Tourists are descending on Cabot Cove, Maine, for leaf-peeping season, including a young group of women who imbibe a few too many cocktails during a night out at a local restaurant. Concerned, Jessica and her friend Maureen aid Wendy Lu Shaffer in the ladies’ lounge, but a few days later, Wendy Lou’s body is found several feet down a ridge in the latest entry in the Murder, She Wrote best-selling series, THE BODY IN THE TREES.

Jessica is bewildered regarding the young woman’s death, which, from the scene, looks more like a murder than an accident. Wendy Lou was from Florida and didn’t know anyone in Cabot Cove, or did she?  Further compounding the situation is a bicycle bandit who is snatching women’s purses as they walk through town. Could the bandit also be responsible for Wendy’s death?  As Jessica and her friends sift through the suspects, a final clue leads her in the direction of a ruthless killer living amongst them.

THE BODY IN THE TREES contains all the charm of Cabot Cove and the engaging daily happenings at 698 Candlewood Lane. As Jessica helps with the Halloween Story Time preparations and writes her latest manuscript, she finds she has a new mystery to solve. With plenty of suspects, including a hotel handyman, a shifty tour guide, the bicycle bandit, and Wendy’s friends, the plot keeps moving at a nice clip and infuses the quaint, picturesque atmosphere of Cabot Cove in its backdrop. The mystery is solid, and there is a lot of secondary character interaction, but Jessica shines brightest when she zeroes in on the motive and identifies a surprising suspect, changing Cabot Cove forever.