Murder at the Powderhorn Ranch

April 1, 2019
When Mimi Van Dorn, a well-liked resident of Cabot Cove, Maine, collapses and dies without regaining consciousness in Land’s strong third contribution to the Murder, She Wrote franchise (after 2018’s Manuscript for Murder), mystery author Jessica Fletcher, who was a good friend of Mimi’s, notices some anomalies and is soon assisting Sheriff Mort Metzger in his investigation. She is suspicious of the Clifton Clinic, the new private hospital in town, where Mimi recently went for a simple procedure. Ads for the clinic tout its “cutting-edge treatments” and “regenerative medicine,” but the hospital’s director, Charles Clifton, refuses to answer her questions. When Jessica’s former beau, Scotland Yard inspector George Sutherland, checks into the same facility, she’s determined to ensure that he doesn’t also meet an early death. In her search for answers, Jessica plunges into the intricacies of clinical trials and eventually goes on a fact-finding excursion to Washington, D.C. The complex plot builds to a clever, if foreseeable, resolution. Land does a seamless job of maintaining the quality of this popular, long-running series.