Features The Big Thrill Recommends: MURDER, SHE WROTE: FIT FOR MURDER by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran

The Big Thrill Recommends: MURDER, SHE WROTE: FIT FOR MURDER by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran

Recommendation By Susan Santangelo

Jessica “J.B.” Fletcher is home in Cabot Cove, Maine, hard at work plotting a new mystery. Her concentration is interrupted by the unexpected appearance of Evelyn Phillips, the former editor of the Cabot Cove Gazette. Evelyn had turned over her job at the paper to fellow newsman Dan Andrews over a year ago so she could travel and see the world.

Not wasting any time exchanging pleasantries, Evelyn announces she’s come back because there’s a serious problem in town, and she wants Jessica to help her fix it. The problem has to do with a mutual friend, Bertha Mae Cormier. Evelyn and Bertha Mae have kept in touch, and Evelyn claims that the elderly woman’s recent letters are getting very weird.

Bertha Mae raves in her letters about having a younger, more positive outlook on life. She credits this change in attitude to following Perfection, a new yoga, meditation, and exercise program. She’s also madly in love with the young and hunky Martin Terranova, the owner of Perfection, and considers marrying him. Martin recently bought the property next door to Bertha Mae’s and runs Perfection in his pool house.

Evelyn and Jessica sign up to take a Perfection class and see what it’s about. They discover that the majority of Martin’s students are female senior citizens, and his favorite student is clearly Bertha Mae. Jessica suspects that Martin is an emotional and financial predator who targets elderly women, especially when Bertha Mae says she is going to bankroll Martin’s planned expansion of Perfection.

Just as Jessica begins checking out Martin’s background, he’s murdered in his pool house. Bertha Mae is inconsolable, and Jessica realizes she must identify Martin’s killer to save her friend’s sanity.

Moran has delivered a truly satisfying read that cozy lovers—and fans of the long-running television series—will devour. She and Jessica make a great team, and I hope there are many more “collaborations” in the future.

MURDER, SHE WROTE: FIT FOR MURDER by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran