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Stars: 3 / 5
Recommendation: It was simple but very fun, and shows some gusto with Jessica, overall it has been an easy, fast read with light murder mixing theater and non-theater people.
Murder Backstage is the 58th novel in the long-running Murder She Wrote series co-written by Terrie Farley Moran & fictional writer Jessica Fletcher. It was first published on April of 2024.
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.
Since there was only one book written in 2023 (I guess on account of settling Lansbury’s estate), we see three books in 2024. This is the second one in 2024. Here Terrie thanks her grandchildren. Wonder who would be next.
In this installment, we get meet Jessica’s look-alike cousin Emma Macgill, a famous theater actress, when she invites Jessica to watch her show with famous Derek Braverman in Canada. Naturally she takes Dr. Seth Hazlitt and the Metzgers along with her. However, who expected her to land in the middle of a murder, right? Duh! So she feels obligated to solve the murder so her cousin’s opening night can go on as planned.
As always I am amazed at how Jessica tolerates people who irritate her. Be it Evelyn Phillips, ex-editor of Cabot Cove Gazette or the very vivacious and unnecessary louder Miss Mary Jo Simard in this book. She even tolerates Mary Joe enough to give her a one hr show of book signing event, even though she was not comfortable.
This was a very light and a quick read. I finished it in one go while flying back to my home, after visiting my friend in Foley, AL. Comes back to my comment below.
As mentioned before in my previous book, I am comparing Terrie’s writing to Nora Roberts writing after 2008. Nora Roberts novels changed the pace from being strong and deep for her characters in her books or plot prior to 2009, since 2009 her book have become more placid, serene and although deep less complex in both plot and her characters. I feel the same thing with Terrie Moran. As much as these are cozy mysteries, Donald Bain’s books are a little more filled with complexity to the plot and characters, while Terrie’s are more serene.
In real life Angela Lansbury aka Jessica Fletcher had acted in the 1966 Broadway musical Mame that gave her the much needed fame and also a Tony Award. However, in this book we see that her cousin Emma who is an actress, was a smashing star at the London revival of Mame. Author to bring that part of Angela from real life to fiction. 🙂
Again, Terrie has really captured the essence of Jessica Fletcher that we know her from the TV show as well as Donald Bain’s books. She stuck to classic format and kept the supporting characters also as close as possible. It was simple but very fun, and shows some gusto with Jessica, overall it has been an easy, fast read with light murder mixing theater and non-theater people.
Spoiler Alerts:
Plot Reveals:
Characters we see here: The Derek Braverman Revue’s stars and staff: Director Alan Hughes and his wife Rosalie, the Producer; Derek Braverman, the lead actor; Quinton Chabot, bartender and part-time stagehand; Frederick the Great and Gracelyn Lapointe, magic act duo; Dennis Oliver; assistant director; Eileen McCarthy, Emma’s understudy; Jorge Escarra, Derek’s Canadian friend; Lene Gadue, costumer; Nicholas “Nick” Dufond, stage manager; Spencer Smith and Red Pompey, stagehands;
Others: Rob Langford, limo driver; Mary Jo Simard, hotel concierge; Iris Crenshaw and her sister-in-law Vivian Zhang, Jessica Fletcher’s fandom duo; Panuk, bell captain; Armand, desk clerk;
Edmonton Police Service: Inspector Radigan; Sergeant Ahnah Enook; Constable Cloutier; Constable Alexander; Constable Michaud;
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 second 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; Nancy Pollard, Jessica’s new publisher as of #55;
Other Cabot Cove characters: Josh, the mailman; Jed Richardson, bush pilot and owner of Jed’s Flying Service, and his wife Alicia, 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; Lean, Joe’s assistant; 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 Molloy, 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; Pierce Collymore, 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; Coreen Wilson, Loretta’s longtime assistant;
Sheriff Metzger’s staff & other law enforcement: Deputy Andy Jenks / Broom/ Bloom??; 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?
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: Deputy Andy’s full name become Andy Broom vs Andy Jenkins.
Galavant Reflections 