Hi all. My name is Jessica Fletcher and I can hardly describe how topsy-turvy the past twenty four hours have been.

Yesterday morning I was in Bethesda, Maryland at my all-time favorite mystery conference, Malice Domestic. I started the day having breakfast with Dru Ann Love, Shawn Reilly Simmons and a few other good friends. As usual, our conversation was lively, and more times than not we were all talking at once. It felt as if we were creating memories to shore up our friendships until the next time we could all be together. After breakfast we reluctantly split up to attend whatever panels had caught our interest. I selected “Short Stories in a Mysterious World” moderated by multi award winner, Art Taylor, who is one of my all-time favorite short mystery fiction writers. I wished I had time for a private chat with Art, but when the panel ended, he was surrounded by a crowd of admirers and the cab I had reserved to drive me to Union Station in Washington D.C. was due at the hotel entrance in a very few minutes. I had no choice but to hurry away.

An hour later I boarded a train to Columbia, South Carolina for what I expected to be a glorious few days of rest and relaxation with my old college chum, Dolores Nickens. To tell you the truth, Dolores has not had an easy time of it. I’d watched her life wander along a very bumpy road for decades. However, she had recently married her third husband, Willis Nickens, and seemed to be truly happy for the first time in years. I couldn’t wait to meet Willis and to hear all about Dolores’s idyllic married life.

Of course nothing is ever quite what it seems so I suppose I should not have been surprised that that when I met Willis, he was much gruffer than I expected. Stranger still, except for Dolores, everyone I met at my welcoming dinner seemed to walk on egg shells for fear of upsetting Willis. I suspected there could be grave consequences if one got on Willis’s bad side. At the end of the evening Dolores assured me that now that the social proprieties had been observed, we would have plenty of time to ourselves. So I didn’t expect Willis and his moods to affect me at all.

This morning, I woke, delighted at the thought of a short jog on the lovely grounds of Dolores’s palatial home, but my daily exercise was sadly interrupted when I discovered Willis Nickens’s lifeless body face down in Dolores’s beloved Koi Pond. So now as I stand here waiting for the deputy sheriff that the 911 operator assured me was on his way, I wonder how I can possibly break this tragic news to Dolores. As the song says, “What a difference a day makes”.

Murder She Wrote: Killing in a Koi Pond, A Murder She Wrote Mystery #53
Genre: Cozy
Release: June 2021
Purchase Link

When a friend’s husband dies while Jessica Fletcher is in town visiting, Jessica’s vacation turns into a murder investigation in this latest entry in the long-running USA Today bestselling series.

After traveling to Bethesda for a mystery writers’ conference, Jessica Fletcher decides she’s earned a vacation and takes a train to Columbia, South Carolina, to visit her old college friend Dolores, who has recently married her third husband, Willis Nickens, a wealthy and cutthroat businessman. They’ve moved into an opulent historic home with plenty of space for guests, and Jessica is ready for a week of shopping, gossiping, and relaxing at the grand estate.

But the morning after she arrives, Jessica discovers Willis facedown in the koi pond, and despite what the police think, she’s sure foul play is involved. She hadn’t known Willis long, but it’s clear to her that he didn’t concern himself with making friends. The question isn’t if her friend’s husband was murdered but by whom.

About the author
Terrie Farley Moran is the author of the beachside Read ‘Em and Eat cozy mystery series; co-author of Laura Childs’ New Orleans scrapbooking mystery series; and has published mystery short stories in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly Magazine and numerous anthologies. Her newest novel, Murder She Wrote: Killing in a Koi Pond, the latest in the long running Jessica Fletcher series, will be followed by Murder She Wrote: Debonair in Death in November 2021. She is a recipient of both the Agatha and the Derringer awards. You can find her on Facebook or her website at terriefarleymoran.com.

All comments are welcomed.