Ellen here and I’m so happy to welcome my pal Terrie Farley Moran as a guest Chick. In addition to her impressive career as a solo mystery author and co-author of Laura Childs’ New Orleans Scrapbooking Mysteries, she’s now joined forces to write with “Jessica Fletcher!” Today, she’s going to tell us how she scored this awesome honor…
MURDER, SHE’S WRITING
My name is Terrie Farley Moran, author of Murder, She Wrote, Killing in a Koi Pond, the fifty-third book based on the long running television series MURDER, SHE WROTE, starring the inimitable Angela Lansbury. I am mega-excited to be hanging out today with everyone here at Chicks on the Case. And I am sending a very special thank you to my pal, writer extraordinaire Ellen Byron, for inviting me. I hope to see Ellen and many of you at Bouchercon NOLA this summer.
So, did you ever have a dream that was so preposterous, so unlikely, that you just knew it could never come true?
Well, let’s start at the beginning. The first episode of Murder, She Wrote appeared on American television in September 1984. And I was immediately hooked probably because, much as I love mysteries, I prefer them without excessive violence and interminable car chase scenes. For the next twelve years I watched Murder, She Wrote every Sunday evening without fail. (Thursdays in the final season.) My husband and my children referred to that inviolable time as Mom’s Hour. Even before the television series concluded, Donald Bain had begun writing the Murder, She Wrote books with a byline that read: Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain. As addicted as I was to the television show is it any wonder that the books were always at the top of my TBR list?
Years went by. I had a terrific career, followed by a second terrific career. Then I decided I wanted to write mysteries. I wrote a cozy mystery novel that went nowhere. While I was shopping it around and getting battered by rejections, the New York Tri-State Sisters in Crime Chapter put out a call for submissions for a short story anthology. I submitted a story called “Strike Zone” and was elated when it made the cut.
When I told my family the good news, my son said, “Excellent, Mom, or should I call you Jessica Fletcher?” Everyone laughed. Years went by. I wrote and sold more short stories, finally wrote some cozy mystery novels that were published (hooray!) and I was asked to co-write the New Orleans Scrapbooking series with the talented and prolific Laura Childs. Every time I had a new project, my son would congratulate me, always calling me Jessica Fletcher. I would blush and think if only.
At the very beginning of the pandemic lockdown, on Saint Patrick’s Day 2020, while I was listening to Irish music and baking Irish Soda Bread my telephone rang. I answered and my hardworking and talented agent, Kim Lionetti, asked if I would have any interest in becoming the next author of the Murder, She Wrote series. I said “Yes.” immediately. I am sure Kim wondered if I had lost my mind. She pressed, “Don’t you want to hear the terms before you decide?”
So, I let her run through her due diligence and explain all the contract terms to me, but I barely listened. I knew this was my dream come true. And my next phone call was to my son. I said, “Now, you can call me Jessica Fletcher!”
Readers, have you ever had a preposterous dream come true? If not, what dream would you love to see come true?
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Synopsis: 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 face-down 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.
Bio: Terrie Farley Moran is the author of Murder She Wrote: Killing in a Koi Pond, (June 8, 2021) the latest in the long running Jessica Fletcher series, to be followed this autumn by Murder She Wrote: Debonair in Death (November 2, 2021). She has also written the beachside Read ‘Em and Eat cozy mystery series, and is co-author of Laura Childs’ New Orleans scrapbooking mysteries. Her short stories have been published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly Magazine and numerous anthologies. Terrie is a recipient of both the Agatha and the Derringer awards.
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/terriefarleymoran
Website : www.terriefarleymoran.com
Thanks for your interesting and inspiring post, Terrie. I am convinced that the key to this business is persistence, which you have displayed in abundance. Congrats on your stint as Jessica Fletcher.
Tom, you nailed it. Persistence! And thank you for your good wishes.
Terrie, I love this story. Now everyone can call you Jessica Fletcher. Congratulations on your upcoming release.
Thanks so much, Dru.
Congratulations, Terrie. I truly think you were destined to write this series!
Thank you, Annette. I am working hard to do the series justice!
Terrie, what a great story! I too love the “Murder, She Wrote” series and am a proud owner of the entire series on DVD. I also love the books and am looking forward to reading this one. The show’s theme is also my phone ringtone for one of my friends whom I call “Jessica”. She is also an avid reader of cozy mysteries as well, attends the Malice Domestic in MD each year, and is the leader of our local Mystery Buffs book club that meets (pre pandemic) at the library.
I wish you great success with the series, and I’m looking forward to reading more of Mrs Fletcher’s adventures.
Carol
Hi Carol, we sure are a lot alike. Please tell your friend to look for me at the next “in person” Malice! I did not know there is a ring tone! How awesome!!
I will let her know. I got the ringtone on the app ZEDGE. It was free. I plan to go to the next Malice. Will look for you.
I didn’t know there was a MSW ring tone!
(Mine for years now has been the BBC Sherlock theme, ha.)
Cynthia, the BBC Sherlock Theme is my ringtone, too! But, I may have to get the Murder She Wrote ringtone for my VIP list! I didn’t know there was one.
I used to have the ring tone also!! (Now it is “Bewitched”–I alternate them, lol.)
There’s a ringtone?! I’ll have to look for that.
The ringtone is one I got on the app ZEDGE. I got Murder She Wrote and also the BBC music for Miss Marple, and Hercule Poirot.
Carol–it’s a date!! Suebbb–a ringtone would be awesome!! So glad carol told us about it!
How exciting it must have been to receive that phone call! Obviously you and Jessica Fletcher were destined to collaborate!
Marla, I was dancing around the house and jotting down plot ideas, calling my children and bragging to my grandkids! I nearly burned the Irish Soda Bread!
Marla, it was amazing!!!
Terrie, I am so excited for you! And thank you for being such a wonderful friend through my adventure. Hope to see you at a con someday soon. Sláinte!
Keenan, thanks so much. I, too, am glad that we are friends. the cons will open up and we will
be together soon!! Hugs.
First, I love Murder, She Wrote, the TV series. I haven’t read the Books, but I may read this one because it takes place in a historic home. I’ll still be buying it, read it or not, because my mom reads them and I buy them for her as gifts when they come out in paperback.
Suebbb, the paperback copies will be issued about six months after the hardbacks. Hug to Mom!
Congratulations! Such a fantastic story – such an exciting opportunity!
Thanks so much Kim. I do consider it the opportunity of a lifetime for me!!
Hooray for you, Terrie! Hooray for all of us readers, too!
Terrie & Jessica: the Dynamic Duo!!
Batman and Robin better watch out!!!
Incredibly awesome button-busting news. Have tons of fun. vb
Thanks, Vickie. I do feel like Jessica is whispering in my ear!
What an awesome story, Terrie. For me, just getting a single book published was a preposterous dream, never mind two series.
Liz, I thought my dream come true was my first published short story. You just never know!!
Liz,
That’s currently my preposterous dream- just one book published- just one!
Go for it, Tracy!
Keep dreaming and working Tracy. We’re all proof that it does happen!
Congrats! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with the books. I’ve been a long fan of the series although I haven’t read many of the books. Yet.
Mark, I hope you enjoy the books.
This is the coolest, Terrie! Loved hearing about your journey to Cabot Cove. Huge congratulations–this is mystery history in the making! xo
Thanks so much Cynthia!
Wow, what an honor–and one so well earned and deserved! Yay, you!! And we are so thrilled to have Terrie/Jessica visit the Chicks today! Thanks so much for visiting!
You are too kind!! I do feel honored and blessed every day!
Terrie!!! I love you!!
That is all.
xo.
Love you back!!
I’m so thrilled you got to do this! Your writing career keeps climbing pinnacles, for sure!
Thank you, Kaye. I don’t know if you remember the huge fire hydrant when we were at Paula Benson’s Conference in Columbia South Carolina, but that hydrant makes an appearance right in chapter one of MSW Killing in a Koi Pond!
I do remember the hydrant, and have the pictures to prove it. That’s very cool!
Congratulations, Terrie! I can’t wait to read the new book! It’s such a great feeling when dreams come true!!
Aww, Christi, thanks as always for your friendship and support of my writing!!
Congrats, Terrie! Since I had the honor of chatting with you at Malice, I can say I know Terrie Moran AND Jessica Fletcher personally! So excited to have you hanging out with us today on the Chicks!
Awww, Vickie, Jessica and I are thrilled to be here. Hopefully we three will have the opportunity to chat in person again as we wend our way out of this pandemic!!
OMGeepers, how exciting. Congrats! My grandmother and I used to watch this show each time it came on and then reruns whenever we could 😀 Blessings and honor, Christine C Sponsler
Hi Christine, thank you so much. I am now a grandmother and love watching tv with my grandkids. You did her a great honor and gave her much joy I am sure.
What a fabulous story, Terrie (I mean, Jessica) ! So exciting that you reached a huge dream of yours! Thank you for being on the Chicks today.
(I would love to win an Agatha or be on a bestseller list. One can dream high, right?)
Hi Christine, thank you so much. I am now a grandmother and love watching tv with my grandkids. You did her a great honor and gave her much joy I am sure.
Hi Jennifer, I will let you in on a secret, Jessica and Terrie were both in their shall we say “mature” years when they started writing, so by all means DREAM HIGH–you have the time and the talent.
As did she. I was beyond fortunate to have my grandmother until I was 42 😀 Now I am a Nana, but do not get to visit my 6 grandkiddos much. Hopefully soon. BTW, have a super fun time with those beautiful grandkiddos of your 😀
It’s gonna happen, Jen! Bet on it.
Exciting to hear you are becoming “Jessica”. Hope to see you next year at Malice Domestic in Maryland!
Beth, Malice for sure!!
How I adore this post, Terrie! I’m a huge Jessica fan–and a fan of you as well. Congrats on your new Cabot Cove life, and thanks so much for visiting us Chicks. If you’re interested, I wrote a post here on Chicks a while back about Jess, lol: https://chicksonthecase.com/2019/09/23/the-romance-of-jessica-fletcher-2/
Lisa, What a terrific post! I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks so much for sharing!!!
Sounds like you were destined to take over the series. Look forward to reading it.
Sue, I hope you enjoy the books!
Terrie, this might be my favorite dream-come-true story EVER! How absolutely and delightfully incredible!! Maybe you could have your name legally changed to Terrie Jessica Fletcher Farley Moran. Sure it would be tough to fill in those little boxes on forms, but worth it!
Thanks for visiting us! <3
Kathleen, it is my pleasure to be here and it is especially writers who understand that dream!
So wonderful!! Terrie, I can’t wait to read Murder She Wrote: Killing in a Koi Pond.
Thanks so much Susan!