TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) has her chance to meddle with an Italian family. 

The elderly Gambini patriarch (Eli Wallach) is worried about his legacy, as his son (John Saxon) and his wife (Bibi Besch) can't inspire their children to give much a damn about the family business: wine and lots of it! 

When a murder attempt is presumably made against one of the youths (Billy Zane!), the family further worries it’s a hostile takeover. Jessica, along for the ride, is quick to investigate alongside cop of the week (Arlen Dean Snyder) to determine who's next!

Meanwhile, the Italians Italian, the wine flows, and the sexually liberated daughter (Kristian Alfonso) further complicates matters with a stranger (Grant Goodeve) who does all but impress Jessica with his literary knowledge. 

It's A VERY GOOD YEAR FOR MURDER, and Petra and Viktor are ready to, “Saluti!” 

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, Petra and Viktor head to a house of spies with Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury).

Jessica hears the confession of a dying assassin. Naturally, she makes it her business to investigate, much to the chagrin of the local authorities (Laurence Luckinbill) and the covert special agency that houses a high-risk informant.  Inundated with deception, denial, and efforts to thwart her discovery, she is soon snatched by Internal Affairs (Cliff de Young masquerading as a priest, no less) to go on assignment for them.  It all seems like a PR nightmare.

MURDER THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS gives us intrigue, fabulous belts, and lipstick that isn't actually lipstick.  Mark Shera, Robert Reed, Karen Valentine, and Gregory Sierra all commit to the bit, giving Jessica considerable headaches trying to keep up with their shenanigans, all centered around a tastefully decorated estate.

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, Petra and Viktor explore the Southern Gothic charm of MOURNING AMONG THE WISTERIAS. 

Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is visiting her ailing playwright friend Eugene McClenden (Barry Nelson), who seems to be getting progressively sicker as his next drama drones on in production. 

He is surrounded by family (his heir and nephew, Matt McCoy, and his wife, Linda Purl), and business associates (solicitor Elliott Reed, producer Frank Gorshin, and frequent leading lady Lois Nettleton). When one of them ends up dead, Eugene is the prime suspect. After all, he is holding the smoking gun. 

Homicide Captain Rene Auberjonois is on the case to determine who did it, if not Eugene, as it turns out: that wasn't the gun that committed the murder! 

The air is hazy, the sweet tea is poured, and the ant poison is just in reach. Come sit a spell!

If you've ever said to yourself, "This northeastern family drama does not have enough cursed gemstone jewelry," this episode is for you. 

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) and pal Seth (William Windom) are in Maryland to visit his estranged brother Richard (Richard Bradford), newly married to sweet but milquetoast Alice (Jane Windsor), approximately thirty years his junior. 

The family, particularly Richard's moneygrubbing kids (Douglas Barr and Jane Badler), are less than enchanted by the arrangement and are prime suspects when an attempt is made on Alice's life. 

It may be as simple as familial ire. Still, a precious ruby—purported to cause misfortune to all who wear it—is thrown in the mix, casting mystical aspersions and sideways glances to the only nonwhite person in town, Mr. Singh (Kabir Bedi, playing it to the hilt). 

When someone is indeed finally murdered for real this time, Jessica is on the case with puppy-eyed detective of the week Larry Lincoln, who is convinced Jessica is a secret agent. 

There's a lot going on in this relatively simple story of sibling discord, jinxed corundums, exotic cigarettes, and well-timed car exhaust, and Petra and Viktor are here for it. It's THE CURSE OF DANAAV, and it's got its own theme music and everything. 

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, JB Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) enters SPACE... well, at least exploration via optical instruments on Earth. 

It's HARBINGER OF DEATH, and the stars are aligned for the murder of sexy male secretary Drake Eaton (Steve Ford), potentially tangled up in observatory politics as per his employer: the lamé enthusiast and financially sought-after Madeline DeHaven (Marcia Rodd). 

JB's niece Carrie and her comet-obsessed husband (Kate McNeil and Dean Jones) are implicated when a carelessly discarded scarf places at least one of them at the scene, and a bedroom dalliance may have been at the root of it. 

Throw in a lovelorn assistant behind the eyepiece (Karen Grassle), a cranky boss (Jeffrey Tambor), and yet another skeptical but up-for-it cop (George DiCenzo), and JB has her hands full and her eye on the telescope as things start to shift into focus.

TONIGHT ON MURDER SHE WROTE, Viktor and Petra solve the mystery of all mysteries: WHO THREW THE BARBITALS IN MRS. FLETCHER'S CHOWDER? 

Sheriff Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley) is surprised by his sister, Winnie (Anne Meara), after an altercation with her brutish husband, Elmo (Guy Stockwell).  He soon passes her on to Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) to deal with, much to her chagrin as she's got a deadline, and soon Winnie is set up with Dr. Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) for an evening out.  

When the family comes a-calling to bring her home, she is resolute in her decision to leave the abusive, pill-popping alcoholic, and so ensues a memorable dinner party—baked clams to the lobsters, tall drinks and short glasses; right down to the controlled substance in Jessica's fishy amuse bouche... that leaves someone dead. 

One of the most beloved MURDER SHE WROTE episodes is indeed a trip with farce, familial dysfunction, and two side stories featuring Tupper's new deputy: the formidable Colleen Camp as Marigold Feeney; and a suspicious man in the bushes (Donnell Rhodes) who seems to be tracking Winnie. 

Henry Gibson, Geoffrey Lewis, and Barbara Rhoades round out the guest stars, as Elmo's frustrating family; and indeed, we will find out, among other things, who mixed up the coriander with the depressants. 

TONIGHT ON MURDER SHE WROTE, Viktor and Petra join mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) and her nephew Grady (Michael Horton) as they visit a very deluxe New York City hotel, filled with brandied chocolates, Freudian nonsense, and vases with vermouth.

The Montaigne is run with an iron floral blouse by Janet Leigh's Cornelia, who never met a ruffle she didn't love.  Her recent marriage to young, unscrupulous boytoy Garrett (John Callahan), who went to school with Grady and the former cheerleader-turned-shrewd businesswoman Sandra Clemens (Jennifer Holmes), and their reunion are tested by matriarchal tension and interrupted by murder.

Jessica is on the case to determine who did what to whom, why, and how to get the police inspector (Monte Markham) to actually do his job.  Grady is soon the prime suspect, and makes a series of terrible choices to further his likelihood of going to prison. Naturally, we can't let that happen.  But maybe it would teach him a few things.

Charlotte Rae, as Garrett's mother, is chewing all of the scenery, as Robert Desiderio and Macon McCalman further assist and obfuscate the truth behind the murder.  We're ready for turndown service, with DOOM WITH A VIEW.

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, we address uncomfortable race relations in idyllic Cabot Cove, Maine. 

When a war bonnet'd First Nations man on horseback throws a spear at the Mayor (Richard Paul), the townspeople are irked. It turns out the theatrical equestrian is Algonquin George Longbow (Bernard White, who, uh, isn't), and he has a claim on the town, which further instigates worry, rage, and indignation.

It's all a particularly complex episode, INDIAN GIVER, which features domestic violence, hate crimes, and our intrepid mystery writer Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) trying to stand between the slur-spewing yahoos and an early primetime discussion of reparations.  

The cast includes Theodore Bikel, Gary Lockwood, Charles Siebert, and Tom Bosley, and a lot of very very white New Englanders. 

Don't hold your breath for a whole lot of "oh this aged well," but Petra and Viktor steer the way as best they can as this civil unrest leads to a particularly bold murder scene, and an awkward happy ending. 

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, there's TROUBLE IN EDEN—Eden naturally being a charming hotel in idyllic suburban Oregon that also happens to serve gentlemen with the companionship of ladies for a short while. Yes, this cozy mystery enters the brothel life where the lingerie is questionable, the rooms are quaintly tacky, and the floorboards contain the blackmailed secrets of powerful men! 

Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is undercover as friend Mary Rose (Joan Canfield) to discover the true circumstances of the madam's sudden death and subsequent coverup.  Oh, and Mary Rose is the madam's sister and the new inheritor.  Allied with a cutie lawyer (Tom Fitzsimmons), a nervous housekeeper (Betty Garrett), and the local sheriff (Roy Thinnes) who doesn't know who she really is yet, Jessica gets immediate attention from some dangerous townspeople. 

The men in town (among them: Mills Watson, Stuart Whitman, Thom Christopher, Macdonald Carey) are quick to weigh their options when it appears Mary Rose may become the new de facto extortioner. 

Add in the fabulous Tricia O'Neill as Lila Benson, the front desk clerk and bawd in absentia, and you know Viktor and Petra are, appropriately, hooked. 

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, we return to the magical backstage world of network television and all of the terrible people who make it!

JB Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is famous enough to get ripped off; she learns from an intrepid novice telewriter, Gayle (Kim Miyori), that her latest novel will be used nearly plot point for plot point in an upcoming medical soap.  Instead of seeking a lawyer, or even flinching at the notion of plagiarism, she offers to help Gayle write a new plotline instead, and when that isn't good enough for the head writer of the show (Bradford Dillman), only then does she decide to make it to the set to argue her position.  When appealing to the network exec (Gail Strickland), she learns the true villain behind the schemes is Sid Sharkey (Ken Swofford), who everyone seems to detest.

Unsurprisingly, the worst person we've met meets an untimely end: an indelicate bomb blast via a package in "feminine pink" wrapping paper.  Jessica and Gayle are high on the list of suspects, but so is the head writer, the exec, and the equally douchey show director (Vincent Baggetta), and even some of the cast (an exhausting Doug McClure and a delightful Lenore Kasdorf) might be in on it.  When she finds an enthusiastic ally in Sharkey's resilient secretary Freida (the fantastic Fionnula Flanagan), and a reluctant one via the police department (Yaphet Kotto!), she may finally be able to press into the true matter that led to the big boss' death.

STEAL ME A STORY is a somewhat overfilled dance card of plot lines in a live-in world, so stick with Petra and Viktor as they keep up with all of these similarly profiled white men and glamorous ladies for an amusingly meta yet cynical view on the era of the late 80s primetime murder mystery drama series.