Snowy With a Chance of Murder
Murder, She Wrote, #60
by
Jessica Fletcher and Barbara Early
Fun addition to this long-running, much-enjoyed cozy mystery series.
Snowy With a Chance of Murder is the 60th book in the long-running and much-loved cozy mystery series based on the 1984-1996 hit American television drama Murder, She Wrote, featuring the exploits of mystery novelist and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher. In this latest tale, Jessica is laid up at home in Cabot Cove after a serious slip and fall down her front porch steps, and her injuries are such that she requires the daily assistance of a home health caregiver. With her next book manuscript on her to-do list, the aide prepares a workspace for Jessica at a front window of her home, but she soon finds herself distracted, a la “Rear Window,” by the dark-of-night arrival of a stranger who turns out to be renting the home directly across the street.
Jessica Fletcher returns in this Cabot Cove-set mystery that swiftly becomes a murder investigation. She is joined by all the usual friends and acquaintances who make this series so comfortable and familiar despite being penned by a new-to-this-series author. I felt like Jessica’s homebound situation and the agitation it caused her by restricting her abilities and increasing her reliance on others, such as the caregiver Alice Myers, aided in this transition to the new writer. I also felt Jessica displayed a more ready and lighter sense of humor than in the past, which, in spite of her circumstances, had me smiling more as well. The early scene with Jessica trying out the motorized wheelchair was almost slapstick and, while perhaps out of character, had me smiling all the same.
The plot required a bit of a build-up, so the murder didn’t occur until well into the story. Still, enough is going on with the setup and Jessica herself, such as her trip into Mara’s to put the quietus on the outlandish rumors regarding her accident, that this was okay with me. A couple of side storylines were established as well, and I enjoyed how they evolved and their resolutions played out, making this book a welcome and fun addition to the Murder, She Wrote oeuvre.
I recommend SNOWY WITH A CHANCE OF MURDER to cozy mystery fans, especially fans of the series.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.