Murder, She Wrote: Killer on the Court by Jessica Fletcher & Terrie Farley Moran
About MSW: Killer on the Court
Murder, She Wrote: Killer on the Court
Cozy Mystery 55th in Series
Berkley (May 17, 2022)
Hardcover : 288 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593333659
ISBN-13 : 978-0593333655
Kindle ASIN : B09CYHPQ54
Jessica Fletcher’s sunny beach vacation with her nephew’s family takes a dark turn in this new installment in the USA Today bestselling series.
Jessica is delighted when her nephew Grady invites her to spend a few days with his family in an oceanside New York bungalow. She packs her bags and heads down to the city, ready to spend some quality time with Grady, his wife, Donna, and their young son, Frank.
But the morning after Jessica’s arrival, Donna finds her boss dead on a tennis court, and Jessica’s dreams of a relaxing visit are quashed. Everyone in the small beachside community is a suspect, and the local authorities—headed by an old colleague of Cabot Cove sheriff Mort Metzger—have asked that no one leave town. Will Jessica be able find a killer and salvage the rest of her trip?
My Review
Author Jessica Fletcher is thrilled when she sends the final draft of her manuscript to her publisher. With the deadline behind her, Jessica can now relax. She’s delighted when her nephew Grady invites her to spend time at a beach bungalow in New York. Jessica is excited to spend quality time with Grady’s family, including his adorable ten year old son.
It doesn’t take long before Jessica finds herself right in the middle of a possible murder. Grady’s wife, Donna, discovers her boss dead in a freak accident on the tennis court. Although Jessica doesn’t want to get involved, she sees how upsetting this is for her family. She quickly investigates on her own and finds the victim had quite a number of enemies. Jessica plans to investigate each one as Donna becomes a suspect too. No way will Jessica let her family become suspects in this gruesome crime.
This is #55 in the Jessica Fletcher mystery series. I haven’t read any of them before, but I was familiar with the TV show. I wasn’t a regular watcher but I knew about it. So, I had no trouble jumping right into reading this series. I really don’t think it’s necessary to read them all since the mystery is contained in this book, there are no continuing threads and no relationships that I was confused about. I think it works well as a standalone as well as part of a series.
Jessica spends her time in this book balancing her family life and the mystery. It felt as if I was on vacation at the beach, too. I really liked Jessica and her family. They are very well written and felt realistic. Although I have to admit, there were a few times I wanted Jessica to get back to the mystery and less scenes with her young nephew and his activities. Sometimes I thought he was just too good to be true. Perhaps a bit too well behaved 😀
The storyline kept me guessing. I kept changing my mind about who did it. There were several different suspects to choose from. The story wrapped up quite nicely. I’ve read other books, from other series, by Terri Farley Moran, and I’ve always enjoyed her writing style. This one did not disappoint.
I’ll be checking out more books in this series. If the rest of the books are anything like this one, they are filled with charm and are light hearted. The perfect way to spend an afternoon.
For reading challenges:
Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 2022
NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2022
FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.
About the Authors
Along with Jessica Fletcher, Terrie Farley Moran co-writes the Murder She Wrote mystery series including Murder, She Wrote: Killer on the Court. She is the author of the Read 'Em and Eat cozy mystery series and also co-writes the Scrapbooking Mysteries with Laura Childs. Recipient of both the Agatha and the Derringer Awards, Moran has published numerous mystery short stories. The only thing Terrie enjoys more than wrangling mystery plots into submission is hanging out with any or all of her seven grandchildren.
Thanks for a lovely review. I am delighted to be here again!!
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I never got into this show. I'm guessing the books are much better.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ♥
I never watched the show, but I should give the books a try. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed this - especially since it was your first in the series! While I liked it this wasn't my favorite so I think you'll really enjoy some of the other books. I've really liked the other books written by Moran in the series especially.
ReplyDeleteThere is something comforting about Jessica Fletcher, even with the murders
ReplyDelete