A Palette for Murder: A Murder, She Wrote Mystery by Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain

                I have always found Jessica Fletcher’s life exciting.  Minus the murders, of course.  She’s a successful author, with great friends, and the ability to travel the world.  Too bad murders keep getting in the way of all the fun.

                All mystery writer Jessica Fletcher wants to do is spend some time by herself improving her art skills.  It is a plan that fails miserably when the model Jessica is sketching dies right in front of the class.  With no one seeming to be upset about Miki Dorsey’s death, Jessica takes it on herself to find out whatever she can about the young woman.                        

                While looking into who Miki was, Jessica finds herself also having to track down the sketch she was making in her art class.  In all the commotion of finding Miki dead, it was stolen.  The sketch is not of Miki, but a male nude model.  What someone will want to do with the sketch is what worries Jessica.

                A young journalist, Jo Ann Forbes, agrees to help Jessica look for the sketch.  At first Jo Ann only does this because she wants a story from Jessica, but in the process the two women end up becoming friends.  This friendship is why Jessica has a hard time when Jo Ann turns up dead.  With two young women murdered, it is even more important to figure out who is killing people and why.

                With this book it was easy to tell the age of it.  There was such an uproar over Jessica sketching a nude male model, when in my experience that is a common practice when studying art.  I can only guess that maybe at one time it wasn’t, and that’s why the subject matter of the sketch was such a controversial thing.

                The craziness over the stolen sketch had me feeling very badly for Jessica.  All she is trying to do is explore a new creative avenue and someone tries to exploit it.  Then there are all those who repeatedly tell Jessica she should give up on her art and only concentrate on writing.  As though a person can only have one interest in life. 

People are allowed to have as many interests as they like.  It’s usually a good thing if they do.  There is something healthy about having something other than work to concentrate on.  The fact that Jessica’s friends and associates are resistant to her doing that is very disconcerting.