What do you think?
Rate this book
Murder, She Wrote #51
The Murder of Twelve
In the latest entry in this USA Today bestselling series, Jessica Fletcher takes on an Agatha Christie-style mystery when she finds herself stranded in a hotel during a blizzard with twelve strangers and a killer in their midst....
Still staying at the Hill House hotel while her beloved home is being rebuilt, Jessica Fletcher finds herself sharing the space for a weekend with a dozen members of a wedding party who have gathered there for a rehearsal dinner. The families of the bride and groom can't stand each other but have agreed to put aside years of long-simmering tension to celebrate the nuptials.
Unfortunately, weather forecasters underestimated the severity of a storm that turns into a historic blizzard that dumps nearly five feet of snow on Cabot Cove, leaving everyone stranded.
But the hotel guests have bigger things to worry about than bad weather conditions and potential cold feet, because a murderer has shown up ininvited--one who has vowed to take them down one by one....
Still staying at the Hill House hotel while her beloved home is being rebuilt, Jessica Fletcher finds herself sharing the space for a weekend with a dozen members of a wedding party who have gathered there for a rehearsal dinner. The families of the bride and groom can't stand each other but have agreed to put aside years of long-simmering tension to celebrate the nuptials.
Unfortunately, weather forecasters underestimated the severity of a storm that turns into a historic blizzard that dumps nearly five feet of snow on Cabot Cove, leaving everyone stranded.
But the hotel guests have bigger things to worry about than bad weather conditions and potential cold feet, because a murderer has shown up ininvited--one who has vowed to take them down one by one....
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 26, 2020
182 people are currently reading
889 people want to read
About the author
Jessica Fletcher
115 books1,060 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Jessica Fletcher (born Jessica Beatrice MacGill, and writes under the initialed J.B. Fletcher) is a fictional character from the US television series Murder, She Wrote.
In keeping with the spirit of the TV show, a series of official original novels have been written by American ghostwriter Donald Bain and published by the New American Library. The author credit for the novels is shared with the fictitious "Jessica Fletcher." When the first novel in the series, Gin and Daggers, was published in 1989 it included several inaccuracies to the TV series including Jessica driving a car which she could not do as she never learned to drive. Due to fans pointing out the errors, the novel was republished in 2000 with most of the inaccuracies corrected.
Source: Wikipedia
Jessica Fletcher (born Jessica Beatrice MacGill, and writes under the initialed J.B. Fletcher) is a fictional character from the US television series Murder, She Wrote.
In keeping with the spirit of the TV show, a series of official original novels have been written by American ghostwriter Donald Bain and published by the New American Library. The author credit for the novels is shared with the fictitious "Jessica Fletcher." When the first novel in the series, Gin and Daggers, was published in 1989 it included several inaccuracies to the TV series including Jessica driving a car which she could not do as she never learned to drive. Due to fans pointing out the errors, the novel was republished in 2000 with most of the inaccuracies corrected.
Source: Wikipedia
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 255 reviews
November 25, 2025
Channeling heavy And Then There Were None vibes, The Murder of Twelve, the 51st-book in the beloved Murder, She Wrote series, has almost every trope I love in a Cozy Mystery.
This was ridiculously good fun and kept me glued to the pages well into the night!
In this installment, we find Jessica Fletcher calling the Hill House Hotel in Cabot Cover her home.
Her house is currently under a fairly serious renovation due to a house fire and she has been forced to reside at the ritzy local hotel.
On the eve of the blizzard of the Century, guests begin to check in for a destination wedding weekend.
Jessica has her doubts that the wedding will even happen, what with the massive storm front blowing in. Nonetheless, she ends up befriending some of the guests and even gets invited to attend.
The first night includes the rehearsal dinner and even though the bride and groom have yet to arrive, the dinner must go on.
As with many events Jessica has been a part of before, an attempted murder occurs.
As the storm rages outside, bodies start dropping as fast as snowflakes and Jessica needs to put her crime solving abilities to the test!
This was an absolute blast to read. As you begin to learn about the guests for the wedding, you just know it is going to be a juicy conclusion. It did not disappoint.
While I could still tell that this wasn't written by the late and great, Donald Bain, I felt that the new author for the series, Jon Land, is starting to get into a groove with these characters and setting.
Land is an experienced author and I know the more he contributes with this series, the more it will continue to grow with him.
I know that long-time fans of this series will absolutely enjoy this installment.
If you have never read a book in this series, just know, you can start anywhere. These books can be read out of order and this is as good a place to start as any; particularly if you enjoy locked-room mysteries.
Bonus points, if you love stories where the characters become stranded somewhere due to inclement weather.
Oddly specific, I know, but it is a trope I often gravitate towards.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Berkley Publishing, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I have been a fan of this series for decades and will continue to read them as long as they are printed.
A special thank you as well, to the author, Jon Land, for continuing on the tradition and investigatory prowess of Ms. Jessica Fletcher!
This was ridiculously good fun and kept me glued to the pages well into the night!
In this installment, we find Jessica Fletcher calling the Hill House Hotel in Cabot Cover her home.
Her house is currently under a fairly serious renovation due to a house fire and she has been forced to reside at the ritzy local hotel.
On the eve of the blizzard of the Century, guests begin to check in for a destination wedding weekend.
Jessica has her doubts that the wedding will even happen, what with the massive storm front blowing in. Nonetheless, she ends up befriending some of the guests and even gets invited to attend.
The first night includes the rehearsal dinner and even though the bride and groom have yet to arrive, the dinner must go on.
As with many events Jessica has been a part of before, an attempted murder occurs.
As the storm rages outside, bodies start dropping as fast as snowflakes and Jessica needs to put her crime solving abilities to the test!
This was an absolute blast to read. As you begin to learn about the guests for the wedding, you just know it is going to be a juicy conclusion. It did not disappoint.
While I could still tell that this wasn't written by the late and great, Donald Bain, I felt that the new author for the series, Jon Land, is starting to get into a groove with these characters and setting.
Land is an experienced author and I know the more he contributes with this series, the more it will continue to grow with him.
I know that long-time fans of this series will absolutely enjoy this installment.
If you have never read a book in this series, just know, you can start anywhere. These books can be read out of order and this is as good a place to start as any; particularly if you enjoy locked-room mysteries.
Bonus points, if you love stories where the characters become stranded somewhere due to inclement weather.
Oddly specific, I know, but it is a trope I often gravitate towards.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Berkley Publishing, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I have been a fan of this series for decades and will continue to read them as long as they are printed.
A special thank you as well, to the author, Jon Land, for continuing on the tradition and investigatory prowess of Ms. Jessica Fletcher!
May 28, 2020
With a record setting blizzard on the way to Cabot Cove, Maine, Jessica Fletcher is planning to hunker down in her temporary home – the Hill House hotel. Before she can do that, she joins Sheriff Metzger when he gets a call about a man found in his car on the edge of town. What at first looks like a tragic accident is indeed murder. On arriving at the hotel, Jessica learns she will be joined for the weekend by a wedding party. But with the bride and groom missing, tempers begin to flair. Then a dead body appears. Are they trapped with a killer? Is it connected to the man outside of town?
This is another fast-moving mystery that obviously pays homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. I felt it was a bit more of a thriller (minus the language and violence) than a true cozy, but I’m not complaining since I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out what was going to happen next. Much of the book features Jessica and those trapped in the hotel with her, and they are all strong enough characters to carry the story. Unfortunately, the little bit we did see of the recurring characters fell into predictable patterns, although I still enjoyed spending time with them. The writing was so vivid, I felt the cold as I was reading. Any complaints are minor, and I’m happy I picked up this fast-paced book.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
This is another fast-moving mystery that obviously pays homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. I felt it was a bit more of a thriller (minus the language and violence) than a true cozy, but I’m not complaining since I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out what was going to happen next. Much of the book features Jessica and those trapped in the hotel with her, and they are all strong enough characters to carry the story. Unfortunately, the little bit we did see of the recurring characters fell into predictable patterns, although I still enjoyed spending time with them. The writing was so vivid, I felt the cold as I was reading. Any complaints are minor, and I’m happy I picked up this fast-paced book.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
January 1, 2025
This is basically ‘Murder, She Wrote’ does ‘And Then There Were None’, with a high body count to match, and is as much fun as that sounds. It sees writer turned sleuth Jessica Fletcher stuck in a local hotel during a blizzard, the other guests being a wedding party who are gradually getting bumped off.
It’s silly but pacy and entertaining, even if the peril is never ramped up quite as much as it could have been and the mystery is less than perfect.
It’s silly but pacy and entertaining, even if the peril is never ramped up quite as much as it could have been and the mystery is less than perfect.
March 24, 2025
3.25 🌟
Mood/ Seasonal Reading: winter
I wanted to like this one. It had a perfect “and then there were none” theme and a great setting. However it was difficult for me to get into despite the action beginning in the first chapter. I think perhaps this suffered from too many characters.
It had some solid humour and some of my all time favourite murder she wrote characters. Yet, despite these additions this instalment felt less cozy and more scary. I also found Jessica did some silly things that was unlike her or missed obvious things she would’ve usually caught just so they could later be used as a shock reveal.
The final reveal felt very unrealistic as if it was something from a soap opera and the killer just didn’t do it for me. Was too extreme and unrealistic as opposed to clever.
Mood/ Seasonal Reading: winter
I wanted to like this one. It had a perfect “and then there were none” theme and a great setting. However it was difficult for me to get into despite the action beginning in the first chapter. I think perhaps this suffered from too many characters.
It had some solid humour and some of my all time favourite murder she wrote characters. Yet, despite these additions this instalment felt less cozy and more scary. I also found Jessica did some silly things that was unlike her or missed obvious things she would’ve usually caught just so they could later be used as a shock reveal.
The final reveal felt very unrealistic as if it was something from a soap opera and the killer just didn’t do it for me. Was too extreme and unrealistic as opposed to clever.
October 7, 2021
Nope. Nope. Nope. I’ve faithfully read the last 3 In this series by Land because I’ve read all of the Murder She Wrote books, but this is my last one. The writing is horrible. Favorite characters are not the same. Plot twists are bizarre and trite. Harry McGraw in now in every book and they have the same basic conversation several times in each book. This series has really gone down hill and I just don’t enjoy it any longer.
July 21, 2020
I love the television series with Angela Lansbury. It makes me happy every time I read (or listen to) one of these books! It's like revisiting old friends in Cabot Cove....even if it is the murder capital of Maine. :)
The basics: Jessica Fletcher is still staying in a local hotel while her home is undergoing extensive repair. Hill House is comfortable enough, but a bit crowded when a wedding party come to stay. A blizzard hits dumping a huge amount of snow, stranding everyone. That's bad enough....but when a killer starts picking off people one by one....Jessica is on the case!
This was a fun book to read in July when it's hot as blazes outside. I was wishing the entire time that I could be snowed in! Without a killer on the loose, of course. The mystery was an entertaining and suspenseful read. And I enjoyed revisiting all my favorite characters from Cabot Cove again!
I listened to the audio book version of this story. The audio is just over 8 hours long. Narrated by Laural Merlington, the audio was a fun listen! Merlington does a great job of voicing Jessica Fletcher and the other characters. Very entertaining listening experience!
The Murder of Twelve is the 51st Murder She Wrote novel, so others must enjoy returning to Cabot Cove, too! I love seeing Angela Lansbury's smiling face on each cover! Keep 'em coming! I will read every single one! :)
The basics: Jessica Fletcher is still staying in a local hotel while her home is undergoing extensive repair. Hill House is comfortable enough, but a bit crowded when a wedding party come to stay. A blizzard hits dumping a huge amount of snow, stranding everyone. That's bad enough....but when a killer starts picking off people one by one....Jessica is on the case!
This was a fun book to read in July when it's hot as blazes outside. I was wishing the entire time that I could be snowed in! Without a killer on the loose, of course. The mystery was an entertaining and suspenseful read. And I enjoyed revisiting all my favorite characters from Cabot Cove again!
I listened to the audio book version of this story. The audio is just over 8 hours long. Narrated by Laural Merlington, the audio was a fun listen! Merlington does a great job of voicing Jessica Fletcher and the other characters. Very entertaining listening experience!
The Murder of Twelve is the 51st Murder She Wrote novel, so others must enjoy returning to Cabot Cove, too! I love seeing Angela Lansbury's smiling face on each cover! Keep 'em coming! I will read every single one! :)
October 15, 2020
I haven’t cared for the new author’s take on Jessica but kept hoping he’d get better at capturing her essence as he evolved in writing these books. Sadly, that’s not the case. The “banter” between Jessica and McGraw and even the Sheriff is quite snarky and wise-ass, not at all in keeping with this fan’s idea of Jessica, nor the original author’s I would venture to say. I gave several books a chance but finally learned my lesson. I will watch the MSW reruns on tv and enjoy those. These books are rather awful in my opinion.
June 12, 2021
Land is getting better at doing these books but the relationships between Jessica, Seth and mort aren’t done well at all. 40 books have us a lot of information about these characters and land doesn’t use any of it. Hopefully the new author will
February 4, 2023
Like all of the "Murder She Wrote" episodes on TV, this was a good who-dun-it. I read it and the characters all spoke (in my head) like they did on the television series. The clues kept adding up--- as did the body count.
A winter storm of the century hits Cabot Cove, a wedding party gets snowed into the Hill Hotel along with a home renovation displaced Jessica Fletcher. As the storm worsens murder happens. Who is the killer? Which one of the wedding guests decided to "off them all"?
* I read this and also was watching "Bosch" during our recent three days of freezing temps and ice storms... you can bet we locked our doors!!!
A winter storm of the century hits Cabot Cove, a wedding party gets snowed into the Hill Hotel along with a home renovation displaced Jessica Fletcher. As the storm worsens murder happens. Who is the killer? Which one of the wedding guests decided to "off them all"?
* I read this and also was watching "Bosch" during our recent three days of freezing temps and ice storms... you can bet we locked our doors!!!
December 31, 2021
3.5 stars rounded down. Great mystery and satisfying ending, but I had trouble keeping the cast of characters straight. There was nothing that made them stand out in my mind to differentiate.
June 1, 2020
I have been a harsh critic since Jon Land took over the Murder She Wrote series. I think he has changed the characters and overall tone of the books in an effort to modernize the series. In my opinion, his work has been at best unsuccessful and at worst just plain terrible. But if you agree with me, I urge you to give Land another chance and read this book.
I can't resist reading obvious adaptations of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" so I decided go ahead and read this book despite my misgivings. I'm glad I did. It is by far the best book Land has written for the series. Some characters are still a lot more sarcastic than I prefer but not so much that it distracts from the overall plot.
Fans of Jessica Fletcher will likely be satisfied with this trip to Cabot Cove even if they have not enjoyed Land's past books in the series.
I can't resist reading obvious adaptations of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" so I decided go ahead and read this book despite my misgivings. I'm glad I did. It is by far the best book Land has written for the series. Some characters are still a lot more sarcastic than I prefer but not so much that it distracts from the overall plot.
Fans of Jessica Fletcher will likely be satisfied with this trip to Cabot Cove even if they have not enjoyed Land's past books in the series.
January 22, 2023
Mrs.Fletcher snowed in at a Cabot Cove hotel with a wedding party and the person who is systematically killing them one by one. A perfect January read!
June 5, 2020
I love Jessica Fletcher. And I look forward to the new novels. But, I miss the former writers.
No more mentions of the Scottish beau. More is married to Adele, no more delightful Moreen. And if she is called little lady one more time...
But I continue to read the series, with hopes the new writer will read the previous books and stop torturing the loyal fans.
No more mentions of the Scottish beau. More is married to Adele, no more delightful Moreen. And if she is called little lady one more time...
But I continue to read the series, with hopes the new writer will read the previous books and stop torturing the loyal fans.
May 28, 2020
YAY, I am happy to be back in Cabot Cove, Maine, with Jessica Fletcher. I’m sure this will be another wild adventure and I’m looking forward to it. I can surely use some mystery to busy my mind and chuckles to ease it.
AND a blizzard tops it off. We all know nothing bad happens during a blizzard. LOL
I love the take Jon and Jessica have taken with this mystery. It’s fresh and new, and I read a lot of mystery.
The only witness to the murder is the local lush , and he says it’s Big Foot. Well, this does have me even more curious now. My mind starts running. Is it a Big Foot? Is it just a big guy wrapped up in a heavy coat?
The Murder of Twelve by Jon Land brought back memories of a couple blizzards I’ve been in. It also made me realize that I am doing the right thing when I flip the safety latch on the hotel room door.
A couple thoughts came to mind about who was behind it all, but Jon and Jessica give nothing away. We have soooo many suspects as body after body drops dead. I chased those red herrings, keeping myself fearful for who will be the next victim. Each time a body falls, there is one less suspect. LOL
I love everything about the book…a blizzard…no one getting out…no one getting in…the Hilton House Hotel.
The clues add up, suspect’s are eliminated, one by one, and, funny that such a small town seems to invite in so much murder? Do you have an opinion?
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Murder of Twelve by Jon Land.
See more at fundinmental
AND a blizzard tops it off. We all know nothing bad happens during a blizzard. LOL
I love the take Jon and Jessica have taken with this mystery. It’s fresh and new, and I read a lot of mystery.
The only witness to the murder is the local lush , and he says it’s Big Foot. Well, this does have me even more curious now. My mind starts running. Is it a Big Foot? Is it just a big guy wrapped up in a heavy coat?
The Murder of Twelve by Jon Land brought back memories of a couple blizzards I’ve been in. It also made me realize that I am doing the right thing when I flip the safety latch on the hotel room door.
A couple thoughts came to mind about who was behind it all, but Jon and Jessica give nothing away. We have soooo many suspects as body after body drops dead. I chased those red herrings, keeping myself fearful for who will be the next victim. Each time a body falls, there is one less suspect. LOL
I love everything about the book…a blizzard…no one getting out…no one getting in…the Hilton House Hotel.
The clues add up, suspect’s are eliminated, one by one, and, funny that such a small town seems to invite in so much murder? Do you have an opinion?
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Murder of Twelve by Jon Land.
See more at fundinmental
February 5, 2021
The Murder of Twelve by Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land is the 51st book in the Murder, She Wrote Mystery series. Jessica Fletcher finds herself stranded during a historic, record breaking blizzard at Hill House Hotel with twelve members of a wedding party when thay start being murdered one by one. One of the best books in the seies with ties to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. It is always nice to catch up with familiar characters although Jessica was pretty much on her own for a lot of the time. A well written classical mystery with plenty of suspense and tension, lots of clues and red herrings and an eerie atmosphere.
February 16, 2021
It helps being a fan of the TV show. I was able to enjoy this while seeing the characters faces and hearing their voices in my mind.
December 6, 2022
Jessica and a wedding party of twelve are stranded at the Hill House hotel during a severe blizzard. The Murder Of Twelve is inspired by And Then There Were None. The characters even mention it in the book and that's because they know they're being picked off one by one.
This was a very fun read. It feels like being inside a Murder She Wrote Episode. The book is also fun though if you're not a fan of the show. There is danger, characters behaving suspiciously, and murders.
The story is centered around a snowstorm. The cold and snow are wonderfully described and worked into the plot well. While Jessica does keep some things from the reader there is still enough evidence to figure some things out. The real joy is being with Jessica and crew as they track down a killer. The Murder Of Twelve is perfect for curling up with a blanket and hot drink.
This was a very fun read. It feels like being inside a Murder She Wrote Episode. The book is also fun though if you're not a fan of the show. There is danger, characters behaving suspiciously, and murders.
The story is centered around a snowstorm. The cold and snow are wonderfully described and worked into the plot well. While Jessica does keep some things from the reader there is still enough evidence to figure some things out. The real joy is being with Jessica and crew as they track down a killer. The Murder Of Twelve is perfect for curling up with a blanket and hot drink.
May 1, 2021
One reads these not for the plots--improbable at best-- but to watch Jessica Fletcher reason her way out of her problems, which this time includes an historic blizzard that strands her, and a wedding party in peril, at the Hill House Hotel, where she's been staying. After a while, the phone service linking her to her friend, Dr. Seth, the local sheriff, and a New York private investigator who can give her the background on the imperiled party gives out, leaving her entirely on her own, with just the hotel manager as a reliable ally. But Jessica knows what her suspects do not--there was at least one other murder earlier that day, and possibly three others.
January 5, 2024
Siamo arrivate alla decima lettura insieme. Che dire?
Il libro non mi è dispiaciuto! Mi ha ricordato molto le atmosfere di 10 piccoli indiani e l’ambientazione innevata, ovattata, di Cabot Cove mi è piaciuta moltissimo.
Devo dire che mi ha colpito molto la serie di morti inserite in questo libro: ogni tot capitoli una vittima, un colpo di scena e il dettaglio dell’orologio che segnava, non più le ore, ma chi restava in vita.
Anche se ammetto di amare di più i romanzi classici della zia Jess, meno adrenalinici, più tranquilli.
Mi sono mancate un po’ le presenze di Mort e Seth che sono intervenuti solo di rado, anche se le loro battute mi scaldano sempre il cuore, come quelle del detective privato!
L’unica nota stonata secondo me è stata la scelta dei colpevoli.
Mi è sembrato tutto un po’ surreale.
Il libro non mi è dispiaciuto! Mi ha ricordato molto le atmosfere di 10 piccoli indiani e l’ambientazione innevata, ovattata, di Cabot Cove mi è piaciuta moltissimo.
Devo dire che mi ha colpito molto la serie di morti inserite in questo libro: ogni tot capitoli una vittima, un colpo di scena e il dettaglio dell’orologio che segnava, non più le ore, ma chi restava in vita.
Anche se ammetto di amare di più i romanzi classici della zia Jess, meno adrenalinici, più tranquilli.
Mi sono mancate un po’ le presenze di Mort e Seth che sono intervenuti solo di rado, anche se le loro battute mi scaldano sempre il cuore, come quelle del detective privato!
L’unica nota stonata secondo me è stata la scelta dei colpevoli.
Mi è sembrato tutto un po’ surreale.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 7, 2023
Divorato. Ho adorato tutto.
May 31, 2020
I was privileged a couple of years ago to learn that Jessica Fletcher & Jon Land were planning a Murder She Wrote mystery based on the classic Dame Agatha Christie novel, AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. Ironically, at the time I was acting in a stage performance of the play version of this classic novel in the role of Judge Wargrave. Do you need to have read the Christie novel to enjoy this latest effort --- the answer is no, but if you are familiar with the source material there are so many little tidbits stuck inside these pages that will have you squirming with delight.
Following a well-deserved dedication to Angela Lansbury, the actress who has brought Jessica Fletcher to life for us, there is a much-needed Cast of Characters list. Trust me, you will find yourself flipping back to this often to not only keep all the characters straight but also to try to guess who might be a murderer or the murderer's next victim! We are then treated to an opening quote before we venture further: "Very few of us are what we seem to be". This quote was taken from THE MAN IN THE MIST by Dame Agatha Christie herself. It is a proper warning that prepares you for what is to come in the story THE MURDER OF TWELVE.
We begin in Cabot Cove on the morning of the snowstorm of the century. Jessica finds herself at Mara's Luncheonette with Sheriff Mort Metzger and Doctor Seth Hazlitt as they wonder aloud why Cabot Cove suffers a once-in-a-century storm every year. But this one is different. Warnings are alerting people living in this part of the country to prepare for as much as four feet of snow before the monster storm pulls away. What an ideal setting for a locked-in/closed door type of murder mystery! Their breakfast at Mara's is interrupted when one of the Cabot Cove Deputies calls the Sheriff to alert him to an abandoned vehicle on the side of the road leading into town. This would normally not be enough to pull the town's law enforcement away while they need to help prepare for the oncoming blizzard. This abandoned car, however, is not completely empty. There is a corpse inside.
Further checking reveals the corpse to be one Loomis Winslow --- a Private Eye from Boston. The question is what was bringing him to Cabot Cove and how did he die? Jessica reaches out to her own favorite Private Eye, Harry McGraw, for some assistance. Harry recognizes that to bring a Private Eye so far out of his regular territory had to involve a search for a great deal of money. While our trio of friends are examining the area around Winslow's vehicle, the station phones Sheriff Metzger to alert him that the usually intoxicated town resident Hank Weathers stumbled into to the station to report he witnessed a murder at the abandoned Cabot Company factory. The victim he described sounds like Mr. Loomis, but the alleged killer he refers to as 'Bigfoot' --- his inebriated way of indicating that the killer was extremely tall. None of this really helps the case and they return to Cabot Cove with the deceased as they all need to meet with the Town Board to prepare for the oncoming storm.
Jessica Fletcher will not be hunkering down in her home for this storm as it is still being repaired from a fire that occurred in a prior novel. She has since been a permanent resident of the local hotel, the Hill House. For the next few days, she will not be the only resident of Hill House. In addition to the small staff, Jessica will be joined by an entire wedding party. Why this family would choose Maine in the winter over a warmer climate to have their wedding is a point of curiosity for Jessica. Nevertheless, members of the Mulroy and Castavette families are at Hill House preparing for the wedding of Daniel Mulroy and Allison Castavette.
Constance 'Connie' Mulroy, the mother of the groom, is the first member of the party to formally introduce herself to Jessica. Prior to that, Jessica was surprised by a young man entering her suite in the case of accidental hotel room keys. She later finds out that this was Tyler Castavette, brother of the bride. Since Jessica is the only other person staying at Hill House, and she cannot leave due to the storm, Connie invites her to participate in their wedding dinner. The only problem is that everyone is there except for the bride and groom. One person who is not expected is Heath Mulroy, father of the groom. Heath purportedly took his own life by jumping off a NYC bridge after being accused of running a Bernie Madoff type of pyramid scheme that defrauded clients out of millions. This puts a dour shadow over the Mulroy family and gives Doyle Castavette, the father of the bride, that much more reason to look down upon his soon to be in-laws.
They decide to go along with the dinner. A rented SUV had been found discarded on the way to Cabot Cove and it was assumed to be the vehicle the bride and groom rented.
However, the brother of the groom claims that he heard from them and that they were forced to check into a motel on the way as the road became impassable due to the storm. We now have the ideal setting for the murderous games which are about to transpire. It does not take long to start as Connie Mulroy goes into a sort of seizure during the dinner. Jessica has to phone Dr. Hazlitt to walk her through how to deal with this. Connie eventually subsides but is comatose and brought up to her room. Further inspection involving the Manager of Hill House, a former Irish Deputy named Seamus McGilray, shows Connie Mulroy had indeed been poisoned. But who would do such a thing, especially with a storm raging so fiercely outside that any help would be near impossible to reach them?
Jessica is aware that, while in the vortex of Cabot Cove, anything can happen. After that excitement, the party retired to their rooms to ride out the storm. It is only when Jessica seeks to find Mark Mulroy, brother of the groom, that she discovers the next victim in this game. She locates Mark in the Hill House gym suffocated to death by one of the weight machines. Now, it is abundantly clear that they are all pawns in this game of death and the killer has to be one of the people trapped inside Hill House during the brutal snow-storm. It is also noticed that that the Roman Numerals One and Two have been crossed out on the face of Hill House's Grandfather Clock --- a terrific homage to Christie's novel in which the statue of either a soldier or Indian is taken or broken following each murder, the numbers of each totaling the number of people trapped at their present location.
The next shout-out to AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is revealed when Jessica asks a question regarding the slide-show of the bride and groom that was shown during the dinner. Connie Mulroy is known to have had twin boys, Daniel and Mark, yet Jessica swears in one of the photos of them as infants she sees a third crib in their room. Further investigation reveals that there was a third child named Owen who was stillborn after the birth of his two brothers. This name had me chuckling aloud because the anonymous and never seen host of the party on Soldier Island in Christie's novel was a Mr. U.N. Owen or, by some clever rereading, 'Unknown'. After another victim is found stabbed to death, none other than Doyle Castavette, do the remaining patrons truly find themselves in a panic.
Sheriff Metzger is attempting to reach Hill House by snowmobile following the latest call from Jessica. The group also learns that this very week that the wedding would be taking place is the same week that two infamous mass murders took place in the prior five years. Those crimes were never solved and the group wonders if they were the next party to fall victim to this thrill-kill killer who has both Mother Nature and fear on their side. THE MURDER OF TWELVE, just like Christie's classic novel, will have you guessing and re-guessing with each passing death --- but I'm fairly confident that even the most astute mystery reader will find it nearly impossible to figure this one out before the dawn finally breaks and the storm eventually subsides. This is one of the most intense reads I have experienced in quite a while and the physical setting created for the murder mystery is completely ingenious. It is also one of the only times where you will see Jessica clearly playing the role of victim rather than trying to stay one step ahead of the murderer she is chasing.
Whether you live in a cold or warm climate, many of us are currently experiencing our own personal 'locked in' experience which makes the reading of THE MURDER OF TWELVE that much more effective.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter
Following a well-deserved dedication to Angela Lansbury, the actress who has brought Jessica Fletcher to life for us, there is a much-needed Cast of Characters list. Trust me, you will find yourself flipping back to this often to not only keep all the characters straight but also to try to guess who might be a murderer or the murderer's next victim! We are then treated to an opening quote before we venture further: "Very few of us are what we seem to be". This quote was taken from THE MAN IN THE MIST by Dame Agatha Christie herself. It is a proper warning that prepares you for what is to come in the story THE MURDER OF TWELVE.
We begin in Cabot Cove on the morning of the snowstorm of the century. Jessica finds herself at Mara's Luncheonette with Sheriff Mort Metzger and Doctor Seth Hazlitt as they wonder aloud why Cabot Cove suffers a once-in-a-century storm every year. But this one is different. Warnings are alerting people living in this part of the country to prepare for as much as four feet of snow before the monster storm pulls away. What an ideal setting for a locked-in/closed door type of murder mystery! Their breakfast at Mara's is interrupted when one of the Cabot Cove Deputies calls the Sheriff to alert him to an abandoned vehicle on the side of the road leading into town. This would normally not be enough to pull the town's law enforcement away while they need to help prepare for the oncoming blizzard. This abandoned car, however, is not completely empty. There is a corpse inside.
Further checking reveals the corpse to be one Loomis Winslow --- a Private Eye from Boston. The question is what was bringing him to Cabot Cove and how did he die? Jessica reaches out to her own favorite Private Eye, Harry McGraw, for some assistance. Harry recognizes that to bring a Private Eye so far out of his regular territory had to involve a search for a great deal of money. While our trio of friends are examining the area around Winslow's vehicle, the station phones Sheriff Metzger to alert him that the usually intoxicated town resident Hank Weathers stumbled into to the station to report he witnessed a murder at the abandoned Cabot Company factory. The victim he described sounds like Mr. Loomis, but the alleged killer he refers to as 'Bigfoot' --- his inebriated way of indicating that the killer was extremely tall. None of this really helps the case and they return to Cabot Cove with the deceased as they all need to meet with the Town Board to prepare for the oncoming storm.
Jessica Fletcher will not be hunkering down in her home for this storm as it is still being repaired from a fire that occurred in a prior novel. She has since been a permanent resident of the local hotel, the Hill House. For the next few days, she will not be the only resident of Hill House. In addition to the small staff, Jessica will be joined by an entire wedding party. Why this family would choose Maine in the winter over a warmer climate to have their wedding is a point of curiosity for Jessica. Nevertheless, members of the Mulroy and Castavette families are at Hill House preparing for the wedding of Daniel Mulroy and Allison Castavette.
Constance 'Connie' Mulroy, the mother of the groom, is the first member of the party to formally introduce herself to Jessica. Prior to that, Jessica was surprised by a young man entering her suite in the case of accidental hotel room keys. She later finds out that this was Tyler Castavette, brother of the bride. Since Jessica is the only other person staying at Hill House, and she cannot leave due to the storm, Connie invites her to participate in their wedding dinner. The only problem is that everyone is there except for the bride and groom. One person who is not expected is Heath Mulroy, father of the groom. Heath purportedly took his own life by jumping off a NYC bridge after being accused of running a Bernie Madoff type of pyramid scheme that defrauded clients out of millions. This puts a dour shadow over the Mulroy family and gives Doyle Castavette, the father of the bride, that much more reason to look down upon his soon to be in-laws.
They decide to go along with the dinner. A rented SUV had been found discarded on the way to Cabot Cove and it was assumed to be the vehicle the bride and groom rented.
However, the brother of the groom claims that he heard from them and that they were forced to check into a motel on the way as the road became impassable due to the storm. We now have the ideal setting for the murderous games which are about to transpire. It does not take long to start as Connie Mulroy goes into a sort of seizure during the dinner. Jessica has to phone Dr. Hazlitt to walk her through how to deal with this. Connie eventually subsides but is comatose and brought up to her room. Further inspection involving the Manager of Hill House, a former Irish Deputy named Seamus McGilray, shows Connie Mulroy had indeed been poisoned. But who would do such a thing, especially with a storm raging so fiercely outside that any help would be near impossible to reach them?
Jessica is aware that, while in the vortex of Cabot Cove, anything can happen. After that excitement, the party retired to their rooms to ride out the storm. It is only when Jessica seeks to find Mark Mulroy, brother of the groom, that she discovers the next victim in this game. She locates Mark in the Hill House gym suffocated to death by one of the weight machines. Now, it is abundantly clear that they are all pawns in this game of death and the killer has to be one of the people trapped inside Hill House during the brutal snow-storm. It is also noticed that that the Roman Numerals One and Two have been crossed out on the face of Hill House's Grandfather Clock --- a terrific homage to Christie's novel in which the statue of either a soldier or Indian is taken or broken following each murder, the numbers of each totaling the number of people trapped at their present location.
The next shout-out to AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is revealed when Jessica asks a question regarding the slide-show of the bride and groom that was shown during the dinner. Connie Mulroy is known to have had twin boys, Daniel and Mark, yet Jessica swears in one of the photos of them as infants she sees a third crib in their room. Further investigation reveals that there was a third child named Owen who was stillborn after the birth of his two brothers. This name had me chuckling aloud because the anonymous and never seen host of the party on Soldier Island in Christie's novel was a Mr. U.N. Owen or, by some clever rereading, 'Unknown'. After another victim is found stabbed to death, none other than Doyle Castavette, do the remaining patrons truly find themselves in a panic.
Sheriff Metzger is attempting to reach Hill House by snowmobile following the latest call from Jessica. The group also learns that this very week that the wedding would be taking place is the same week that two infamous mass murders took place in the prior five years. Those crimes were never solved and the group wonders if they were the next party to fall victim to this thrill-kill killer who has both Mother Nature and fear on their side. THE MURDER OF TWELVE, just like Christie's classic novel, will have you guessing and re-guessing with each passing death --- but I'm fairly confident that even the most astute mystery reader will find it nearly impossible to figure this one out before the dawn finally breaks and the storm eventually subsides. This is one of the most intense reads I have experienced in quite a while and the physical setting created for the murder mystery is completely ingenious. It is also one of the only times where you will see Jessica clearly playing the role of victim rather than trying to stay one step ahead of the murderer she is chasing.
Whether you live in a cold or warm climate, many of us are currently experiencing our own personal 'locked in' experience which makes the reading of THE MURDER OF TWELVE that much more effective.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter
April 25, 2020
Mystery writer and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher is trapped in a snowstorm in Jon Land’s stellar whodunit, “The Murder of Twelve.”
Homage to Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” Land delivers his best Murder She Wrote yet, giving his readers exactly what they want—a good, old-fashioned mystery with all the clever cat-and-mouse twists and turns, red herrings, and claustrophobic atmosphere.
From its relentless, suspenseful opening chapter to the tense, shocking ending, the novel feels like one long intake of breath, and the reader will not be able to put the book down until the last page.
A torrential snowstorm has isolated the small Maine coastal town of Cabot Cove and all of its inhabitants, closing everyone off from the outside world, including colorful past supporting characters from the TV series. Famous faces like Ethan Cragg and Mayor Sam Booth whom readers will be thrilled to see return to Land’s imaginative world.
Jessica Fletcher’s stay at Hill House Inn turns into a crime scene of murderous proportions when a wedding party of twelve becomes a target for a rampageous killer. In the same fashion as Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” each member of the wedding family starts dying off in a smart, well-plotted manner, and it is up to Jessica to solve the crimes before she becomes the next victim.
Land’s concept for “The Murder of Twelve” is intriguing and brilliantly executed. The novel is well paced, and the skillful writing is assuring, establishing Land’s formidable presence in the Murder She Wrote universe. Fans of the TV series and mystery aficionados are in for a few hours of entertaining reading.
Homage to Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” Land delivers his best Murder She Wrote yet, giving his readers exactly what they want—a good, old-fashioned mystery with all the clever cat-and-mouse twists and turns, red herrings, and claustrophobic atmosphere.
From its relentless, suspenseful opening chapter to the tense, shocking ending, the novel feels like one long intake of breath, and the reader will not be able to put the book down until the last page.
A torrential snowstorm has isolated the small Maine coastal town of Cabot Cove and all of its inhabitants, closing everyone off from the outside world, including colorful past supporting characters from the TV series. Famous faces like Ethan Cragg and Mayor Sam Booth whom readers will be thrilled to see return to Land’s imaginative world.
Jessica Fletcher’s stay at Hill House Inn turns into a crime scene of murderous proportions when a wedding party of twelve becomes a target for a rampageous killer. In the same fashion as Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” each member of the wedding family starts dying off in a smart, well-plotted manner, and it is up to Jessica to solve the crimes before she becomes the next victim.
Land’s concept for “The Murder of Twelve” is intriguing and brilliantly executed. The novel is well paced, and the skillful writing is assuring, establishing Land’s formidable presence in the Murder She Wrote universe. Fans of the TV series and mystery aficionados are in for a few hours of entertaining reading.
June 1, 2020
A couple of years ago, I was privileged to learn that Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land were planning a Murder, She Wrote mystery based on the classic Dame Agatha Christie novel, AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. Ironically, at the time, I was acting in the stage version of the novel in the role of Judge Wargrave. Do you need to have read the book to enjoy this latest effort? No, but if you are familiar with the source material, there are so many tidbits stuck inside these pages that will have you squirming with delight.
Following a well-deserved dedication to Angela Lansbury, the actress who brought Jessica Fletcher to life, there is a much-needed Cast of Characters list. Trust me, you will find yourself flipping back to this often, not only to keep all the players straight but also to try to guess who might be the murderer or the next victim. We then are treated to an opening quote before venturing any further: "Very few of us are what we seem to be.” Taken from Christie’s THE MAN IN THE MIST, it is a proper warning that prepares you for what is to come in THE MURDER OF TWELVE.
We begin in Cabot Cove on the morning of the snowstorm of the century. Jessica finds herself at Mara's Luncheonette with Sheriff Mort Metzger and Dr. Seth Hazlitt as they wonder aloud why the area suffers a once-in-a-century storm every year. But this one is different. Warnings are alerting people living in this part of the country to prepare for as much as four feet of snow before the monster storm pulls away. What an ideal setting for a locked-in/closed-door type of murder mystery! Their breakfast is interrupted when one of the deputies calls the sheriff to alert him to an abandoned vehicle on the side of the road leading into town. Normally this would not be enough to pull the town's law enforcement away while they need to help prepare for the oncoming blizzard. But the car is not completely empty. There is a corpse inside.
Further checking reveals that it’s the body of Loomis Winslow, a private eye from Boston. What brought him to Cabot Cove, and how did he die? Jessica reaches out to her own favorite private eye, Harry McGraw, for some assistance. Harry recognizes that to bring a private eye so far out of his regular territory, a search for a great deal of money had to be involved. While our trio of friends are examining the area around Winslow's vehicle, Sheriff Metzger is informed that the usually intoxicated town resident, Hank Weathers, has stumbled into the station to report that he witnessed a murder at the abandoned Cabot Company factory. The victim he describes sounds like Winslow, but he refers to the alleged killer as “Bigfoot” --- his inebriated way of indicating that the culprit was extremely tall. None of this really helps the case, and they return to Cabot Cove with the deceased as they all must meet with the town board to prepare for the storm.
Jessica will not be hunkering down in her house as it is still being repaired from a fire that occurred in a prior novel. Since then, she has been a permanent resident of the local hotel, Hill House, and for the next few days will be joined by an entire wedding party. Why this family would choose Maine in the winter over a warmer climate to have their ceremony is a point of curiosity for Jessica. Nevertheless, members of the Mulroy and Castavette families are at Hill House preparing for the wedding of Daniel Mulroy and Allison Castavette.
Constance “Connie” Mulroy, the groom’s mother, is the first member of the party to formally introduce herself to Jessica. Prior to that, Jessica was surprised by a young man entering her suite in a case of accidental hotel room keys. She later finds out that this was Tyler Castavette, the bride’s brother. Since Jessica is the only other person staying at Hill House, and she cannot leave due to the storm, Connie invites her to participate in their wedding dinner. The only problem is that the bride and groom are nowhere to be found. One person who is not expected is Heath Mulroy, the groom’s father. Heath purportedly took his own life by jumping off a New York City bridge after being accused of running a Bernie Madoff-type pyramid scheme that defrauded clients out of millions. This puts a dour shadow over the Mulroy family and gives Doyle Castavette, the bride’s father, that much more reason to look down upon his soon-to-be in-laws.
They decide to go along with the dinner. A rented SUV had been found discarded on the way to Cabot Cove, and it is assumed to be the vehicle that the bride and groom rented. However, Mark, the groom’s brother, claims that he heard from them and that they were forced to check into a motel on the way as the road became impassable due to the storm.
We now have the ideal setting for the murderous games that are about to transpire. It does not take long to start as Connie goes into some sort of seizure during the dinner. Jessica has to phone Dr. Hazlitt to walk her through how to deal with this. Connie eventually is stabilized, but is comatose and brought up to her room. Further inspection involving the manager of Hill House, a former Irish deputy named Seamus McGilray, shows that Connie was poisoned. But who would do such a thing, especially with a storm raging so fiercely outside that it would be virtually impossible for any help to reach them?
Jessica is aware that, while in the vortex of Cabot Cove, anything can happen. After that excitement, the party retires to their rooms to ride out the storm. It is only when Jessica seeks out Mark that she discovers the next victim. She locates him in the Hill House gym suffocated to death by one of the weight machines. It is now abundantly clear that they are all pawns in this game of death, and the killer has to be one of the people trapped inside Hill House. It is worth nothing that the Roman numerals I and II have been crossed out on the face of Hill House's grandfather clock --- a terrific homage to AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, in which the statue of either a soldier or an Indian is taken or broken following each murder, the numbers of each totaling how many people are trapped at their present location.
The next shoutout to Christie’s novel is revealed when Jessica asks a question regarding the slideshow of the bride and groom that is shown during the dinner. Connie has twin boys, Daniel and Mark, yet Jessica swears that in one of the photos of them as infants, there is a third crib in their room. Further investigation reveals that there was a third child, Owen, who was stillborn after the birth of his two brothers. This name had me chuckling aloud because the anonymous and never-seen host of the party on Soldier Island in Christie's book is Mr. U.N. Owen or, by some clever rereading, “Unknown.” It isn’t until another victim is found stabbed to death that the remaining patrons truly find themselves in a panic.
THE MURDER OF TWELVE, just like AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, will have you guessing and re-guessing with each passing death, but I'm fairly confident that even the most astute mystery reader will find it nearly impossible to figure this one out before the dawn finally breaks and the storm eventually subsides. This is one of the most intense reads I have experienced in quite a while, and the physical setting created for the murder mystery is completely ingenious. It is also one of the only times that you will see Jessica clearly playing the role of victim rather than trying to stay one step ahead of the murderer she is chasing.
Whether you live in a cold or warm climate, many of us are currently involved in our own personal “locked-in” scenario, which makes the reading of THE MURDER OF TWELVE that much more powerful and effective.
Reviewed by Ray Palen
Following a well-deserved dedication to Angela Lansbury, the actress who brought Jessica Fletcher to life, there is a much-needed Cast of Characters list. Trust me, you will find yourself flipping back to this often, not only to keep all the players straight but also to try to guess who might be the murderer or the next victim. We then are treated to an opening quote before venturing any further: "Very few of us are what we seem to be.” Taken from Christie’s THE MAN IN THE MIST, it is a proper warning that prepares you for what is to come in THE MURDER OF TWELVE.
We begin in Cabot Cove on the morning of the snowstorm of the century. Jessica finds herself at Mara's Luncheonette with Sheriff Mort Metzger and Dr. Seth Hazlitt as they wonder aloud why the area suffers a once-in-a-century storm every year. But this one is different. Warnings are alerting people living in this part of the country to prepare for as much as four feet of snow before the monster storm pulls away. What an ideal setting for a locked-in/closed-door type of murder mystery! Their breakfast is interrupted when one of the deputies calls the sheriff to alert him to an abandoned vehicle on the side of the road leading into town. Normally this would not be enough to pull the town's law enforcement away while they need to help prepare for the oncoming blizzard. But the car is not completely empty. There is a corpse inside.
Further checking reveals that it’s the body of Loomis Winslow, a private eye from Boston. What brought him to Cabot Cove, and how did he die? Jessica reaches out to her own favorite private eye, Harry McGraw, for some assistance. Harry recognizes that to bring a private eye so far out of his regular territory, a search for a great deal of money had to be involved. While our trio of friends are examining the area around Winslow's vehicle, Sheriff Metzger is informed that the usually intoxicated town resident, Hank Weathers, has stumbled into the station to report that he witnessed a murder at the abandoned Cabot Company factory. The victim he describes sounds like Winslow, but he refers to the alleged killer as “Bigfoot” --- his inebriated way of indicating that the culprit was extremely tall. None of this really helps the case, and they return to Cabot Cove with the deceased as they all must meet with the town board to prepare for the storm.
Jessica will not be hunkering down in her house as it is still being repaired from a fire that occurred in a prior novel. Since then, she has been a permanent resident of the local hotel, Hill House, and for the next few days will be joined by an entire wedding party. Why this family would choose Maine in the winter over a warmer climate to have their ceremony is a point of curiosity for Jessica. Nevertheless, members of the Mulroy and Castavette families are at Hill House preparing for the wedding of Daniel Mulroy and Allison Castavette.
Constance “Connie” Mulroy, the groom’s mother, is the first member of the party to formally introduce herself to Jessica. Prior to that, Jessica was surprised by a young man entering her suite in a case of accidental hotel room keys. She later finds out that this was Tyler Castavette, the bride’s brother. Since Jessica is the only other person staying at Hill House, and she cannot leave due to the storm, Connie invites her to participate in their wedding dinner. The only problem is that the bride and groom are nowhere to be found. One person who is not expected is Heath Mulroy, the groom’s father. Heath purportedly took his own life by jumping off a New York City bridge after being accused of running a Bernie Madoff-type pyramid scheme that defrauded clients out of millions. This puts a dour shadow over the Mulroy family and gives Doyle Castavette, the bride’s father, that much more reason to look down upon his soon-to-be in-laws.
They decide to go along with the dinner. A rented SUV had been found discarded on the way to Cabot Cove, and it is assumed to be the vehicle that the bride and groom rented. However, Mark, the groom’s brother, claims that he heard from them and that they were forced to check into a motel on the way as the road became impassable due to the storm.
We now have the ideal setting for the murderous games that are about to transpire. It does not take long to start as Connie goes into some sort of seizure during the dinner. Jessica has to phone Dr. Hazlitt to walk her through how to deal with this. Connie eventually is stabilized, but is comatose and brought up to her room. Further inspection involving the manager of Hill House, a former Irish deputy named Seamus McGilray, shows that Connie was poisoned. But who would do such a thing, especially with a storm raging so fiercely outside that it would be virtually impossible for any help to reach them?
Jessica is aware that, while in the vortex of Cabot Cove, anything can happen. After that excitement, the party retires to their rooms to ride out the storm. It is only when Jessica seeks out Mark that she discovers the next victim. She locates him in the Hill House gym suffocated to death by one of the weight machines. It is now abundantly clear that they are all pawns in this game of death, and the killer has to be one of the people trapped inside Hill House. It is worth nothing that the Roman numerals I and II have been crossed out on the face of Hill House's grandfather clock --- a terrific homage to AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, in which the statue of either a soldier or an Indian is taken or broken following each murder, the numbers of each totaling how many people are trapped at their present location.
The next shoutout to Christie’s novel is revealed when Jessica asks a question regarding the slideshow of the bride and groom that is shown during the dinner. Connie has twin boys, Daniel and Mark, yet Jessica swears that in one of the photos of them as infants, there is a third crib in their room. Further investigation reveals that there was a third child, Owen, who was stillborn after the birth of his two brothers. This name had me chuckling aloud because the anonymous and never-seen host of the party on Soldier Island in Christie's book is Mr. U.N. Owen or, by some clever rereading, “Unknown.” It isn’t until another victim is found stabbed to death that the remaining patrons truly find themselves in a panic.
THE MURDER OF TWELVE, just like AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, will have you guessing and re-guessing with each passing death, but I'm fairly confident that even the most astute mystery reader will find it nearly impossible to figure this one out before the dawn finally breaks and the storm eventually subsides. This is one of the most intense reads I have experienced in quite a while, and the physical setting created for the murder mystery is completely ingenious. It is also one of the only times that you will see Jessica clearly playing the role of victim rather than trying to stay one step ahead of the murderer she is chasing.
Whether you live in a cold or warm climate, many of us are currently involved in our own personal “locked-in” scenario, which makes the reading of THE MURDER OF TWELVE that much more powerful and effective.
Reviewed by Ray Palen
May 19, 2021
After reading only two books, I am already falling in love with this series. They are so interesting; they have the perfect amount of mystery and they will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time!
The Murder of Twelve was a lot of fun to read. It featured our beloved Jessica Fletcher, along with Dr. Seth Hazlitt and Sheriff Mort Metzger. Jessica has been living at Hill House for a while now, due to a fire that burnt down her house. 12 people have gathered at Hill House during a record-setting blizzard for a wedding party. But the bride and groom are still no-shows, and there is a killer on the loose among the wedding guests. The killer has vowed to take them all down one by one, and succeeded in killing four out of twelve wedding guests and one very unexpected guest, along with the attempted murder of two people, one of them being Jessica, and the successful murder of a private detective at the Cabot Manufacturing Company. Will Jessica Fletcher track down this killer before they have a chance to kill anyone, or everyone, else?
This is just the perfect book to read, whether there is a record-setting blizzard or not! It definitely keeps you wondering what happens next all of the time and is just great fun. Happy reading!
The Murder of Twelve was a lot of fun to read. It featured our beloved Jessica Fletcher, along with Dr. Seth Hazlitt and Sheriff Mort Metzger. Jessica has been living at Hill House for a while now, due to a fire that burnt down her house. 12 people have gathered at Hill House during a record-setting blizzard for a wedding party. But the bride and groom are still no-shows, and there is a killer on the loose among the wedding guests. The killer has vowed to take them all down one by one, and succeeded in killing four out of twelve wedding guests and one very unexpected guest, along with the attempted murder of two people, one of them being Jessica, and the successful murder of a private detective at the Cabot Manufacturing Company. Will Jessica Fletcher track down this killer before they have a chance to kill anyone, or everyone, else?
This is just the perfect book to read, whether there is a record-setting blizzard or not! It definitely keeps you wondering what happens next all of the time and is just great fun. Happy reading!
September 28, 2020
Good lord, this book. I finished it, barely, but truly only because I can be a real masochist when it comes to literature. I’m not even sure where to begin.
I’ve been on a mystery kick lately, reading them as a distraction and escape. My local library doesn’t have a huge selection available on kindle, but I saw this and said, “why not?” I used to watch the series sometimes when I was a kid, and I enjoy a fun little fluffy read.
This ain’t it.
The writing is clunky and cumbersome, falling back on reiterating things that were just said and repeating hackneyed cliches over and over: “bearded mountain of a man” appearing twice on the same page, establishing that Jessica is calling from outside the gym with her back against the wall on one page, then repeating that she is calling from outside the gym with her back against the wall on the next. Her phone conversations with her PI friend are exhausting: he complains about how she owes him money in literally every conversation. So much of the text is like that, it really feels like a paid-by-the-word situation.
Because it’s told in first person, most of the suspense is built by Jessica not being sure she saw a thing, so the reader is kept in the dark about what exactly she saw. It’s not a great tactic, and kept me more frustrated than intrigued.
I feel like the writer was tired, too. There are pages where Jessica gives information to the PI who gave HER that information in the last chapter, and he acts like he’s hearing it for the first time. A character is referred to as a cousin of one of the victims even though... he isn’t? And never has been?
And all this is without the killer reveal, which is such a jaw-droppingly inappropriate cliche in 2019 that I am gobsmacked it made it to publication.
Clearly I’m not the target audience for this book, that somehow has a 4.1 star rating. But y’all, c’mon. Even fun and fluffy mystery novels don’t have to be this bad. You deserve better.
I’ve been on a mystery kick lately, reading them as a distraction and escape. My local library doesn’t have a huge selection available on kindle, but I saw this and said, “why not?” I used to watch the series sometimes when I was a kid, and I enjoy a fun little fluffy read.
This ain’t it.
The writing is clunky and cumbersome, falling back on reiterating things that were just said and repeating hackneyed cliches over and over: “bearded mountain of a man” appearing twice on the same page, establishing that Jessica is calling from outside the gym with her back against the wall on one page, then repeating that she is calling from outside the gym with her back against the wall on the next. Her phone conversations with her PI friend are exhausting: he complains about how she owes him money in literally every conversation. So much of the text is like that, it really feels like a paid-by-the-word situation.
Because it’s told in first person, most of the suspense is built by Jessica not being sure she saw a thing, so the reader is kept in the dark about what exactly she saw. It’s not a great tactic, and kept me more frustrated than intrigued.
I feel like the writer was tired, too. There are pages where Jessica gives information to the PI who gave HER that information in the last chapter, and he acts like he’s hearing it for the first time. A character is referred to as a cousin of one of the victims even though... he isn’t? And never has been?
And all this is without the killer reveal, which is such a jaw-droppingly inappropriate cliche in 2019 that I am gobsmacked it made it to publication.
Clearly I’m not the target audience for this book, that somehow has a 4.1 star rating. But y’all, c’mon. Even fun and fluffy mystery novels don’t have to be this bad. You deserve better.
June 10, 2020
As someone who got married in Maine in February, I'll try not to let the constant insults of such an idea taint my review of this book. :P
Overall, I really enjoyed this book! As a longtime fan of this series, I haven't enjoyed some of the choices Jon Land has made when he took over the books, but this one felt much better and closer to the series I've grown to love. I absolutely loved the spin on my favorite Agatha Christie book, And Then There Were None. I also love a good "trapped in a storm" mystery!
Things that dropped it a star for me:
-I still felt Mort picks on Jessica a little too much for comfort. It'd be one thing if it was balanced with endearment, but again, it just reads like he doesn't like her very much. Also, his calling her Mrs. F always was a term of endearment in the show, but Jon Land has interpreted this as him using it as an insult. Very minor, but it bothers me!
-Also, Mort is suddenly back with Adele? Bye, Maureen, I guess! Haha
-Minor, but if Harry McGraw could stop cracking a joke at Jessica never paying him for just ONE of their interactions, that'd be great. It was funny the first 10 times. The next 156, not so much.
-
-
Overall, I really enjoyed this book! As a longtime fan of this series, I haven't enjoyed some of the choices Jon Land has made when he took over the books, but this one felt much better and closer to the series I've grown to love. I absolutely loved the spin on my favorite Agatha Christie book, And Then There Were None. I also love a good "trapped in a storm" mystery!
Things that dropped it a star for me:
-I still felt Mort picks on Jessica a little too much for comfort. It'd be one thing if it was balanced with endearment, but again, it just reads like he doesn't like her very much. Also, his calling her Mrs. F always was a term of endearment in the show, but Jon Land has interpreted this as him using it as an insult. Very minor, but it bothers me!
-Also, Mort is suddenly back with Adele? Bye, Maureen, I guess! Haha
-Minor, but if Harry McGraw could stop cracking a joke at Jessica never paying him for just ONE of their interactions, that'd be great. It was funny the first 10 times. The next 156, not so much.
-
-
June 3, 2020
I generally love this series and have read all of them. This one... not so much. Although the story line was interesting and it all came together at the end, it was the constant, and I mean constant, reference to the weather. I would guess more words were written about the weather than the actual mystery. I understand the storm played a major part in the story but talking about it incessantly was over the top. Full disclosure: There are certain persons in my family that love to talk about the weather, so much so that my niece who hosts Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners every year (lovingly and good-naturedly) places a card at each place setting which says the following: "We are a family of bright individuals with a lot to say on a variety of topics. Therefore, these are the UNACCEPTABLE TOPICS OF CONVERSATION: 1. The Weather ......." So, you see, weather is not my favorite topic. Thus, the average rating for this book. I do look forward to the next one out in November.
June 20, 2021
Lacking in the cozy description of place and habit that make cozy mysteries cozy. Will try more by the new author of this series in hopes this is not always the case.
Read
June 3, 2020Jessica Fletcher returns in the popular Murder She Wrote series with a mystery new and old fans of the series will adore. In the fiftieth installment, Jon Land wowed readers with a story reminiscent of a TV anniversary episode. Now, in The Murder of Twelve (Berkley) number fifty-one, he creates an Agatha Christie-style who-done-it with the charm and suspense of Murder on the Orient Express or And Then There Were None.
“Gonna be a killer for sure, Jessica.” What a classic opening line for a cozy mystery. Seth Hazlitt, Jessica’s long-time physician friend, smells a blizzard coming. And his nose is spot on. As the air cools and the sky darkens, Jessica, Seth and Sheriff Mort Metzger examine a dead body at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Cabot Cove. What looks like a suicide quickly proves to be murder — a dead private eye from Boston — hinting at more foul deeds ahead.
While Jessica and Mort dig into the detective’s life and death, the storm blows in, and so do twelve out-of-towners gathering for a wedding. They’ve booked the Hill House hotel, Jessica’s temporary home while she waits for her house to be rebuilt. The bride and groom are missing in the storm. The family members are snowed in at the hotel. And Jessica is trapped in the middle of it all. Worse, an unseen vandal is slowly defacing the hotel’s ancient grandfather clock. Each time a number is crossed off, someone dies.
Agatha Christie mysteries are known for their colorful casts, and Jon Land meets that standard well in The Murder of Twelve. Each wedding guest has a story that comes out in a well-paced fashion through dialogue and action. This includes the bride and groom, who are missing. The reader feels their presence, even though they are absent. The more the stories come out, the more motives we find, and it’s up to Jessica to unravel all the threads.
With vibrant characters, snappy dialogue, and an invisible killer toying with the blizzard’s captives by ticking off his victories on a grandfather clock, The Murder of Twelve is a great way to cool off while the summer heats up. Also, this installment seems tailormade for the theaters. If ever there was a time for an on-screen revival of the series, it’s now.
“Gonna be a killer for sure, Jessica.” What a classic opening line for a cozy mystery. Seth Hazlitt, Jessica’s long-time physician friend, smells a blizzard coming. And his nose is spot on. As the air cools and the sky darkens, Jessica, Seth and Sheriff Mort Metzger examine a dead body at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Cabot Cove. What looks like a suicide quickly proves to be murder — a dead private eye from Boston — hinting at more foul deeds ahead.
While Jessica and Mort dig into the detective’s life and death, the storm blows in, and so do twelve out-of-towners gathering for a wedding. They’ve booked the Hill House hotel, Jessica’s temporary home while she waits for her house to be rebuilt. The bride and groom are missing in the storm. The family members are snowed in at the hotel. And Jessica is trapped in the middle of it all. Worse, an unseen vandal is slowly defacing the hotel’s ancient grandfather clock. Each time a number is crossed off, someone dies.
Agatha Christie mysteries are known for their colorful casts, and Jon Land meets that standard well in The Murder of Twelve. Each wedding guest has a story that comes out in a well-paced fashion through dialogue and action. This includes the bride and groom, who are missing. The reader feels their presence, even though they are absent. The more the stories come out, the more motives we find, and it’s up to Jessica to unravel all the threads.
With vibrant characters, snappy dialogue, and an invisible killer toying with the blizzard’s captives by ticking off his victories on a grandfather clock, The Murder of Twelve is a great way to cool off while the summer heats up. Also, this installment seems tailormade for the theaters. If ever there was a time for an on-screen revival of the series, it’s now.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 255 reviews