Murder at the Powderhorn Ranch

April 1, 2019
When Mimi Van Dorn, a well-liked resident of Cabot Cove, Maine, collapses and dies without regaining consciousness in Land’s strong third contribution to the Murder, She Wrote franchise (after 2018’s Manuscript for Murder), mystery author Jessica Fletcher, who was a good friend of Mimi’s, notices some anomalies and is soon assisting Sheriff Mort Metzger in his investigation. She is suspicious of the Clifton Clinic, the new private hospital in town, where Mimi recently went for a simple procedure. Ads for the clinic tout its “cutting-edge treatments” and “regenerative medicine,” but the hospital’s director, Charles Clifton, refuses to answer her questions. When Jessica’s former beau, Scotland Yard inspector George Sutherland, checks into the same facility, she’s determined to ensure that he doesn’t also meet an early death. In her search for answers, Jessica plunges into the intricacies of clinical trials and eventually goes on a fact-finding excursion to Washington, D.C. The complex plot builds to a clever, if foreseeable, resolution. Land does a seamless job of maintaining the quality of this popular, long-running series.

March 16, 2020
It’s winter, and Cabot Cove, Maine, is expecting the blizzard of the century in Land’s solid fifth Murder, She Wrote mystery (after 2019’s A Time for Murder). Before it hits, writer-sleuth Jessica Fletcher, Sheriff Mort Metzger, and family doctor Seth Hazlitt are called to a crime scene—a dead body inside a car. It looks like suicide, but Jessica thinks it’s murder. A second call takes them to an abandoned car. Then the storm arrives, and Jessica returns to the hotel she’s staying at while her house is being renovated. The hotel is bristling with wedding guests consisting of two warring families with secrets to hide. Thanks to sporadic outside contact with the sheriff, Jessica learns the murder and abandoned car from earlier in the day are connected to the wedding party. The stakes rise as someone starts killing the 12 trapped guests one by one. This is very much a throwback to the classic TV show, and Agatha Christie fans will enjoy the And Then There Were None homage. Agent: Robert G. Diforio, D4EO Literary.

September 7, 2020
Land’s satisfying sixth Murder, She Wrote mystery (after The Murder of Twelve) finds writer-sleuth Jessica Fletcher reluctantly agreeing to play Mrs. Claus in the Cabot Cove, Maine, annual Christmas parade, and glad the renovation of her lovely old house is coming to an end. Then workmen digging up her lawn to install a new septic system discover the remains of two bodies, one dating from the late 18th century, as well as a colonial-era oak chest. While Jessica and friends are investigating the scene, Tad Hollenbeck, a reporter for a “tawdry tabloid show... promoting wacko theories,” arrives with his camera crew. He tells the startled Cabot Covians he’s doing a story on their town’s alarming per capita murder rate. A further examination of the evidence does indeed prove that the two bodies have been murdered, and the chest contains documents relating to the founding fathers of Cabot Cove. Then Tad, too, is murdered. Planning for the parade and other Christmas festivities provides counterpoint to the crime solving. This appealing—if murder-prone—world is a splendid place to spend a bit of the holiday season. Agent: Robert G. Diforio, D4EO Literary.