Jon Land is the prolific, award-winning, and USA Today bestselling author of 45 books, including the critically acclaimed Caitlin Strong series, among others. In addition to suspense / thriller fiction, he’s written a number of non-fiction books. After the death of Donald Bain, Jon took over the reins of the worldwide bestselling Murder She Wrote books, based on the long-running television series starring Angela Lansbury.
In the latest installment, Manuscript for Murder, Jessica Fletcher, bestselling novelist and part-time sleuth, realizes that a missing manuscript appears to be at the center of a series of unexplained deaths. Jessica’s search for answers immerses her in a shadowy underworld where everything—including her own life—is in jeopardy.
Mark Rubinstein: What was it like working with Donald Bain when you began collaborating on this series co-writing A Date with Murder?
Jon Land: The expectation was that I would work with Donald on a number of books, but his health deteriorated after our initial collaboration. Our brief contact revealed his passion for the series and the importance to him that the series continue. Both Don Bain and Berkley Books gave me the freedom to make the series my own. They didn’t micromanage me. They recognized that I brought something different to the series. Don understood that the Murder She Wrote books belong to millions of people, and I share that sentiment.
Before taking over the series, I’d never penned a mystery, or written in the first person or from the viewpoint of a non-action character. It’s given me the opportunity to explore new realms as a writer.
Speaking of mysteries, what are the differences between mysteries and thrillers?
The best way to encapsulate the differences is to say this: a mystery is about figuring out what happened. A thriller is about figuring out what’s going to happen and stopping it because the protagonist’s own life is often in jeopardy.
Although these are cozy mysteries about the familiar environs of Cabot Cove and have a lighter touch than most thrillers, I think I’ve brought a thriller element to Manuscript For Murder. In this third installment, Jessica’s life is in jeopardy. While Jessica is still doing what she always has—solving a mystery—I’ve lent a bit of a harder edge to the series. It now leans a bit more toward Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot series.
What kind of authorial commitment did you make when taking over the Murder She Wrote series?
When I took over the series, I wanted to bring a slightly newer slant to things. We came up with the idea that when I get to book fifty, in a book that will be called A Time for Murder, I’ll go back in time to when Jessica was a school teacher and solved her first murder. I don’t want to reinvent the series, but I want to bring it into the 21st century and write the series as though it was being initiated today. So I want to develop more of Jessica’s past and provide readers with a deeper insight into how Jessica became who she is today.
I know you’ve written about a female protagonist in the Caitlin Strong series. What is it like writing from a first-person woman’s perspective in the Murder She Wrote series?
You just highlighted the one thing that scared me when I took over the series. I’d never written in the first-person. I’ve written thrillers which tend to jump around between different points of view. But writing from Jessica’s first-person viewpoint presents a different challenge: I’m limited to what Jessica Fletcher knows and thinks.
At first, it was a bit intimidating, but to get a better handle on it, I read a few of the older books in the series and managed to find Jessica’s voice. I also got a good feel for Jessica’s character from watching the Murder She Wrote mysteries on Hallmark Mysteries. I watched one episode a day to capture some of the ambiance of the series and to gain some insight about Jessica Fletcher.
For the first time in my writing career, I had to ask myself what the protagonist was thinking in a specific moment. What is she holding back? What has she noticed?
Readers are going to see an evolution in the treatment of Jessica whereby I start to show more of her back story and to use more characters and plot points from the TV show. My version of Jessica Fletcher envisions the character as if the series was being made in 2018, rather than between 1984 and 1996.
Author Jon Land
How do you switch gears between Caitlin and Jessica. Does one character ever influence the other?
Wow, I love that question because it’s something I’ve never thought of before now. I actually think writing both has the potential to make each of them stronger (no pun intended!).
For Caitlin, that means stressing her keen investigative eye, making her the kind of expert at observation who sees what no one else can. For Jessica, I place her in the kind of jeopardy Caitlin sometimes finds herself in, only less frequently and not in quite as intense a fashion…meaning no gun fights! In that regard, I think Jessica will rub off on Caitlin more than Caitlin will rub off on Jessica. I don’t want to risk making the Murder She Wrote series skew a bit too much toward the thriller genre. I’m already walking a fine line between mystery and thriller, as evidenced by an upcoming review in BookTrib which proclaims Manuscript For Murder to be a “cozy thriller.” So maybe I’ve invented a new genre!
While penning the Murder She Wrote books, do you picture Angela Lansbury?
“The line between Jessica Fletcher and Angela Lansbury became more and more blurred as I wrote each successive book.”If the Ian Fleming estate came to me and asked me to write James Bond books, I would channel Sean Connery as Bond because there is only one James Bond, and that’s Sean Connery. He’s the quintessential Bond.
My version of Jessica Fletcher is Angela Lansbury, and her face is on the cover of all these books.
In Murder In Red, I will reference the fact that Jessica is five feet eight inches tall. Why? Because Angela Lansbury is five feet-eight. The line between Jessica Fletcher and Angela Lansbury became more and more blurred as I wrote each successive book.
Is it correct to say that you are melding the Jessica Fletcher of the books with Jessica of the television series?
Yes. I’m taking over a book series that has already had more installments—in books and television episodes—than Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes. So, many readers and TV viewers will have certain expectations of my version of Jessica Fletcher—because they picture Angela Lansbury. With that in mind, I want readers to have nostalgic feelings about Jessica; I hope they’ll have the same feelings they had when they sat down in front of the TV every Sunday night at 8:00 and turned on CBS. So, with that hope, I do my best to channel Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher.
Since her audience is older, elaborate on how you are working toward attracting a younger readership while still satisfying the older people who recall her from the TV series.
“Mysteries and thrillers don’t unfold in a vacuum; they reflect the realities of the world in which their characters live and interact.”That’s a terrific question and a challenge I struggle with all the time. I think it comes down to writing Jessica true to the way she would be today as opposed to the 1980s. When people say my approach to Murder She Wrote represents an “update” or a “reboot” I believe they’re referring to that. What makes these books “cozies” is a familiarity with the setting of Cabot Cove and the recurring characters who are greeted by readers like old friends. But I’ve added an “edge” to the series. People may forget that some of the best episodes from the TV series were pretty edgy in their own right. But the show went off the air a generation ago, and I think writing Jessica as a successful woman, living and working on her own, is the perfect template for where our culture stands today. Mysteries and thrillers don’t unfold in a vacuum; they reflect the realities of the world in which their characters live and interact.
Have you ever spoken with or had contact with Angela Lansbury?
Sorry to say I have not. But perchance to dream!
