Peter S. Fischer was an author and television producer who is best known for co-creating the popular mystery show, “Murder, She Wrote,” starring Angela Lansbury (1925–2022), and for writing the “Hollywood Murder Mysteries” book series.
- Died: October 30, 3023 (Who else died on October 30?)
- Details of death: Died in Pacific Grove, California, at the age of 88.
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Peter S. Fischer’s legacy
Fischer began writing as a child and worked as an editor for trade publications after graduating from Hofstra University. He was 35 years old when he sold his first script, “The Last Child,” which became a made-for-TV movie in 1971. Not wanting to stay in editorial work any longer, Fischer moved to Los Angeles to continue writing for television.
In California, he wrote for such shows as “Kojak” and “Baretta,” was a story editor on “Columbo,” and wrote and created “The Eddie Capra Mysteries.” However, he’s arguably best-known as a co-creator and producer of “Murder, She Wrote,” the long-running murder mystery show starring Angela Lansbury. Fischer was on the show for its first seven years and wrote over three dozen episodes, including eight of the first season’s 22 stories.
Fischer was also a novelist and authored the “Hollywood Murder Mysteries.” Spanning more than 20 books, the series is set during the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood and features the kinds of crime thrillers and murder mysteries he was known for.
On writing the “Hollywood Murder Mysteries” series
“I love old movies, I just love them, and I love murder mysteries, so I said what if I took a real movie and created a murder mystery that dovetails with the filming of the movie?”—from a 2018 interview in Monterey County Weekly
Tributes to Peter S. Fischer
Full obituary: The New York Times
