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Stars: 4 / 5
Recommendation: A surprising ending that the author manages to keep the readers on the edge till the very last few pages. So much to catch up Grady & family too, when we here about them in Proxy mostly. Kudos !
Killer on the Court is the 55th novel in the long-running Murder She Wrote series co-written by Terrie Farley Moran & fictional writer Jessica Fletcher. It was first published on May of 2022.
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.
In this installment, after sending her latest manuscript to her publisher, Jessica heads to NYC to be with her nephew Grady and his family at a beachfront home, she gets embroiled in the murder of Donna’s boss. She has limited time and resources before she can find the killer.
This is the third book under Terrie Farley Moran as the author. And I have to say she has done a good job of retaining Donald Bain’s legacy and I see that the mishaps that Jon Land made have been corrected and we are back to how these books used to look like. She dedicates the book to her daughter Joan Marie Moran.
We are back to Maureen being Mort’s wife in this book. Jon Land had Mort and Adelle remain married. But we saw in Donald Bain’s book that Mort and Adele get divorced and Adele goes back to New York. Mort marries Maureen who becomes his second wife.
In the very first book that Terrie’s pens (#53, Killing in a Koi Pond), she has Jessica attend a writer’s conference in Bethesda, Maryland called “Malice Domestic” before she goes to Columbia, NC visiting her friend. Even though there was a book with the title “Domestic Malice” written by Donald Bain (#28), Terrie continues with that conference name in this book as well.
The author has Jessica reminisce about Jessica’s time in Hamptons when she visited her then publisher Vaughn Buckley and his wife Olga. We saw that story in A Palette for Murder (#7) written by Donald Bain.
Nancy Pollard, is the new publisher for Jessica Fletcher as of this book. I believe Vaughn Buckley is no longer involved for her American Books.
The book however takes a surprising turn when Jessica delves into the world of SEC and money laundering. The killer was most surprising for me. Hadnt had any inclination in that direction at all. Great writing by author Terrie to keep the suspense to the very last few pages. Kudos!
A surprising ending that the author manages to keep the readers on the edge till the very last few pages. So much to catch up Grady & family too, when we here about them in Proxy mostly. Kudos !
Spoiler Alerts:
Grammatical / Character / Plot / Geographical / Historical / Mythological Errors:
On Pg. 241, Line 5, it should be Anya who leads Jessica to Tilly. Not Tilly as mentioned.
Plot Reveals:
Characters we see here:
Courtland Family: Jason Courtland, CEO of Courtland Finance and Investments (Donna’s boss and his wife Linda); Madeline and Juliet, Dennis’ grandkids; Shane, Billy & Karie, Jason’s granddaughters; his sister Edwina Courtland-Young, and husband Tyler Young, and also a member of board of directors; Matilda Courtland, matriarch of Courtland family; Anya Wiggins, Matilda’s companion; Dennis, Jason’s youngest sibling; Billy and Shane, Jason’s grandkids
Others: Tariq, park ranger; Reggie Masterson and Carissa Potter, art teachers at the community center; Julius Machelli, family friend of the Courtlands; Anthony Barlowe, ex-employee; Mrs. Jamie Ingram, community center’s management; Lawrence Torsney, long time client of the Courtlands / aka Agent Josh Keppler from FBI;
Law Enforcement: Officer Lasky; Detective Vincent Tieri; Detective Aisha Kelley; Diego, Julius’ sommelier;
Detective Tieri is a friend of Sherriff Mort Metzger from his time in NYC.
Sub Plots:
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; Eve Simpson, realtor friend with Cabot Cove Realty called Simpson Realty; Ethan Cragg, Cabot Cove’s chief town elder; Susan Shevlin, travel agent and her husband Jim, Current Mayor of Cabot Cove; Charlene Sassi, baker;
Literary contacts and friends: 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.
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, as of #54, Mara has branched out into NH and VT; 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; 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; Dan Andrews, 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; Carl Cragg, Ethan’s cousin and Building inspector; Demetri and his cousin Nick, Cabot Cove Taxi Service; Ideal Molly, Jessica’s long time neighbor; Lavinia Wahl, another friend; Maeve O’Bannon, Jessica’s another neighbor; Dr. Gregory Leung, Cabot Cove Hospital Deputy Administrator; Rosie Santangelo, teaches arts and crafts; Walter Hendon, harbormaster; Sally Thomson, sales associate at Charles Department Store; Margo Linwood, front desk at Hill House; Edward, Library aide; John Martinez, a library patron; Lorna Mason, Library Committee treasurer; Nancy, a newish committee member; Joseph, maitre d’ at Hill House
Sheriff Metzger’s staff & other law enforcement: Deputy Andy Jenks / Broom??; 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; Deputy Muldoon; Deputy Floyd McCallum
Jessica Fletcher’s family: Grady Fletcher, nephew that she and her late-husband Frank raise, his wife Donna and child Frank. Grady plans to open his own accounting firm in book #52.
From the 9th book, Murder on the QE2: Mary Ward has been a prominent character in this book. Will she resurface again?
From the 10th book, Murder in Moscow:
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?
Alexandra Kozhina disappears at the end of the plot. And will she surface in another book?
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.
From the 30th book:
Tom Craig offers Michael Haggerty a book deal to write about his escapades as an undercover British spy.
There is no closure as to who actually kills the person in the first murder.
Will Jennifer Kahn, the alleged jewel thief, walk away free since they could only find circumstantial evidence against her and nothing concrete?
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.
From the 47th book:
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?
Again we don’t see the criminal Armand Dejong’s body found. So did he succumb to the injuries caused by fire or escape?
From the 48th book, Manuscript for Murder:
We come to know that Mort was in Vietnam that we had never heard either on TV show or the earlier books.
From the 51st book, The Murder of Twelve:
Author Land gives considerable mystery to Seamus McGilray’s character. I wonder if he resurfaces in a future book.
Towards the end of the book, Mort jokes that Jessica should run for mayor. Hmm…something to look forward to I suppose.
From the 54th book, Debonair in Death:
Long time friend and Cabot Cove Gazette’s editor, Evelyn Phillips leaves Cabot Cove and Dan Andrews replaces her. She might be in Baltimore or Chicago.
Also Deputy Andy’s full name become Andy Broom vs Andy Jenkins.
Galavant Reflections 