have to post it again referring the 37th book.  But Angela Lansbury did print a cookbook based on the food items shared either in the episodes or by characters of the series.
   13. From the 47th book:
       1. Mort jokes that Jessica is a magnet for murder; and Jessica quips that can she use that as a title. We know that this title has never been done so far in her books or the fictional ones she wrote on the TV show. May be a future book?
       2. Again we don’t see the criminal Armand Dejong’s body found. So did he succumb to the injuries caused by fire or escape?
   14. From the 48th book, Manuscript for Murder:
       1. We come to know that Mort was in Vietnam that we had never heard either on TV show or the earlier books.
   15. 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.