Peter Steven Fischer (August 10, 1935 – October 30, 2023) was an American television writer, producer, and novelist. He was best known for the series Murder, She Wrote,[1] which he co-created with Richard Levinson and William Link.
Early life
Fischer was born in Queens on August 10, 1935, and took an interest in writing as a child. He graduated from Hofstra University in 1956.[2] Fischer held a series of jobs for the next several years, including editing trade publications and working in direct mail. During this time, he was a resident of Smithtown, New York. However, he sold the script The Last Child when he was 35 years old, and it was produced as a made-for-TV film.[2] He decided to pursue screenwriting as a career, and relocated to Los Angeles.[3]
Fischer was the executive producer of Murder, She Wrote for the first seven seasons from, 1984 to 1991. He wrote 8 of the 22 episodes the first season, and wrote or co-wrote nearly three dozen episodes of the show during its run.[4] He said the series was conceived with the idea to create a character that combined the fictional detective Miss Marple with her creator, Agatha Christie.[2] He later wrote the television films Stranger at My Door (1991) and Dead Man's Island (1996), which was his last credit in television.[1]
Novels
After more than a decade in retirement, Fischer began a new career in his seventies as a novelist. He wrote more than 20 novels in the Hollywood Murder Mysteries series, set during the Golden Age of Hollywood.[2]
Personal life and death
In 1957, Fischer married Lucille Warnock. They had three children and were married until her death in 2017.[2]
Fischer lived in Pacific Grove, California, in his later years, and died at a care home there on October 30, 2023, at the age of 88.[2][5]
