PACIFIC GROVE – The writer’s perch off the master suite, with its views of Monterey Bay, seems an appropriate place to create or contemplate. And if the last owner’s experience is any indication, it can help inspire one to pen a successful book series among other writings.
The home of “Murder, She Wrote” co-creator and executive producer Peter S. Fischer is on the market in Pacific Grove. As described by Over the Moon Realty, the house at 871 Del Monte Blvd. was built in 1932 and is a one-of-a-kind 3,582-square-foot abode, with plaster and wood moldings, art deco design, and modern amenities. The 9,651-square-foot lot is a rare street-to-street parcel – spanning the area from Crest Avenue to Del Monte Boulevard – with private gardens that cradle a two-story house, three-car detached garage plus a workroom and small art studio with a sink, and a full basement. The layout of the house includes two primary suites in its five-bedroom, four-bathroom configuration. The asking price is $3,488,000.
The home of Fischer and his wife Lucille, who moved to Pacific Grove in 2003 and bought the house on Del Monte Boulevard in 2007, is being sold by their last surviving child – Magan McElrath, 65.
“He loved this place, but mom brought him here kicking and screaming,” said McElrath with a chuckle. She said that before coming to Pacific Grove to live permanently, her parents had been living in Las Vegas where her father enjoyed the card tables and golf courses after retirement.
McElrath explained that her father had been in the business for decades. He sold his first script in 1971, which prompted him to roll the dice and try his luck in Hollywood. The family of five would move from New York to California, settling in Canoga Park in the San Fernando Valley.
Fischer would pen an ABC Movie of the Week, “The Last Child,” which would be produced by Aaron Spelling, and go on to be nominated for a Golden Globe.
The home for sale at 871 Del Monte Blvd., in Pacific Grove, was owned by Peter Fischer, best known as the co-creator of the “Murder, She Wrote” television series starring Angela Landsbury. Fischer’s writer’s perch in the home was off the master bedroom suite and has views of the Monterey Bay. (James Herrera/Monterey Herald)
Even with those early successes, McElrath said the family seemed to live script-to-script during the first couple of years. Fischer was writing for television series such as “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” “Kojak,” “McMillan and Wife,” and “Columbo.” He wrote television movies too, including the miniseries “Once an Eagle,” and “Black Beauty.” Fischer also created a number of TV series including “Blacke’s Magic,” “The Eddie Capra Mysteries,” and “The Law and Harry McGraw.”
Another television series, “Ellery Queen,” would be Fischer’s opening to become acquainted with producers Richard Levinson and William Link, and the three germinated the idea of a middle-aged widow, novelist and amateur sleuth, living in the fictional village of Cabot Cove, as the main character in what would become “Murder, She Wrote,” starring Angela Lansbury.
The television series made its debut in 1984 with a pilot written by Fischer and would go on to become one of the most successful and longest-running series in television history. He would be the show’s executive producer for the first seven seasons and would write more than 50 scripts for it, earning awards and nominations along the way.
During those years, McElrath said, the family would move again, first to Woodland Hills, then to Calabasas with the success of “Murder, She Wrote.”
Fischer retired at age 55, first in Las Vegas, then to Pacific Grove in 2003 where he and his wife found a home on Ocean View Boulevard. Over the years they had been frequent visitors to Pacific Grove, finding it a favorite vacation destination.
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McElrath said her mother always had an eye on another house in the area and when it came up for sale, her parents would buy it, making their final home together at 871 Del Monte Blvd., in 2007. Lucille would pass away ten years later.
But even with the Pacific Grove Golf Links right around the corner, Fischer’s writing perch off the master suite of his home would prove a fertile ground for even more projects including penning a book series called “The Hollywood Murder Mysteries,” where he used his extensive movie knowledge to mix real-life stars and films, weaving them into fictional murder mysteries.
His daughter said when her father was writing, he would oftentimes leave the perch to walk in the gardens surrounding the house to gather his thoughts, formulate the next chapter, or clear his head, before heading back to his desk.
McElrath left her home in Lake Arrowhead about four years ago to care for her dad as advancing years took their toll. In one of his letters to his daughter, Fischer wrote that when the time came, he did not want any extraordinary measures to keep him alive. “I’ve had a great life, why change things now?”
Fischer died in a care home facility at the age of 88 last October.
McElrath said that though she loves the home and the memories it holds for her, the rambling house on Del Monte Boulevard is much more than she and her husband need, so it is up for sale.