Chapter One

DETECTIVE JAKE SWANSON’S BIRTH OF

THE MURDER MOST TV SERIES

By M. J. HATCH

AUTHOR OF MURDER MOST BLONDE; MURDER MOST JUDGMENTAL, and MURDER MOST MERRY

CHAPTER ONE

[blog entry two]

ROBERT WAGNER CALLS

The voice on the other end of the line sounded familiar, but I could not place it, even when he introduced himself.

“Hello,” he said, “This is RJ Wagner, have I caught you at a bad time?”

I am a lawyer, and I was on a much needed vacation at my favorite place on the Central Coast of California—and the name did not ring a bell, other than I had a former client by the name of Wagoner. It only added to my confusion, leaving me speechless.

Again the voice said, “Hello, this is Robert Wagner, am I speaking to M.J. Hatch?”

I was really confused. Yes, I use M.J. Hatch when writing the Detective Jake Swanson murder mysteries, but I rarely use Hatch, so again I did not answer.

Finally the voice said, with a chuckle, “Listen, this is Robert Wagner, husband to Jill St. John, is this M.J. writer of that scoundrel Detective Jake Swanson?’

Suddenly the name and everything it meant came clear, I was speaking to the Robert Wagner, one of my idols.

My world tilted on its axis, as I breathlessly answered, “Yes, this is she.”

“Well, young lady, you’re a hard person to get a hold of,” he said. “I want to talk to you about your Jake Swanson character—I love him!”

By this time I was nearly fainting, having forgotten to breathe when I realized to whom I was speaking. But, somewhere from the outer universe I heard my voice, or anyway I think it was my voice, said, “Cool, I like him too.”

The incredibly rich voice of a trained actor chuckled and said, “yeah, there’s a lot to like about him.”

Of course I chuckled back, and then said, “So, what can I do for you?”

“Well, listen,” he said, “I think Jake would make a really great character, and I want to talk to you about possibly developing a series around him. What do you think?”

Trying even harder to be cool, after all, I am from California—land of the terminally cool, I answered, “Cool, I think that could definitely be arranged.”

And, that is how this incredible journey began, a simple phone call from Robert Wagner out of the blue.