A little while ago a question came through the website regarding whether MSW canon ever established a date for Jessica’s birthday. David wrote:

"Just a quick question, hopefully. When is Jessica's birthday? The Wikipedia entry [on Jessica] says November 21, 1930, but the episode "Dead Heat" has Jessica herself saying that her astrological sign is Pisces, which would make her birthday sometime in between February 20 and March 21. Is this a continuity error?"

I had seen that little factoid on Wikipedia myself. For those that haven’t, here is the relevant paragraph, which asserts the November 21^st date but acknowledges the contradictory statements made over the course of the series:

Her birthday is November 21, which would make her birth sign probably Sagittarius, possibly Scorpio. However, at the end of the episode "Dead Heat", Jessica is asked what her astrological sign is, to which she answers that she is a "Pisces, the last time I looked,” which means that she had to be born sometime between February 19 and the vernal equinox around March 20. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Fletcher)

I’ve always wondered where the entry’s author got the notion that Jessica’s birthday was the 21^st of November. It’s possible that it is a bit of trivia from an episode that I haven’t seen in forever and simply don’t remember, or it could be a misinterpretation of some other significant date, but without a cited source I can’t say for sure.

But I digress. I wrote back to David, sharing what I have always figured to be true:

"Jessica's birthday is ambiguous. You are right that the Wikipedia entry conflicts with what she states to be her birth sign in "Dead Heat." The notion that she is a Pisces is supported (though not definitively proved) by the fact that the 8th season episode "To the Last Will I Grapple With Thee," in which she celebrates her birthday, first aired on March 15th. But I don't think there was ever a set date of birth for her character, so the writers made it a movable feast."

The fact that there was no canonical date was the reason I felt free to pick a date of my own choosing to use in my fan fiction, April 15^th, the day that MSW first began filming in 1984 and, conveniently enough, also the day it concluded filming twelve years later.

But I digress again. The conversation took an interesting turn when David responded to my response. Turns out that David has “been doing astrology charts and interpretations for years as a hobby,” and he had given considerable thought to what Jessica’s theoretical chart would look like. Here’s what he had to say:

"Astrologically, the Scorpio/Sagittarius cusp works really well, a detective who loves to travel around the world and is physically able, insightful, and probes mysteries, and constantly surrounded by death. It all fits, astrologically. But she did say she was a Pisces, and I would rather go with words straight from the mouth of JBF."

There’s problems with going with what Jessica said, however:

"It doesn't make sense that Jessica would be a sun sign Pisces. Pisces is a mutable water sign, which would make her a follower, uncertain, hesitant, sensitive, dreamy, intuitive, spiritual, imaginative, empathic, retiring, and forgiving. It is not that you couldn't have a detective with these qualities, but they certainly don't describe JB, especially if this was her sun sign. She would have to have some very strong mitigating influences in her chart, primarily with the placement of her moon and ascendant to give the qualities that we are familiar with. If her sun was in Pisces, I would expect her Mercury to be in Aquarius, and her Venus in Taurus, to begin to make sense of her Pisces sun sign, and then I would expect her Ascent and Moon to be in Scorpio or Sagittarius to help round out her character, and have strong 3rd (communication and education), 8th (mystery, sex, death), and 9th (travel and higher learning) house placements."

David then went on to draw up an astrological chart for Jessica, assuming a Pisces birth sign, 1930 for the year of her birth and somewhere in or around Portland, Maine for where she was born. It’s a very complicated chart, loaded with data and yet aesthetically beautiful; I’m not going to try and reproduce it here. But the long and the short of it, according to David, was that the chart not only validated that she could indeed be a Pisces, but also ...

"It explains her career as teacher, writer, fame and fortune, all of her many, many friends, extraordinary good luck for her, and bad luck for those who are around her, quick wits, undercover roles, and her sudden insights gleaned from innocent conversations."

Makes sense to me.

Posted by jesmaine at 8:28 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 17 July 2008 8:34 PM EDT

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Last week I shared pearls of wisdom gleaned during my family's week-long sojourn in Eireann. Today I move on to the second half of our trip, the week we spent in London, England, and share some things I observed there.

- London is much larger than Dublin, but no less an image of the U.N. For reasons I can’t quite explain, the tourists were a lot easier to pick out – maybe I was just getting better at spotting tourists.

- Unlike Ireland, which has one national rail service, British rail service is divvied up among several private rail companies. This makes figuring out how to take the train from London to, say, Dover more difficult, because first you have to figure out which rail carrier goes there, and then figure out the schedule from there. If you are starting in without any knowledge of what rail companies go where, as we were, this is not easy – even with the internet to help.

- London still uses the “famed black taxis” celebrated by Donald Bain. They are truly a breed of automobile apart. They are still mostly black, although a growing number now sport flashy advertisements splashed across their sides. The rear compartment for passengers is so roomy because the seats are all the way in the back of the vehicle, where the trunk ordinarily would be. In addition, there are fold down jump seats, one behind each front seat, so that up to four people can share one cab in cavernous comfort.

- I was very, very glad that I was never called upon to drive a car in London. Those who do drive there must have great courage to do so – between the bus lanes, the rotaries (“circuses”), and the reckless behavior of bicyclists, motorcyclists, and scooter riders, it looks very complicated and hazardous, definitely not for the cautious or faint of heart. On the whole, it seemed to me that driving in London was harder than even driving in Boston, and for those who know what Boston traffic is like, you know I do not say this lightly.

- London is scattered with parks, some of which are quite large. Regents Park and Hyde Park, for instance, are huge, much larger than I pictured them being, and it takes quite a long time to walk across them.

- England, at least the parts of southern England that we visited, seemed more densely populated than Ireland. Nevertheless it too is a place of great beauty that I very much want to visit again. And next time I want to make a point of going to Scotland as well.

MSW episodes set in England:

-         Sing a Song of Murder (season 2)

-         The Corpse Flew First Class (season 3) – well, most of this episode took place on a transatlantic flight from Boston to London, but it ends up at London’s Heathrow Airport

-         It Runs in the Family (season 4)

-         The Szechuan Dragon (season 6) – while most of the action was happening in Cabot Cove, Jessica was periodically checking in from London, and solved the murder from there

-         Tinker, Tailor, Liar, Thief (season 8)

-         Murder in White (season 10)

Posted by jesmaine at 10:28 AM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 22 June 2008 10:30 AM EDT

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My husband, my parents and I just got back from a two week sojourn in the British Isles: one week in Ireland, and one week in England. In a two-part blog, I’ll share some of the things I learned from my visits to these two countries.

- Jet lag is real. Most flights to the British Isles from the east coast of the US leave in the early evening, fly five or six hours overnight, and land in Ireland or Britain the next morning. But “the next morning” over there is five or six hours (depending on daylight savings time) later than the time in the Eastern Time Zone, so to the weary traveler it feels like the very wee hours of the morning back home – say, one or two o’clock in the morning. Unless you were able to grab a few hours of fitful sleep on the plane, by the time you reach the place where you are staying you’ve been up for as much as twenty hours. This is the consequence of jet lag. If you take a nap as soon as possible and then take the rest of your cues from the daylight, it passes fairly quickly – or at least it did for me.

- There is a lot of daylight over here in the spring and summer. The sun sets much later than it does in lower latitudes, which means that there is still plenty of twilight left even as late as ten o’ clock in the evening. The sun seems to rise earlier too – like around four thirty in the morning.

- Temperatures are surprisingly warm. The average during my stay was around twenty degrees Celsius, which is about seventy degrees Fahrenheit – perfect shorts weather, and very comfortable. And those rumors about palm trees growing in southern Ireland? They’re true. They’re small palms, not giant Florida-type palms, but hey, a palm’s a palm, right?

- Dublin is a living, breathing United Nations. People from all nationalities are here, and of all the languages you hear spoken on the street, English can be one of the rarer ones. It is also a very young city – at a glance, most of the populace appears to be under thirty. In order to get a feel for “old Ireland,” you need to find a way to get out of the city and into the countryside.

- When you order a hamburger at a McDonald’s in Ireland (and yes, we did go into one, because we were looking for a snack that was relatively cheap and relatively familiar), what you get is a lot greasier than what you’d see in the US.

- Ireland really is the emerald isle. You can find every kind of green in the countryside. It’s stunningly beautiful … and I can’t wait to go back.

MSW episodes set in Ireland:

-         The Wind Around the Tower (season 9)

-         A Killing in Cork (season 10)

-         Another Killing in Cork (season 11)

-         Nan’s Ghost, parts 1 and 2 (season 12)

-         The Celtic Riddle (post-season movie)

Posted by jesmaine at 8:58 PM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 22 June 2008 10:29 AM EDT

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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – more commonly called Lou Gehrig’s Disease after it’s most famous sufferer – is perhaps one of the cruelest diseases known to medicine. For reasons still not fully understood, the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement shrivel and die. As this happens a person’s muscles become weaker and more atrophied until at last they cannot move at all. The heart keeps beating and the mind keeps working, but a person afflicted with ALS is doomed to eventually becoming a prisoner trapped within their own body. Although there are some therapies that can slow down the progression of the disease, there is no cure.

Complications from ALS claimed the life of Angela Lansbury’s half-sister Isolde Denham in 1987. To honor her, Angela offered her talents to the ALS Association and is featured in three public service announcements (two for radio, one for television) designed to make people aware of the disease and encourage them to donate to the cause of research to find a cure.

The PSA produced for television is particularly compelling in its stark imagery. Trading heavily on Angela’s best-known role as Jessica Fletcher, there is a distinct Murder, She Wrote feel to the analogy of ALS as the unseen – and presumably unavoidable – bullet. “If you don’t know anything about ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, know this: it attacks your body,” Angela, seated on a plain wooden stool in a featureless grey space, says. As she speaks a gun is raised, aimed at her, and fired – but the bullet travels at an agonizingly slow speed. “Eventually your body will stop working - your legs, arms, your lungs – but your mind still works. You know what’s coming but you can’t do anything about it.” Her point is illustrated by the deliberate path of the bullet, of which she is still seemingly unaware. “But with your support in funding for global research the ALS Association can help people with ALS …” – here she moves aside just in time for the bullet to slam harmlessly into the wall behind her – “do this.” And she stands up and walks away, having “dodged the bullet” of Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

It’s a well-crafted PSA, no less remarkable for how much memorable information it delivers in such a short space of time. If you haven’t see it on television you can find it on YouTube, and I encourage you to do so – it really needs to be seen to be appreciated. There is also a behind the scenes accompanying video that describes how the project came to be. Isolde, I think, would be proud.

Posted by jesmaine at 5:09 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 28 May 2008 5:10 PM EDT

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I found an interesting article in the online New York Times this evening, about how the dramatic drop in crime in New York City has caused a backlash of sorts for one segment of the population: mystery writers. These writers, used to having a plethora of crimes in every morning newspaper to draw inspiration from, are finding that a safer New York is, for them at least, a more boring New York.

The article, cleverly tagged “Murder, She Once Wrote,” (written by Gregory Beyer in the May 25^th, 2008 New York Times) describes how various crime authors have coped with the phenomenon. Some, citing that their old styles of writing about rampant street violence would no longer ring true for New Yorkers who know better, have changed the focus of their novels from murder to other crimes that are relevant to these times – terrorism, for instance, or real estate fraud. Others have used the fact of a safer New York to add to the shock value when violent death does manage to occur in the gentrified neighborhoods of their books.

Still others haven’t really changed their writing, reasoning that for the people who actually buy and read their books, the New York City of their imaginations is just as dangerous and gritty as it always was. “Most of those books that are set in New York aren’t selling here — they’re selling in Idaho. What the heck do they know?” quipped one publisher in the article. He may have a point – although I have friends who live in New York who I’m certain can attest otherwise (Sarah – I’m looking forward to your comments on this article), to me, a small town Mainer, the Big Apple still seems like a very scary place, if only because it’s so huge. The dramatic drop in murders from 2245 in 1990 to 494 in 2007 notwithstanding, any place that gargantuan can’t be safe, right?

The end of the article has a small send-up of MSW book series author Donald Bain. Apparently while he was in New York as the keynote speaker for the Mystery Writers of America’s meeting in January, he told a nostalgic tale about the old days in the city – nostalgic, that is, if you miss a time when gangsters sent their goons out to make sure your daughter got home safely.

There are many reasons, I’m sure, why New York City is safer now than it was in the early 1990’s, but it was surprising to me that no one in the article mentioned the most obvious reason why this should be so: Murder, She Wrote ended its twelve year run in 1996 and Jessica, having taught criminology at Manhattan U. for five years, presumably left New York and moved back to Maine. Coincidence? I think not.

Posted by jesmaine at 8:33 PM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 25 May 2008 8:34 PM EDT

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This blog posting is about sex. Now that I have your attention, let me clarify: it’s about what happened when I dared to explore the topic of Jessica’s sexuality in my fan fiction writing, and why this subject strikes a nerve with so many readers.

Because reading a story or book requires active imagination on the part of the reader, it is easy to start to identify with the protagonist. We look for reflections of our values and attitudes in them, and we’re disappointed when they prove to be other than our ideal, at least to a certain degree. This is of no consequence for characters that are purely the product of the author’s imagination – after all, who is the reader to challenge the writer’s presentation of their own creation? But it becomes more problematic in the realm of fan fiction, where authors borrow characters not of their own making with already established identities. The presentation of that character in the resulting fanfic will be a reflection of how one person - the author - sees him or her, a vision that will likely ring true for some and false for others. The volume of the praise or criticism that follows is largely determined by how closely the author hews to the reader’s own opinion of the character, and the context in which the author’s use (or abuse) of the character occurs.

I set myself up for a textbook demonstration of this principle when I wrote my MSW fan fiction story “On a Midsummer Eve.” After becoming frustrated with Donald Bain’s officially sanctioned books that seemed doomed to leave Jessica’s relationship with George Sutherland in a platonic limbo forever, I chose to write a story that addressed the subject of where the relationship, if set free, potentially could go head-on. And believe me, I have found that nothing stirs up readers more than when you mix sex with a well-established and beloved character.

How Jessica herself would respond to the subject if she were a real person is a matter of debate, although I think her characterization in the series provides enough clues to allow one to make an educated guess. Although in the earliest years of the series Jessica was portrayed as being a bit on the tweedy, old-fashioned side, as time went by her image became more refined with more care taken in her wardrobe and appearance. This was almost entirely Angela Lansbury’s doing: although Peter S. Fischer, who created the character, wanted to keep Jessica as something of a throwback to a simpler time in simpler places, in Angela’s opinion, “People didn’t want to see me looking frumpy. Women didn’t and neither did men.”(1) She later went on to add that her character was “a pretty good piece of feminine goods as far as I’m concerned.”(2) Jessica was attractive to men and she knew it, even if she didn’t flaunt the fact or use it as a means to an end. She was also clearly portrayed as open-minded and non-judgmental, or as Peter Fischer described her, “decent, fair-minded, unbigoted, warm … sunny without being a goody two-shoes. Forgiving of flaws, but not namby-pamby or corny. There’s still some steel there.”(3) 

Jessica’s romantic life was one area of her character that was consistently avoided by the series. Angela Lansbury didn’t feel comfortable portraying Jessica in such scenes, and preferred that she remain “a woman alone.” As for Peter Fischer, he recognized that the show was a mystery, not a soap opera: “A romance would get in the way of the story, and serious one would spoil the arc of the series.”(4) But just because MSW eschewed the topic of romance doesn’t necessarily mean that Jessica herself would if the circumstances were right. And once Donald Bain was allowed to introduce the character of George Sutherland, the Pandora’s box was opened wide, at least in the imaginations of the fans, and most vividly so in the imaginations of fan fiction writers. The result of my own vision of following that imaginary thread was “Midsummer Eve” and the stories that followed.

I had flirted with the subject of George and Jessica’s relationship and the possibility that it could take a more interesting turn some years ago when I wrote the first story of what eventually became the “Legends and Songs” trilogy, “The Banks of Loch Lomond.” In that story I ultimately chose to play it safe (for the record: nothing happened that night in the cabin). When I started writing “Midsummer Eve” my intention was to ratchet up the temptation, but I honestly did not know to what kind of ending that would lead, at least not at first. It was not until a bout of insomnia at three o’clock in the morning led to my writing a purely experimental passage that I decided that I would attempt to break the “sex barrier.”

The decision was not made lightly. The “3 AM passage” (as I took to calling it) was rewritten and rewritten again as I sought to convey the power and beauty of a couple’s first intimate encounter in language that was as tasteful and inoffensive as possible. It was not enough for Jessica and George to respect each other in the morning; I had to respect them both as well. But in the end I was happy with what I wrote – in my opinion it was in keeping with the spirit of the characters, responsible adults capable of making considered choices for themselves independent of the dictates of society or other outside institutions. Furthermore it had a certain feel of “rightness” to it that made the whole story seem as though it was meant to culminate in this moment. What I was less certain of was how the people reading it would feel about it.

My trepidation was because “On a Midsummer Eve” was a ‘first’ in more ways than one: not only was it my first attempt at including a scene involving intimacy in a story, it was also the first story to be found anywhere in MSW fanficdom that crossed the line on that topic. I was more than a little nervous about this, which is why I made readers navigate through a disclaimer page on the website before they could get to the story itself. The disclaimer forewarned what was to come, and also begged readers to cool down for 24 hours after reading it before flaming me with the angry e-mails I was certain would follow.

Much to my surprise, the flaming e-mails never materialized. As of this posting I have since written three more stories of “questionable virtue,” those being “The Prayer of St. Brendan,” “Come as You Are,” and “Inner Demons” (written for the FanFic 100 challenge). The vast majority of comments about these stories have been positive if not downright enthusiastic, with only a few reviewers expressing reservations about whether it was in character for Jessica to be engaging in an intimate relationship outside of wedlock.

The impressions of all the reviewers are, of course, all equally legitimate, because how a reader is impressed by a story – or, in this context, a particular element of a story – is informed in large part by individual taste, and in even larger part by their own vision Jessica’s character, which, in turn, is to at least some degree a reflection of their own individual values and attitudes. The only opinion that I would not view favorably is the absolute opinion that denies the possibility of any other interpretation. All of our visions of Jessica are, to some extent, subjective – no one of us has a monopoly on who she is or what she would or would not do. As I said in my author’s notes to “Midsummer Eve," this is why fan fiction is such a wonderful thing: “since none of it is ‘official,’ we can all dabble in our own alternate realities without worrying about wrecking the canon, and in the fan fiction universe, no particular philosophy reigns supreme.

“Whatever you think about it, in the end, of course, it’s nothing more than one story written by one person.”

(1) Angela Lansbury: A Life on Stage and Screen by Rob Edelman and Audrey E. Kupferber p 219

(2) AL: A Life on Stage and Screen p 235

(3) Balancing Act: The Authorized Biography of Angela Lansbury by Martin Gottfried p 270

(4) Balancing Act p 276

Posted by jesmaine at 3:48 PM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 24 May 2008 5:11 PM EDT

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This past Friday, May 9th, Angela Lansbury was the commencement speaker for the graduation exercises of the University of Miami's College of Arts and Sciences. As part of the ceremony she was also given the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. You can see her receiving her honorary degree and deliver her commencement address at the University of Miami's commencement website - in the May 2008 Commencement Webcast Archives section click on the fourth one down labled "Friday, May 9th, 5 p.m." You'll need RealPlayer installed on your computer in order for the webcast to load and play. Angela's honorary degree and speech start around minute 34 if you want to skip ahead. Be sure to listen to university President Donna E. Shalala's introduction - aside form it being a well-composed recap of her biography, it has a couple of humorous moments in it as well.

 

[Angela receives her honorary degree from President Donna Shalala]

After listening to Angela's commencement address, which I thought was very well done, I went back and played it a second time so I could type up a written transcript of the speech. So you don't have to do the same, here it is for you to read:

"Good evening to you all! As someone who never complete high school, you can imagine how enormously proud I am to receive this honor. I fear that I was a dreamer, my eyes always on the sky and the world outside the classroom window. My mind was always lost in the world of my imagination, so much more fulfilling and entertaining. Well, here I am today, graduating with all of you, and it feels great!

"You know, I was so honored to receive the invitation from President Shalala to come here, and I did not quite realize what I was getting myself into. When I had the opportunity to think about it, it dawned on me that I was going to have to address you all, and I was quickly humbled as tried to figure out what to say to you, what would mean something and what might be of help to you. In today’s world it is no small challenge to try and think of what to say to young students as they sit here facing life after college. Dear God, what’s next? It might be the equivalent of being pushed out of an airplane at 30,000 feet without a parachute, all the time hoping that you will land alive and well in a dream job and a career of a lifetime. Believe me, I remember the feeling.

"Numerous times I am asked by students how I achieved my success as an actress. Of course, every generation has its own standards of accomplishment, of setting goals, so comparisons are not always the best idea. My young life, after all, was lived during tumultuous world events – the Great Depression of the 1930's, the rise of Hitler, World War II, the Holocaust – so my generation was literally propelled into learning how to survive and succeed at keeping body and soul together during the huge and often devastating events that took place at that time, events which I imagine are very hard for some of you to conceive in today’s world, but unfortunately we have our own set of tumultuous events going on  as we all know. But each person has his unique set of circumstances, and all of us have God-given talents: for you and for me, happily it is in the arts. I was blessed, thank God, with a gift to act from on the onset, and fortunately that talent was coupled with a fact that I simply believed that I could do it, and with my mother’s help I began the process of learning everything I could about the theater arts – voice, dancing, ballet dancing tap dancing, classical theater techniques, singing, voice production, and first in London and then later on in New York, when I was aided by the great American Theater Wing who helped me to get a scholarship at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art. One of the first real thrills for me was the very first moment for dressing up in the costumes, the wigs, the make-up as I got to transform myself into the character that I was going to be playing. To this day when I am cast in a role, you know the first thing I think about it is, what would this woman look like? What kind of clothes would she buy for herself? What could she afford to buy? Because it is vital for an actor to feel comfortable and 'in character' when he or she steps out on to that stage as someone other than themselves. Because we leave ourselves at home – at least I always attempt to do that. It’s a good thing to remember: leave yourself at home when you go on an interview or you’re going to try out for a role, don’t bring your fears with you, leave them at home. I mention this because it is all part of the artistic process, the learning, the knowledge one must have, as it were.  Because we are artists, whether an actor like me, or a writer, a painter, designer, sculptor, poet, musician. No matter which field, it is so important that we learn and keep learning everything possible about what it is that we want to do. Auntie Mame loftily proclaims, 'Knowledge is power.' Well, we talk a lot about keeping an open mind, but an open mind to what? I mean, what is there out there that floats our boat? How can we be certain about anything unless we open our minds to absolutely everything that is out there, not just through the internet but by soaking up books, movies, theater, music, literature, art, other people, simply everything. We never know where our inspiration will come from. Don’t think for a minute that you can sit back and say to yourselves, 'I’m ready.' Your learning process is just beginning in the real world of achievement. Be curious. Ask questions. Don’t settle for the given. Have an opinion, create goals, dream, imagine, visualize, and then prepare to accept, to receive, and to achieve. Be ready.

 

[Angela delivering her commencement address to the Class of '08]

"The great writer and Nobel laureate Doris Lessing said, 'Ask any modern storyteller and they will say that there is always a moment when they are touched with fire and what we like to call inspiration, and this goes back and back to the beginning of our race, fire and ice and the great winds that shape us and our world. The storyteller is deep inside every one of us. The storyteller is always with us. Let us suppose our world is attacked by war, by the horrors that we, all of us, easily imagine. Let us suppose floods wash through our cities – it happens too often, I’m afraid - the seas rise but the story teller will be there, for it is our imaginations which shape us, keep us and create us for good and for ill. It is our stories, the storyteller, that will recreate us when we are torn, hurt, even destroyed. It is the storyteller, the dream maker, the myth maker, that is our feelings, what we are at our best, when we are most creative.' She speaks to the artist that we all are or aspire to be. She is speaking to you and me.

"Well, no one in a commencement speech can even begin to cover all the important things that you will need to know in life, and on this special day even if I told you every single thing that you ever needed to know, which I couldn’t because I’m not smart enough really to be able to do that, or that you might want to know, it would be impossible to absorb them in the excitement of today. However, before I finish there are a couple of things I want to emphasize: be all that you can be. Seek all the knowledge that you can. And do all the things that you can in the best way possible for you and for humanity. So that’s what I want to talk to you about, being more, always more. To be more, to seek out and understand the things that you would love to do more than anything in life, then go for it. Be aware of risk and be prepared for hard work and maintain belief in yourself. There will be times when fear will drive you off course, but it has been said that fear is false evidence appearing real, and the antidote is face everything and recover. In this case “recover” is recovering or discovering - in this case, as I said, the person you were meant to be. It is a life-long journey full of good and bad and everything in between but when it is done it will be the right journey and it will always be full. To be more you need to know more, more about yourself, more about others, more about the world. Be curious, seek knowledge, never stop learning and never stop listening, and have that open mind. Of course the last thing is the doing. Nothing can be accomplished without making the move, taking the action, and always do that so that it honors you, the planet, and everyone else on it.

"So as you stand here on this airplane dreading at the very least about the drop that happens next, have faith, take the leap. You will be surprised at the wings that you will grow and how many nets and outstretched hands will appear to speed you and help you along the way. And if you want to know where to go, just look around: the world is full of incredible opportunities that will enable you to do the good thing and enable you to be more, always more. And you will become more, and you will lift those around you as well. We look around and we see disease and war, poverty, hunger, and be tempted to despair and ask, is there really goodness or a spirit or a higher power in the universe, or whatever you might choose to call it? You may ask how all this can be allowed to happen – what is the purpose, where is the goodness in such things? Well, I will tell you that the purpose and the goodness in these things is what you as an individual do about them. There is the purpose and the goodness. So from the bottom of my heart I want to applaud every single one of you who is graduating today. You are leaving the University of Miami with the reputation as the best and the brightest class to graduate from this institution. Bravo, brava! The memories you’ve created you leave to each other and those who have spent time with you. It is an accomplishment of which you can be very proud and one for which your families and your friends can be proud as well. I salute you all. And remember, the only important expectations are your own. Yes, you will have to face the hopes and expectations of others – your families, your friends – but don’t let others limit your dreams or ambitions, and don’t worry if your dreams are not yet fully formed. I suspect for many of you they haven’t begun to surface and they won’t until you have the opportunity to taste the plethora of possibilities that are out there if you will only open your minds and your hearts to them. Everything is possible – this is just the beginning.

Posted by jesmaine at 2:10 PM EDT

Updated: Monday, 12 May 2008 2:24 PM EDT

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***SPOILER WARNING! If you haven't read Murder on Parade by Donald Bain yet, and you don't want to know what happens, then don't read this post until you're finished! Consider yourself warned! ***

In Postcard #5 I addressed the episode early in the last MSW book, Panning for Murder, in which Jessica was held at knifepoint by an obviously deranged person that had absolutely no connection with the main plot of the book. Now Murder on Parade has come out, and once again, relatively early on, there is an episode involving yet another deranged individual (drug-addled, this time, instead of mentally ill) wielding a knife who has absolutely no connection with the main plot of the book. Is it just me, or do I spot a trend?

It's true that unlike the questionable scene in Panning for Murder, the attempted mugging scene does serve some purpose in the larger scheme of the book. It helped define the character of Dr. Boyle (while at the same time reassuring the reader that he is, in fact, a real doctor), and gave Rick Alcott a chance to demonstrate that there's still a lethal G-man behind that unassuming exterior. But was all the bloodletting necessary?

The fact that Seth was seriously injured was, it turned out, irrelevant to the larger question of whether or not he would retire from practicing medicine in Cabot Cove - the theme of the otherwise very effective (and moving) B plot.  It gave Jessica a chance to meet Dr. Boyle up close and personally, but she'd already met him in Chapter 1 and formed an opinion of him long before that. Yes, I supposed we all got the opportunity to see what a jerk Boyle was when he self-promoted himself after helping Seth, but we knew he was a jerk anyway, so I don't know that this was necessary. The mere fact that the attack occured at all underscored the point that Cabot Cove is changing - Seth didn't need to get slashed to prove that point. And as it turned out the punk didn't have any connection to Lennon Diversified or the rest of the A plot in any way, a fact that puts him into the same category as the knife wielding maniac in Panning.

Coincidence? I'm not sure.

Posted by jesmaine at 8:51 PM EDT

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It's been a momentous spring, to be sure, what with Murder on Parade, the Complete Eighth Season DVD set, and the UK release of the Complete Seventh Season DVD set all coming out at the same time. And don't get me wrong - I'm thrilled about all of this. But the Complete Eighth Season, the subject of this post, did leave me disappointed in certain respects, and apprehensive over the possibility that after steadily increasing in quality, the DVD sets may have peaked and taken a downward turn.

There are no extras in this DVD set, you see. There were in the last couple of sets - interviews, and retrospectives - but nothing at all in this set. And why are there no extras? A full six months has elapsed since Season Seven was released; could no bonus materials be found in all that time?

The other change - not as disappointing, but not terribly reassuring - is that on the menu pages there are no screen capture images. Pick an episode, and unlike in all the other previously released sets there is no opportunity to jump to a specific chapter within that episode. Overall, there seems to be a general lack of effort shown in the preparation of this DVD set. On the plus side, at least they have not devolved to the point that they have gone back to those awful double-sided DVDs.

I suppose we'll have to see what the Complete Ninth Season brings.

Posted by jesmaine at 8:52 PM EDT

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If you've been watching The Definitive Guide's homepage, you know that I recently posted "The Final Chapter - Behind the Scenes," a fan fic I co-wrote with Stephanie essentially consisting of outtakes from the original story (see if you can guess who wrote what).  The occasion meant that I had the chance to reread "The Final Chapter" for the first time in a long while. It's the first fan fic I ever wrote, nearly twelve years ago, the summer after MSW ended. As many of you no doubt recall, the series ended quietly with the episode "Death by Demographics," an episode that was not particularly stand-out in any way. As a rational person, I could understand the cast and crew's desire to wrap things up without much fanfare, but as a fan I couldn't help but be disappointed. "The Final Chapter" was the result of disappointment being channeled into creativity.

I've had over a decade to reflect on how MSW ended since then, and I am no longer convinced that a big blow-out series finale episode would have been a good idea. When you think about it, television has a rather dreary track record when it comes to big series finales. Take the final episode of M*A*S*H - a dark, brooding epic long on emotion but short on humor, and thus not much in keeping with the spirit of the series that spawned it. Or the ambiguous final episode of Magnum, PI - is Jonathan Higgins really Robin Masters or isn't he? The ending didn't answer the question either way, and was thus ultimately unsatisfying. And don't get me started on the last moments of The Sopranos.

In fact, if you look at series finales over time, they generally fall into two equally undesirable camps: those that failed to provide adequate closure, and those that wallowed in the maudlin. The sole exception to the rule, in my experience at least, was the last episode of Newhart - that final shot of Bob Newhart waking up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette (who played his wife on his previous sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show) still ranks as one of the brilliant moments in television history.

Thus, one must conclude that there was probably a certain amount of wisdom and good judgment exhibited by the writers when they decided to end MSW on a business-as-usual note. But that doesn't mean those of us who write fan fiction can't dream a little on our own, out of sight of the critics. That was my thought as I wrote "Final Chapter" (which, I must admit, has elements of both the unsatisfying and maudlin camps in it - sorry about that).

Posted by jesmaine at 8:28 PM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 16 March 2008 8:30 PM EDT

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Today's postcard comes to you directly from Key West, Florida, one of my absolutely favorite places in the world. My husband and I first came here on our honeymoon after we were married in 2004, and we've made it a point to come back every year since.

Key West is an interesting place, offering an endless variety of places to see and people to meet. This is, in large part, because so much of the population comes from someplace else, and brings a piece of where they came from with them to add to the mix. There are people from all over the country - even all over the world - here. The welcoming atmosphere of the city makes it all fit together somehow, less like a melting pot and more like a giant colorful jigsaw puzzle.

Because everybody here comes from someplace else, it is pretty common to be asked where you're from. My husband thinks it would be funny, the next time we're asked, to say that we're from Cabot Cove, Maine.

"You wouldn't," I say.

"Sure I would! Give them something to think about."

Good point.

Key West is also special to me as the only place that has - so far - inspired me to write an entire novel-length story, something I wasn't sure I was capable of doing. That story, of course, is Come as You Are, and it remains one of the stories of which I am most proud today.

It's interesting, being back in the same stomping grounds as appear in the book. Now when I'm crossing Duval Street I smile at the image of Seth and Tipper doing the "Duval Crawl." I picture Jessica and George swapping personal questions at a nearby table as my husband and I split a carafe of pinot grigio at Mange Mange. I walk past the side gate to the grounds of Ernest Hemingway's house and see the calico cat that beckoned Jessica inside. It's all pretty cool.

At some point I may set another story here - Key West is full to bursting with colorful characters and settings, so there is certainly no lack of material. If I could figure out a way to take, oh, say, four months off from work and come down here to do nothing but write I could probably pull it off, but alas, such a sabbatical from my real life is not in the cards, at least not for a long while yet.

In the meantime I'll be content with our yearly pilgrimmages down to the Conch Republic, and store up as many memories as I can.

Posted by jesmaine at 8:28 PM EST

Updated: Sunday, 16 March 2008 8:29 PM EDT

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It would seem that after a long and satisfying run on A&E's sister network, The Biography Channel, Murder, She Wrote has been dropped from the schedule for good. Although this has minimal impact on me personally (like a lot of people, I don't get Bio on my cable system), I nevertheless grieve with the fans that have been affected. True enough, the Hallmark Channel now has MSW, a great boon considering Hallmark is a lot more common among cable subscribers than Biography ever was. But after a rousing start in which they showed MSW literally morning, noon, and night, Hallmark has settled in with showing it only in the late night slots of 11 PM and 12 AM Eastern Time. The Biography Channel, by contrast, showed it at reasonable times - midmorning, and primetime. If you had the option of both channels, and you weren't a habitual night-owl, there was little question as to which channel you'd be getting your MSW fix on.

And now? Now it's late night on Hallmark or nothing, and MSW fans, legion though they are, find themselves once again shunted aside in favor of a reality tv show that follows the goings-on at an airport (insert yawn here).

The Biography Channel may not hear your cries of anguish, loyal fans, but The Definitive Guide does! Here, then, immortalized on this blog, are some of the comments left at Bio.com's MSW message board - perhaps one of the last lively threads that message board will ever see:

"I  do realize that not everyone gets the Bio channel through their cable company, but I really enjoyed watching MSW in the morning. Thank goodness I have my tapes and DVD's!!!" --Elena53

"I am very disappointed they removed it from the schedule. ...When I went to watch it this morning it was gone. Now I see at 11 they are putting that ridiculous Airline show - what a shame they remove quality programs for trash tv." --Yarbo

"I cannot believe that you could remove this show from your lineup - it is one of the greatest series created. It is so much more enjoyable to tune in instead of being subjected to shows that insult your intelligence. " --kathi46

"I, too, was stunned when I went to watch MSW this afternoon. And now that Hallmark has changed its schedule in the afternoon, our options are almost nil. Watching Jessica solve mysteries was a highlight. Too bad. " --Nancy B

"I am terribly dissappointed in the removal of MSW from your lineup. MSW was the reason for requesting the biography channel from my cable provider. I have cancelled my subscription to your channel and I would like to mention I am not the only one I know that is cancelling the biography channel due to the removal of MSW." --Majik

"I too miss Murder She Wrote. As someone else said, cold turkey is going to be rough. Murder She Wrote is a quality show and is being replaced with low grade shows." --Photo Bug

My father, sister and I are Murder She Wrote fans. We plan to drop the Biography channel from our cable subscription because Murder She Wrote is no longer on the t.v. schedule." --Linda Lou

I was shocked to see MSW was gone from the line up. I watched both episodes every day if I could! I am going through withdrawals!...That was pretty much the only thing I ever watched on tv. These reality shows are really taking over. Airline is not at all entertaining to me, and certainly not a good replacement for a classic show like Murder, She Wrote." --cpmorris

"MSW will be missed. there are so few shows of that caliber." --chassim

"I`m very disappointed that MSW has been dropped. First Midsommer Murders now this. I will no longer be watching the Biography Channel. Let me know when you come to your senses and put these shows back on!!!" --ksellenwood

"I live in Alaska and the 12noon to 2pm schedule of MSW is wonderful. This is my break time. The ONLY reason that I have the this channel was for MSW and Sherlock Holmes. Now that you do not have these two shows, I will call my cable provider and unsubscribed to this channel." --arcticwhite2002

"I just set up an account solely to voice my disappointment over Murder She Wrote being removed. I am a 31-year-old consultant who works from home and Angela Lansbury has become my quasi-coworker over the past few years. I am so bummed out that the programming was yanked – in what feels like such a sudden manner. I’ve written a letter to A&E since the Biography.com feedback page returns an error message. It sounds like I will need to check out Hallmark, although MSW doesn’t air until 11pm PST on our cable system. Without the Mystery series, I have absolutely no desire to watch the Biography channel any further." --magpie76

And this, perhaps the most poignant posting of all:

"I agree, I miss watching MSW. I watched it as much as possible. To be honest, when it was on originally I didn't watch much but it was always one of my Mom's favorite shows. My Mom has since passed and it makes me think of her to watch it. I know it sounds kind of silly. I guess I just want as many things to remind me of her as possible." --kelliemarie

I should note that many of the irate posts came from first-time posters, moved to comment by their unhappiness with The Biography Channel's unpopular decision. Sadly, these irate posts are unlikely to change anything, as veteran Bio.com poster JayJay points out:

"Biography has already made it's decision regarding MSW. The courtesy of notifying it's viewers? What would one expect from someplace connected to A&E? Cut from the same cloth. Begging Biography to change it's mind? Remember A&E, anyone? Been there, done that."

And that is likely to be the final word on the subject. See y'all over at the Hallmark Channel's MSW message board.

Posted by jesmaine at 8:10 PM EST

Updated: Sunday, 16 March 2008 7:41 PM EDT

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Another release date for the Donald Bain MSW book series is on the horizon, so now seems as good a time as any to ask the question posed by the topic of today's post: which one of his works is your favorite?

Speaking for myself, thus far my vote goes to Dying to Retire. For those of you unfamiliar with this title, it is a story set in Florida featuring Jessica and Seth with the addition of Mort midway through when the action shifts from the southeastern part of the state to Key West.

Ahh, Key West - this was the part of the book that cemented it at the top of my favorites list for me. As anyone who knows me is already well aware, Key West is just about my favorite place on the planet. What other setting could inspire me to write my own novel-length fic? The other strength of this particular story was the cast of characters, a particularly varied, colorful lot.

My second and third picks? Margaritas and Murder, which I thought was particularly well-written and suspenseful, and The Maine Mutiny. I appreciated the fidelity shown the Maine lobster industry, even if the scene marking the drama's climax was riddled with implausibilities - more about those in another post.

Once again, it's your turn, Gentle Readers - what are your favorites from the works of Donald (and Renee) Bain?

Posted by jesmaine at 8:32 PM EST

Updated: Sunday, 16 March 2008 7:41 PM EDT

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[The picture from "Sticks and Stones"

in Season 2 - retouched with

Paint Shop Pro XI]

[Angela Lansbury and Peter Shaw's

wedding photo, for comparison]

Stephanie drew my attention to this topic, so the credit for it goes to her. It's about one of the many photographs and pictures that decorate Jessica's house in Cabot Cove (few of which we ever get to see in clear focus). One of the clearer images of it, she found, is in the episode "Sticks and Stones" from Season 2:

"... right around the 16:38 minute mark (I think) you get a glimpse of that photo that I've always wondered about.  It's large, in a gold, oval frame next to the kitchen door.  After Amos enters, you get a brief glimpse of the whole thing in the upper left hand corner of the screen. ... If you ever get a chance to capture it and take a closer look, let me know what you think."

Her question was: could this be a photograph of Jessica and Frank on their wedding day?

Well, I did get a chance to look for the photograph, and I did manage to get a screen capture of it. But the photograph, being in the background of the scene, isn't in focus, and given its height on the wall, it is also very poorly lit. So I snipped it out of my screen capture image and exported it to Paint Shop Pro XI, where I cleaned it up as much as I could - increased the resolution, sharpness, brightness, etc.  The top picture to the right represents the fruit of my labor.

The photograph still isn't much to look at, even after getting the PSP XI treatment, but to my eyes at least it's definitely a wedding photo. The woman has relatively short wavy hair, a white dress, and a white pillbox hat with a veil. The man is wearing a dark suit and I think that's a carnation or boutonnière on the left breast of his jacket. It could be a miliary uniform, but I can't say for sure.

As to who is featured in the photograph, it would certainly make sense that it could be Jessica and Frank, though it's also possible it could be her (or his) mother and father on their wedding day, I suppose.

Given the propensity for pictures from Angela Lansbury's career to show up on Jessica's walls, I then wondered if perhaps this was actually a picture of Angela and Peter Shaw on their wedding day, so I tossed in their wedding photo for comparison (bottom picture). The suit Peter is wearing could definitely be the same on in the oval photograph, and his dark hair matches the man's, so that holds some promise. However, the necktie is much darker in the oval photograph than Peter's, so that may speak against the man actually being Peter. Furthermore, it seems to me that Angela's dress is too different from the one pictured in the oval frame to be the same dress, and Angela's hair is lighter than the woman in the photograph's. So I'm thinking that the woman pictured is not Angela - or at least, not Angela on that particular day.

Have a look at the pictures for yourselves, Gentle Readers - what do you think?

Posted by jesmaine at 10:57 AM EST

Updated: Sunday, 16 March 2008 7:40 PM EDT

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[This is how I imagine

George Sutherland looks like

(it's actor George Lazenby);

every reader will have their

own way of picturing him.]

Greetings from Orlando, Florida, where I finally have a few moments to myself with my laptop in the middle of the North American Veterinary Conference.  Thank goodness for wireless internet access (even if I do have to pay for it). Without it, I would have missed the interesting exchange going on over at Donald Bain's website and discussion page. But thanks to the miracle of wireless technology, I've been able to be a spectator to the current exchange of ideas and opinions even as I have been stuffing my brain full of updated knowledge.

The topic of conversation, as it often is, was George Sutherland. Ever since his introduction in the first MSW novel by Donald Bain (the first edition of Gin and Daggers, to be exact), he has been a touchstone of controversy. Some readers love him, others resent him. Here's a sampling from Mr. Bain's discussion page:

"I love it when Jessica and George Sutherland are together. My only question is, why dosen't he ask her to marry him?" --Mary

"I don't want to see Jessica with anyone. It would slow her down as sleuth and diminish her individuality. ... The world is a better place with Jessica Fletcher as detective--not a lover!" --Sally

That more or less sums up the controversy.

There was never a time when George was not a controversial character. Right from the beginning, from the first moment he and Jessica met face-to-face, he was clearly presented as a potential romantic interest. Ironically, his introduction in Gin and Daggers (first published in 1989) came hard on the heels of the airing of the fifth season finale, "Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall," a pivotal episode that fueled speculation as to whether Seth Hazlitt and Jessica were about to become an item. Many fans were hoping to see the writer and the good doctor pair up by the end of the series (the fanfic term "'shipper" didn't exist back then), and many still favor this potential match. To them, George is a distraction, as Donald Bain himself has acknowledged:

"... there are some readers who resent his role in Jessica's life, especially its romantic aspects. They want Dr. Seth Hazlitt to be the one to whom she gives her heart. I can understand their feelings; Seth is a wildly popular character from the series. "

Based on the comments posted on the discussion page, however, it would seem that George Sutherland's admirers greatly outnumber his detractors. Among his fans there also is an overall frustrationover MCA/Universal's persistent refusal to allow Mr. Bain to advance the relationship in the novels, even a little bit - it would seem that even a real kiss is out-of-bounds.  The reason for this, as described by Mr. Bain, is logical enough:

"While I see them as a wonderful couple, I'm sure Universal would not want to change her status as an independant, self-sufficient woman, and I can see their point. Marriage would change everything about the series and her character, and from the standpoint of most readers, such a dramatic shift would probably be jarring. But you never know."

Renee Bain adds in a later post,

"One reason why may be because there are many new fans of the TV show--which is still in syndication--who are just discovering the books. When they find them, they have lots of expectations, as you did when you first started reading the series. We want our new readers to enjoy the books as much as you do, so we have to be careful about any drastic changes. Granted,they have occurred from time to time, but we try to stay close to the characters and feeling of the show with a few additions."

All of this is cold comfort for the fans who continue to hope that the next MSW book featuring George will carry with it a little extra magic. Fortunately for them, that's what we have fan fiction for. :)

My own opinion of George has varied widely over time; I didn't like him at first, and was dismayed (although touched) when he confessed his love for Jessica in The Highland Fling Murders. However, I have since come to appreciate him as a character and he figures prominently in my own writing.  George provides Jessica with a wonderful opportunity for character development, and since I am not bound by the rules the Bains must abide by, I can envision a deeper relationship for them and what effect it then has on them as individuals.

Here is your chance to sound off, Gentle Readers - do you like George or dislike him? Has your opinion changed over time, as mine did? Send in your comments and let your voice be heard.

Posted by jesmaine at 9:40 PM EST

Updated: Sunday, 16 March 2008 7:40 PM EDT

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