Who knew I was a “cozy” fan? I didn’t.
At least, not until I read several of Jon Land’s Murder, She Wrote novels. What sets these books apart from cozy mysteries is that they’re actually “cozy thrillers.” I love stories in which a female protagonist is rocking it (especially when she’s even older than me).
According to Land, who took over penning the books after the series’ previous author, Donald Bain, died in 2017, “Cozies have established formulas that were very difficult for me to emulate. What I created was something we can call the ‘cozy thriller.’ I’m striving to preserve what readers love most about Murder, She Wrote, while adding the pacing, suspense, and plotting they may have seen before in thrillers.”
Believe it or not, A Time for Murder (Berkley) is the 50th book in the Murder, She Wrote series. To commemorate the anniversary, Land introduces readers to a young Jessica Fletcher, taking us back 25 years to her first investigation.
Read the rest of my column at The Washington Independent Review of Books.
