The Days Dwindle Down

Plus Gloria Stuart's Brownies recipe

I’m hosting a free online watch party this month, folks. Tell all your chums and pop it in your diary. Details of how to join will follow, but you’ll need to locate the episode in your DVD set or find it on a local streaming service so that you can join the fun.

I am hoping we are going to glean some new members of the free Dennis Stanton fan club with this episode! Nothing to do except have great love and respect for the Dear Heart himself and sign yourself up.

Dennis Stanton’s Plum Brandy Sour

I’ll be sharing a Dennis Stanton cocktail recipe with you soon - created specifically for readers of this newsletter by Murder, She Wrote expert Seth Lutter - oh yes! Just for us my lovelies. If you fancy rustling one up for the watch party (or any time you want to toast Dennis) you’ll need

• Plum brandy

• Plum syrup or simple syrup

• Lemon juice

• Ice

• Slice of orange to garnish

Right, back to the main feature!

If you watch just one episode of Murder, She Wrote this month, why not make it this one? Series 3, episode 21.

This is an extraordinary episode. It is packed with excellent actors and actresses, all of whom were massive stars back in the days of classic Hollywood. In fact, I love this instalment and its stars so much; I would encourage you to plan a whole day’s viewing with a double bill.

Jessica is asked to clear a man’s name by his loving wife Georgia.

Sam Wilson was sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and he tells J.B. his story.

Clips from a black and white movie are inserted to illustrate his tale in flashbacks.

It’s a very clever way of blending modern-day action with past events. Joy of joys, three of the protagonists of the 1949 film reprise their roles in this Murder, She Wrote, including the brilliant Gloria Stuart.

So, grab yourself Strange Bargain on DVD or via a streaming service, and settle down for a whole day of glorious viewing with both.

Don’t be surprised to see Grady’s wife pregnant with another man’s child. She was obviously so good; they changed her hair colour and name and brought her back as Donna!

The legendary Gloria Stuart, most famous for playing Old Rose in Titanic, appears as Edna Jarvis in this episode, so I’m proposing her brownies recipe.

If you fancy having an elaborate afternoon tea and you have the Murder, She Cooked book, you’ll find June Havoc’s Scotch Scones recipe in the entry for The Grand Old Lady.

The Grand Old Lady is another brilliant episode, so if you can’t get hold of Strange Bargain, why not have a double bill of the two shows featuring June?

I’m sharing a pic of Gloria’s original recipe here as it appears in one of my very favourite movie star recipe collections. It is a thing of great beauty, a 1930s pamphlet promoting Norge refrigerators, maybe a free gift if you bought one?

The Cream Vermont sounds pretty delicious, but I’m not sure about the Ham Mousse!

Gloria Stuart’s Brownies

2 eggs

1¼ cups brown sugar

½ cup flour

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

2 squares* unsweetened chocolate, melted

½ cup walnuts, cut in pieces

Preheat oven to 325℉.

Beat eggs slightly and add remaining ingredients. Spread evenly in buttered shallow pans. Allow to chill in the refrigerator. Bake for 20 minutes. When still warm cut in squares.

Makes 24 one-inch squares

* 1 square of chocolate = 1 oz or 28g

The Jessica Fletcher Fish Jumper

Are you going to the Murder, She Wrote Festival in Mendocino this year? Send me photos! I am busy working on my Jessica Fletcher Fish Jumper so that I can wear it when I go in 2027. I am SOOOO EXCITED.

We have a few people signed up to the knitalong. If this is something that has ever crossed your mind to make, now is the time! It’s never too late to join in.

This is the pattern I am using.

Here’s a link to a downloadable version

and there’s’ information about the type of yarn you’ll need in this post.

There will be an online party once I’ve finished knitting it (it will be a while) and everyone who has the jumper - half finished, bought, completed, contemplated - will be invited. So do let me know if you would like to join the fun. Send me a message or leave a comment.

If it inspires you to get going, here’s how far I got with the back in January. I knitted along to one movie, a couple of TV shows and did a few rows with my morning coffee a couple of days. Little by little, we will fill the world with Jessica Fletcher Fish Jumpers!

A thank-you from me

I am sending big love to everyone who has bought a copy of one of my books. This year, all proceeds from sales of the Murder, She Cooked book

and monies kindly sent my way by paid subscribers to this newsletter will be popped into a special savings account for my trip to the Murder, She Wrote Festival in Mendocino, the real Cabot Cove!

I am already stupidly excited about seeing Jessica’s house!

If you would like to be part of my trip to the real Cabot Cove, click on the button below. I’ll raise a coffee or a cocktail to you, or even send you a postcard from Mendocino. I am hoping I’ll be able to get postcards of Jessica’s house!

Star-spangled recipe books!

My books are available worldwide via Amazon (switch to your own country for the correct pricing)

or via my Etsy shop - these will come directly from me and can be signed if you wish - mugs, aprons and other goodies are available here too.