Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Our fellow tea lover, Jessica Fletcher


When "Murder, She Wrote" with Angela Lansbury first came out in the eighties, I was in college and more interested in keeping up with Madonna and getting MTV installed in the dorms. As an adult, however, I have become quite the fan, and the DVDs of old episodes are my guilty pleasure for weekend viewing. When I learned that a series of cozy mysteries had been written by "Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain," I decided to try one, but frankly, I was skeptical. It would be very hard to capture that gracious character's wit and charm in a book, I thought. Over the weekend, I finished reading "A Slaying in Savannah," book number 30 of 43 in the series, and to my delight, it was wonderful! I could truly "hear" Jessica Fletcher saying that dialogue, and it didn't hurt that I decided to dive into the series with a book set in Savannah, a city with which I'm already familiar.

Something else I did not expect was all the tea references, as it became clear Jessica prefers tea and not coffee. Here are a few of the lines I noted:


• "'I was just making myself a cup of tea,''' I said, turning back to the stove. I removed the tea bag from my cup and threw it away. I resisted offering the Grogans any tea. It would mean a long conversation and I was feeling tired again."

• "Mrs. Goodall walked in a few moments later with a tray holding the ice pack, a cup of tea, and two cookies cut in the shape of a shamrock and sprinkled with green sugar."

• "The waiter delivered a pot of tea and a slice of Lady Baltimore cake, 'compliments of the baker.' 'He’s experimenting with a new recipe,' he said, placing the white cake with fluffy icing on the table."

I'm so happy that I have more of these books to look forward to. Are any of you fans of "Murder, She Wrote"?

7 comments:

  1. I recently caught a couple of episodes on a restful weekend. I did not kow these books existed! Can't wait to read a few. I can definitely see Jessica Fletcher being a tea drinker.

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  2. I am a fan, too. I rarely get to watch it anymore but one channel I get does show the reruns. And I have read several of the books and enjoyed them. It seems quite appropriate for Jessica to drink tea!

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  3. I love tea references in books. Thanks for sharing these. Oh yes, I use to watch Murder She Wrote long ago and enjoyed it. Haven't read any of the books.

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  4. I often watch the reruns of Murder She Wrote and know how soothing Jessica finds a up of tea.

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  5. Mrs. Fletcher rules! I used to watch Murder She Wrote with my grandfather.

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  6. I us d to watch with my grandparents. I'll look for the books.

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  7. Oh, yes...big time fan! I discovered the books a couple of years ago now I guess. I think I picked up the first one I read at Books-a-Million, hardback version for $5 or $6. Haven't been able to visit the store in a while, but I'm sure we could find them on their website and have them shipped directly to our doors. I might just have to go back and re-read the ones I have to see how many tea references I can find. This is going to be fun!

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