The Wild and Wicked Wench by Mark Twain

Thanks to Art of It

Title: The Wild and Wicked Wench

Author: Mark Twain

Publisher: not known 

Source: TV series Murder She Wrote S7 E8 The Great Twain Robbery 

This is one of the Dennis Stanton episodes of Murder She Wrote, in which Jessica hardly features. As a condition of his parole the reformed jewel thief works for an insurance company. And who better to spot something not quite right? Here we have Dennis’s company being asked to insure a previously unknown manuscript by Mark Twain. Oh my goodness! Mark Twain! Inventor of American literature! Or something! So panic stations all round when the owners want to insure the priceless manuscript for $5M. Especially when it is apparently burned to a crisp. Oh dear!

Dennis recognises one of the people involved in the authentication team as a well known fraudster (if you know, you know) and does his best to save his company from huge losses.

Obviously we are going to discover that the manuscript is a fake. But the programme features some surprisingly interesting details about how and where to get hold of old paper and ink, and what makes them different from the modern stuff. 

So, we don’t learn anything about The Wild and Wicked Wench, except that it was never written by Mark Twain. Not even to amuse his mistress.

But we do learn that Jessica Fletcher has created a new gentleman thief, Damian Sinclair, in her latest book. Dennis Stanton thinks Sinclair is based on him. Sadly we don’t get a title for this book. Oh wait, I think it might be called Yours Truly, Damian Sinclair.

And another book by Jessica Fletcher, Ashes Ashes Fall Down Dead, features in Thicker Than Water S8 E4, which Jessica has dedicated to Sheriff Mort Metzger. She signs it for Mort’s no good brother Wayne when they meet by chance on a plane.