Murder in Moscow - BookWyrm

302 pages

English language

Published Dec. 21, 1998 by Signet.

ISBN:: 978-0-451-19474-9

(2 reviews)

Mystery writer and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher visits Moscow as part of a delegation of US publishers planning to meet with their equivalents in Russia. Intended to be a friendly exchange of ideas. The objective? Assist the publishing industry as it emerges from the Soviet Union era, and help Russia succeed as a new democracy.

But the poisoning of a Moscow publisher, who may have possessed information which could topple the new government, changes everything and places Jess in a dangerous situation. The man was also her new Russian publisher; he was planning to translate her mysteries and bring them to a new audience. She turns to the American Embassy for help, only to discover that the United States government may be involved!

2 editions

hungrycat reviewed Murder in Moscow by Donald Bain (Murder, She Wrote, #10)

From Russia with scorn

1 star

I’m not sure where to begin, but know there are some light spoilers below. The best way to sum it up is that this isn’t a Murder, She Wrote novel. It’s a spy thriller disguised as a MSW novel. It was decently written—for a generic spy novel—but not for Jessica Fletcher. Despite being attached to the Commerce Department on this adventure, Jess herself ironically has zero agency, as she’s strung along by governments and subversive operatives the whole time. Jessica’s “decisions” in this book are actually just the cleverly disguised machinations of secretive government men. Nothing gets answered, Jessica plays the role of begrudging patriot, and a friendly face in the form of George Sutherland conveniently makes an appearance in the end to put everyone at ease. It was just a bunch of moving around from place to place with very little worthwhile actually happening.

This is also the second …

I’m not sure where to begin, but know there are some light spoilers below. The best way to sum it up is that this isn’t a Murder, She Wrote novel. It’s a spy thriller disguised as a MSW novel. It was decently written—for a generic spy novel—but not for Jessica Fletcher. Despite being attached to the Commerce Department on this adventure, Jess herself ironically has zero agency, as she’s strung along by governments and subversive operatives the whole time. Jessica’s “decisions” in this book are actually just the cleverly disguised machinations of secretive government men. Nothing gets answered, Jessica plays the role of begrudging patriot, and a friendly face in the form of George Sutherland conveniently makes an appearance in the end to put everyone at ease. It was just a bunch of moving around from place to place with very little worthwhile actually happening.

This is also the second time that clandestine, conspiratorial governments have taken center stage as the means and the culprit of the story. It’s overblown for a MSW. Jess is at her best with a close cast of characters and tension coming from what is at first a growing list of suspects that dwindles down. International intrigue doesn’t ring “cozy” or MSW to me. I didn’t even care about the murders. I just wanted Jess to get home so the book would end.

Dustin reviewed Murder in Moscow by Donald Bain (Murder, She Wrote, #10)

Review of 'Murder in Moscow' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I was not that impressed by this book. Usually there is an interesting murder (or more) and it is solved. Here, we learn about spies and murders happen, but that is it. Basically no explanations and only action scenes. Very disappointing to be left hanging like that.

Subjects

Fletcher, Jessica (Fictitious character) -- Fiction.