"Did Portia take the diet pills knowingly or was it murder?"

Jessica, Seth, Mort and his wife Maureen fly down to Florida from Cabot Cove, Maine, for the funeral of their old friend Portia Shelby.

At first the police and Clarence, Portia's husband, feel her death was of natural causes or an accident. Not long after arriving, Jessica and Seth discover potent diet pills in one of her pillboxes. Since Seth had been her doctor in Maine, he knows she's on heart medication. The two together is a deadly combination. Did she take them voluntarily or was she murdered?

Over time, it becomes certain that it was murder. But, who did it? Was it Clarence? Was it the mysterious restaurateur who Sam, another resident in Foreverglades, thinks is a mobster? How about the developer who Portia and her neighbors are fighting to keep their beach? Or is it one of the women who seem to be after Clarence?

Jessica comes face to face with a large alligator. She is quite shaken, but luckily not injured. Later she has another accident. Is someone out to stop her? Or are they just coincidences?

Seth and Jessica go to Key West to visit a friend of Seth's. Jessica has ulterior motives for that trip. Seth learns a lot about his old friend while visiting. They also meet up with Mort and Maureen who have also gone to Key West for a little R&R.

Jessica gets some help from some of the other retirees in Forestglades. Portia was well liked. Will Jessica be able to figure out who killed Portia before without becoming the next victim?

I always enjoy reading books in this series. I watched it on t.v. extensively. I can see the characters playing out their parts in my head. I hope there are many more to come in this series.

I highly recommend this book.

Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle
Posted September 2, 2004

Read an Excerpt

Summary

Deadly Medicine

In Florida for the funeral of Portia Shelby, a former neighbor from Cabot Cove, mystery sleuth Jessica Fletcher and her old friend Dr. Seth Hazlitt discover that an apparent death from natural causes is not always what it seems. Potent pills were discovered among Portia's heart medications, a toxic combination that any physician or pharmacist would have warned her against. But who delivered the lethal dose? Could it be the builder whose beachside development she opposed? The sexy neighbor with a personal grudge? The mysterious restaurateur who may be a mobster? Or the victim's handsome husband?

With the help of a feisty group of young-in-spirit retirees, Jessica tracks down the clues in the residential community of Foreverglades—with a side trip to Key West. Now it's up to her to detect who prescribed the fatal treatment.