A review by staticdisplay
Gin and Daggers by Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain

2.0

there are 11 seasons of MSW and I've seen each episode probably 2-4 times which is a huge accomplishment considering how relatively short my life has been and the amount of other things I've also done with my time. what I'm really saying is that I would expect someone writing these books to have done essentially the same thing but more, and yet it seems like in this first novel the writer has maybe read a few episode summaries on IMDB. Sheriff Metzger is "Morton." the Jessica Fletcher character is written as judgmental and fairly conventional - the closest she came to herself on the show is when she says "I have a gimmick" because she's being laughed at for her age in the sitting room of an "exotic dancer" audition. meanwhile, we're inundated with characters like Lucas Darling, who comes across as pushy, needy, and intrusive - the kind of character JB would be rolling her eyes at on the show, yet in this novel she continues to indulge his bizarre attempts to insinuate himself into her life ("we're like family"). I mean he read like someone who would make a wig out of your hair and then wear it while assuming your identity after he murders you. the flirtations with George Sutherland are way too direct. Mort and Seth would never fly to England like that. everything was just kind of off. the mystery itself was fairly interesting but buried under all this other nonsense. I've read a lot of this series, out of order, and I think it does get better over time.