Manuscript for Murder: A Murder, She Wrote Mystery

Land’s farfetched second entry in the Murder, She Wrote franchise (after A Date with Murder) takes mystery author Jessica Fletcher from Cabot Cove, Maine, to New York City, where her publisher, Lane Barfield, is eager to tell her about his latest acquisition: Benjamin Tally’s first novel, The Affair. Lane says it’s the best political thriller he’s ever read, and he gives Jessica the manuscript to get her opinion. The next morning, at her Manhattan apartment, Jessica turns on the TV and learns that Lane is dead, an apparent suicide. On the train ride home, Jessica reads The Affair and realizes that Tally must have insider information about the current U.S. president’s family, which includes her friend, First Lady Stephanie Albright. Jessica later goes to Washington, D.C., where she meets with Stephanie, President Robert Albright, and a couple of top aides, who are worried that Tally knows some family secrets that could be potentially damaging to the president. That Jessica winds up an unlikely action hero won’t daunt series fans. (Nov.)