me and murder she wrote
Cover image courtesy of the publisher
January 11, 2014

Review: Me and Murder, She Wrote by Peter S. Fischer

By Nate LaClaire

I have a confession to make: I am a Murder, She Wrote junkie. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I am a huge fan of the series, so when I saw Peter S. Fischer’s “unauthorized” autobiography available on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to read and review it. In Me and Murder, She Wrote: My Adventures in Television with Angela Lansbury, Peter Falk and Jerry Orbach…Among Others, the Murder, She Wrote creator, television producer, and writer tells the story of his career, its highs and its lows, with tremendous candidness.

Throughout the book, Mr. Fischer shares remembrances of the many people that he worked with throughout his career along with insight into the workings of the television industry (at least at the time when he was writing and producing for TV). He recalls meeting Angela Lansbury and realizing that she was Jessica Fletcher (he also recalls her response when he told her this). His experiences and feelings towards such stars as Peter Falk, Hal Linden, Jerry Orbach, and Harry Morgan and so many others are also shared among this book’s pages, as are so many stories about things that happened on and off the set during the production of the many TV movies and series that he was involved with.

In case you haven’t figured it out, I loved this book. Peter S. Fischer’s writing style is fun and so is the insight into people and TV shows that I grew up watching and still enjoy (along with many I was unfamiliar with).

If you are a fan of Murder, She Wrote, Columbo, Peter S. Fischer, Angela Lansbury, Peter Falk, or probably even television of the 1970s through 1990s in general, you will enjoy this book. I sure did.