To me, 'Murder, she wrote' is the quintessential cozy mystery. If you like the tv-series (like me), you'll enjoy this book (even though the unraveling is a bit far-fetched). ( )

This story was a serious disappointment, mostly because its the first mystery set in Cabot Cove and yet the story had very little to do with the town itself. The local town mansion has been sold by the absentee heir, and it is turned into the Worrell Institute for Creativity, a supposed artists colony designed to help nurture fledgling artists of every stripe: writers, artists, composers, dancers, etc. A group of super-sketchy psychiatrists run the facility, where people start killing themselves, including a long-time friend of Jessica's, which draws her into the fray. Honestly, that would've been interesting enough without making it into some sort of super-sekrit CIA mindcontrolling experimental colony gone awry. Having read this book before, I'd obviously blocked that bit out of my mind, and for good reason. It is too much ridiculousness. I'm glad I started in the middle of this series, because these first few books have been eyeroll-inducing. Bleh.

The good part of this book is that novel-only Cabot Cove is slowly coming to life. This is the introduction of Mara's Luncheonette, which replaces Loretta's Beauty Parlor as the hub of activity and gossip central. This is also the introduction of Jake's Taxi Service, which ferries Jessica around town since she doesn't drive. Charlene Sassi has opened her bakery as well. We're introduced to Sybil Stewart, the town's mayor, and a poor substitute for Sam IMO. Her character is a bit of a contradiction, an oily politician who opposes Jessica at every turn and yet is still considering charming by her. Yuck.

Also on the upside, Mort seems more like the Mort of the TV show. He's still speaking Mainish instead of NYC, but at least he's not Amos Tupper in disguise. He and Seth play a surprisingly small role in this story, considering it is set in Cabot Cove.

The inconsistencies I noticed in this book are the following:
*Jessica claims that she is a faithful player of the Maine lottery.
*Jessica says that she lived in big cities as a young person and intimates that she "retired" to Cabot Cove.
*Jessica doesn't have any teaching experience and is uncomfortable lecturing in front of large groups.
*Jessica claims to have been born in Farn, New Hampshire.
*Jessica says that she originally went to college intending to major in meteorology, but that the math intimidated her and she became an English major instead.

In the excerpt from the next novel in the back, Jessica claims that she's never jogged a day in her life. Really?! *sigh*

The first book I ever read in this series was #11, [book:A Little Yuletide Murder|334381], which was also set in Cabot Cove (which is the reason why I picked it up, in fact). I certainly hope the first ten books aren't all growing pains to get to the point of that consistency! ( )

While I found this installment a bit far fetched in its conclusion, I can't help but to be charmed as always by Jessica Fletcher and her lifestyle. Still a great pleasure read. ( )

This one had a much different feel than the other three that I've read but I really liked it! ( )

It could be a reasonably good story but I could not stand the crappy writing. I gave up after 5 pages.