Murder, She Wrote: Manuscript for Murder
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
Jessica Fletcher investigates a mysterious manuscript with deadly consequences in the latest entry in this USA Today bestselling series...
Jessica Fletcher has had plenty to worry about over her storied career, both as a bestselling novelist and amateur sleuth. But she never had any reason to worry about her longtime publisher, Lane Barfield, who also happens to be a trusted friend. When mounting evidence of financial malfeasance leads to an FBI investigation of Lane, Jessica can't believe what she's reading.
So when Barfield turns up dead, Jessica takes on the task of proving Barfield's innocence--she can't fathom someone she's known and trusted for so long cheating her. Sure enough, Jessica's lone wolf investigation turns up several oddities and inconsistencies in Barfield's murder. Jessica knows something is being covered up, but what exactly? The trail she takes to answer that question reveals something far more nefarious afoot, involving shadowy characters from the heights of power in Washington. At the heart of Jessica's investigation lies a manuscript Barfield had intended to bring out after all other publishers had turned it down. The problem is that manuscript has disappeared, all traces of its submission and very existence having been wiped off the books.
With her own life now in jeopardy, Jessica refuses to back off and sets her sights on learning the contents of that manuscript and what about it may have led to several murders. Every step she takes brings her closer to the truth of what lies in the pages, as well as the person who penned them.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Land's farfetched second entry in the Murder, She Wrote franchise (after A Date with Murder) takes mystery author Jessica Fletcher from Cabot Cove, Maine, to New York City, where her publisher, Lane Barfield, is eager to tell her about his latest acquisition: Benjamin Tally's first novel, The Affair. Lane says it's the best political thriller he's ever read, and he gives Jessica the manuscript to get her opinion. The next morning, at her Manhattan apartment, Jessica turns on the TV and learns that Lane is dead, an apparent suicide. On the train ride home, Jessica reads The Affair and realizes that Tally must have insider information about the current U.S. president's family, which includes her friend, First Lady Stephanie Albright. Jessica later goes to Washington, D.C., where she meets with Stephanie, President Robert Albright, and a couple of top aides, who are worried that Tally knows some family secrets that could be potentially damaging to the president. That Jessica winds up an unlikely action hero won't daunt series fans.
