Manhattans & Murder: A Murder, She Wrote Mystery by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain

              I’m curious about whether or not Large Print books abbreviate the story from the regular print version.  The reason I am wondering this is because some of the chapters in the Large Print version I had of Manhattans & Murder seemed really short.  If the book had been in regular print, the chapters would have been even shorter.  Since I only have access to the Large Print version, I’m not able to compare, although I would be very interested to find out. 

                Mystery writer Jessica Fletcher is on a whirlwind promotional tour in New York City.  As it is Christmas season, it’s not a surprise to see Santa Clauses on the street.  What Jessica doesn’t expect is to recognize one of them.  Even though the man is hidden behind a beard, Jessica recognizes one of the Santa Clauses as Waldo Morse, a Cabot Cove native.  He’s also a man who got into trouble with drug runners and went into witness protection.  Which is probably part of the reason why Waldo is not thrilled that Jessica knows who he is.  Still, he agrees to meet with her the next day.

                When Jessica arrives at the appointed place and time, she ends up witnessing Waldo’s murder.  While no one else on the street is willing to say they saw anything, Jessica insists on telling the police what she witnessed.  The police don’t seem particularly interested in what Jessica has to say, but the media certainly does.

                After reporter Bobby Johnson reveals that Jessica was a witness to the murder, the media begin to hound her.  The situation gets so bad that Jessica has to change her living arrangements to staying with her friends to being at a hotel.  This does not keep the media from finding her, though, as they turn up at her book signings and figure out the hotel where she is staying.

                Still, despite the difficulty of moving around the media, Jessica becomes determined to figure out who killed Waldo and why.  Unfortunately, the process of doing this involves more danger and bodies along the way.

                It’s funny how easily I could tell how old this book is.  There were terms used that most people would not even think of using today, but at the time no one thought twice about.  Also, the fact that Jessica so easily turned down an interview with Oprah Winfrey seemed very strange.  Today, I think that would be a much harder interview to turn down.

                Something else I noticed was how much wilier Jessica is in the TV show.  In the book she confided and trusted people she didn’t know well very quickly, giving them information best kept to herself.  That didn’t usually happen in the TV show from what I remember.  This makes me curious to see how much the books and the TV show will continue to be different, or if they will start to come closer together as the books go on.  Since I enjoy the mysteries and will continue with the series, I plan on finding out.