Killer on the court
(Book)

Even on vacation, Jessica Fletcher can't escape murder. Having just sent her latest manuscript to her editor with three hours to spare, Jessica is free to join her beloved nephew, Grady, his wife, Donna, and their son, Frank, in a Rockaway Beach vacation cottage. In connection with her unexpected promotion at Courtland Finance and Investments, Donna has been rewarded with a month at one of the cottages owned by the Courtland family. When Jessica meets the family--including the matriarch, Matilda, whose oldest son, Jason, is the CEO--she can't help noticing undercurrents among its competitive members. Jessica and young Frank's great time at the beach and the Courtland-sponsored art classes ends when Donna finds Jason's dead body on the tennis court, still being bombarded by high-speed tennis balls. Jessica is convinced that Jason's death was no accident, but detectives Vincent Tieri and Aisha Kelly, who clearly aren't familiar with her resume, aren't impressed with her thoughts or actions. Only when Tieri talks to his old friend Mort Metzger, the sheriff of Cabot Cove, Maine, does he start taking Jessica seriously. Although Jessica continues to spend time with Frank and enjoy the beach community, she also takes advantage of her opportunities to dig up the dirt on the Courtland family and their business, which may be in more trouble than they let on. A unique murder method and welcome local color make this one of Jessica's best adventures. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In the latest addition to this USA Today best-selling series, based on the hit television show featuring Jessica Fletcher, Jessica gets into the act when her favorite technician at the local nail salon is accused of murdering Nelson Penzell, co-owner of a fancy-schmancy art and treasure store in Cabot Cove, ME. Coauthor Moran is just getting involved in the long-running series.

In Fletcher and Moran's routine latest Murder, She Wrote mystery (after Death on the Emerald Isle), writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher is at work on a new novel when former Cabot Cove Gazette editor Evelyn Phillips returns to the small Maine town to check in on her and Jessica's mutual friend, Bertha Mae Cormier. After Evelyn and Jessica visit Bertha Mae, they become less concerned with the addled letters she's been sending to Evelyn and more concerned that her young, handsome next-door neighbor, Martin Terranova, is taking advantage of her. Bertha Mae is clearly smitten with the decades-younger fitness junkie, and her friends come to suspect he's a serial predator intent on manipulating older people into granting him access to her finances. When Martin is found murdered, Evelyn's public distrust of him makes her the prime suspect. Jessica, however, believes one of Martin's other elderly victims has taken him down, and sets out to clear her friend's name. Fans will know exactly what they're getting into, but newbies may balk at the surplus of overdescribed tea times and the stilted dialogue. It's a forgettable installment in a venerable series. Agent: Kim Lionetti, BookEnds Literary. (Jan.)