TONIGHT on Murder, She Wrote

We return to Cabot Cove, and even we're a little surprised there's a coffin so quickly.  But what really shakes things up is when that coffin is opened most indelicately —it contains the wrong corpse!

So much mayhem ensues, with blueberry stains and lead pipes and oddly formative burial sites in tow.  It's IF A BODY MEETS A BODY, a Jessica Fletcher mystery that brings our tenacious investigator (Angela Lansbury) into the business of all her neighbors, with the local doctor (William Windom) and the sheriff (Tom Bosley) looking for the missing dead(?) man and a whole lot of money stolen from the townspeople.

We, naturally, must look to the wife (Carrie Snodgress), the mistress (Audrey Landers), and the business partner (Monte Markham) as our easily assumed perpetrators; but there's no shortage of possibilities when we can implicate the undertaker (Robert Donner), an intrepid nonconformist in tight jeans (Rex Smith), and the couple who wants to pull out of the shady investment deal (Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling) at just the worst possible moment.

When our missing dead body winds up... found and still dead... the mystery thickens like a New England chowder, and soon the money also appears to turn up in less than pristine condition.  Will this lead to the ruin of the small town's residents?  Find out with Viktor and Petra on TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE.

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, we enter the sordid setting of... the auction house. 

In a somewhat chilling depiction of our culture's obsession with celebrity, even after (especially after?) death, Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is tasked with being the highest bidder for a scandalous smut rag of a diary from a recently deceased starlet. When several more people end up dead, one has to assume it's pretty juicy. 

Harry McGraw (Jerry Orbach) is back with Jessica, seeking out the most likely suspects, which include a neurotic psychiatrist (Karen Black), an opportunistic film producer (Nancy Lee Grahn), and a semi-pornographer (Vic Taybeck) at the top of the list. They compete with semi-useless detective Lt. Casey (Ray Girardin), waiting in the wings to nab a former lover, a colleague, or a maniac fan. 

This episode features a killer's confession that splits the vote between Petra and Viktor, many quotable lines from Ms. Black in particular, Harry being THE WORST FRIEND EVER, and a lot of leaps to make a chessboard the answer to clues better found elsewhere. Will the diary be found and returned to hands that won't exploit the mysterious screen star that definitely isn't meant to invoke Marilyn Monroe at all in any way?  ONE GOOD BID DESERVES A MURDER, as those with the cash seem the most likely to get what they want. 

Edward Mulhare, Hurt Hatfield, Cotter Smith, and Rebecca Street round out the cast of victims and villains. Beware what you end up putting in print. 

TONIGHT, ON MURDER SHE WROTE, we're going to take you to church.

Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is mid-visit with her old teacher Carrie McKittrick (Mildred Natwick) when the vultures descend; her opportunistic step-son (Richard Herd) and grandson (Art Hindle) express their outrage that the family money is going to the charismatic Reverend Willie John Fargo (Steve Forrest), who preaches over the airwaves.  Carrie becomes conveniently ill and dies; the family contends the motivation behind her healthcare was more than Christian charity and accuses the Reverend and his hospital staff of foul play.  

Jessica is the only one who's able to suss out the real cause of death because the district attorney (Dick Van Patten) is totally useless, the doctor and on-call nurse (Jack Bannon and Barbi Benton) maintain their innocence, and the good Reverend's wife Sister Ruth (Judy Geeson) provides few answers to explain away why her husband may not have killed for a fortune.

The possibilities are many in this exploration of exploitative televalenglism and dysfunctional family dynamics this side of a Sam Shepard play.  What ensues is a mystery involving hypodermic needles, forged wills, black eyes, and fanciful hair dye, with Jeannie Wilson, Frank Bonner, and Jill Hill as even more suspects, ranging from the devout to the devious.  Will Jessica solve the MURDER IN THE ELECTRIC CATHEDRAL?  Yes, of course she will, but it's a wild ride to get there.

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, we head to Alabama for a cozy mystery full of nooses, hobo fires, multiple stab wounds, pointy bullets, vigilantism, racial bias, and infidelity. 

It's a doozy this week as Viktor and Petra deconstruct one of the least "fun" episodes of the season, but it's not without merit and satisfying performances from multiple guest stars, particularly from Pat Corley and Dorian Harewood. 

When Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) joins a friend (Craig Stevens) to "happenstance" visit an old flame, it quickly becomes apparent that more is going on in this small town than expected. The flame's son (Brian Lane Green) is an aspiring musician with a bully who ends up dead. Naturally, he's the main suspect, and when the sheriff (Harewood) fails to immediately publicly execute him, the townspeople get awful mad. 

Jessica finds herself in the middle of trying to prove who really committed the murder, how, and where... because none of what the grisly scene provides makes sense.  Find out with us what slurs and inferences CBS deemed appropriate in 1986 as we roll out this POWDER KEG; also featuring Jackie Earle Haley, Larry Wilcox, and Stuart Whitman.  

This week, we encourage you to KEEP THE HOME FRIES BURNING as you take a little time to gorge on some good old-fashioned cooking... and leave room for MURDER. 

Noted "crisis hound" Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) joins Sheriff  Tupper (Tom Bosley), Dr. Seth Hazlitt (William Windom), and no-nonsense health inspector Margo Perry (Anne Francis) to determine the cause of sickness and death at a local eatery one morning, and the suspects are many. 

Two women traveling together (Sharon Adler and Marcia Ross) visit Cabot Cove's hideous Americana eatery and fall victim to what appears to be mysterious food poisoning alongside some locals with all different arguments and backstories. 

It may be the work of an ornery cook (Alan Dupree), a rival, bitter restaurateur (William Lucking), or even a friendly and accommodating waitress (Donna Pescow); perhaps it's even a suspicious husband (John McCook) spotted in the kitchen, or a cranky local businessman (Orson Bean) or two (Alan Young).

It's a curious course of jams, jellies, popovers, and the botulism that may be the link between them; perhaps we should all beware of old ladies bearing homemade preserves made in their kitchens TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE. 

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, we're going behind the scenes of a murder trial. Join Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) as she incongruously takes the role of jury foreperson and weighs the evidence with her fellow eleven jurors, including Vicki Lawrence (Mama's Family), Allan Miller, Richard Sanders, Arlene Golonka, and more faces that you've seen all over 80s and 90s TV.

Tony Bill is Mark Lee Reynolds, and he is having the worst night ever: accused of killing a one-night stand's husband the same night his own wife dies of car accident injuries.  Did he do it alone?  Was that floozy (Doran Clark) involved, clad only in the rumpled sheets of their passions?  Was it self-defense against said jealous husband (Michael Swan) who stormed the room with a gun? Jessica and co. go over the testimonies, dubious recreations of the night's events, and attempts by the A.D.A. (David Ackroyd) to get his man.

However, things get further complicated by Mark's earlier accident, and when a witness implicates him and his purported one-time lover as knowing each other, it shifts the motive and timeline significantly.  And what of his wife's death; accidental after all, or just step one in an exhaustive series of events that leaves two people who never met, dead.

Petra and Viktor deconstruct the case, the actors, and the plot, heavily inspired by 12 Angry Men, and see if it adds up the way Jessica will inevitably come to.  Stick around after this TRIAL BY ERROR, because Jessica has more to say after the verdict is given.  We're not sure how legal all this is, but it certainly is compelling! 

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, we're back in New York for the celebration of Lila Lee Cosmetics' annual gathering, and things aren't going well. 

The no-nonsense Lila Lee Amberson (a particularly great Jayne Meadows Allen) is stressing out about the photographer using the wrong shade of lipstick in his shots, making sure all the Lila Lee Ladies are in uniform and get their choreography correct, and cutting down anyone who stands in her way. 

Her partner and brother Norman (Robert Culp) is distracted by a woman she finds beneath him (and she's... been beneath a few others); her name is Elizabeth (Ann Dusenberry) and she just happens to be a former student of... oh, you know it, Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) who is town to visit her nephew Grady (Michael Horton). Grady himself is seeking a job with the makeup giant, via a college buddy, Todd (Leigh McCloskey), who happens to be Norman's son, and also peeved by the May-December relationship in which his father is engaged. 

Throw in a penthouse madam (Christine Belford), a mediocre actor (Robert Desiderio), a harried but increasingly glamorous personal assistant (Glenda Vandevere), and detective of the week Lieutenant Varick (Herb Edelman), and we have an eccentric ensemble circling a shocking grisly murder that Jessica is determined to solve; even if that means going undercover and donning the lilac and lavender of a spokeswoman for Lila Lee. 

It's an MURDER BY APPOINTMENT ONLY, and Jessica's schedule is packed with worthy vixens and villains to suss out. 

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, this MURDER DIGS DEEP!

Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is doing research for an upcoming novel set during an archaeological dig, and her bud, Dr. Seth Hazlitt (William Windom), is an amateur dig enthusiast, so she joins him in The Land of Enchantment.  As it happens, this whole affair is a sham, full of opportunistic gold hunters, Indigenous identity fraudsters, possible ghosts, and horny grad students.

Wealthy douchebag Gideon Armstrong (Robert Vaughn) is joined by shifty professor Dr. Stan Garfield (David Groh) and grandiose blowhard Dr. Aubrey Benton (George Grizzard) to uncover the lost city of gold in a secluded area of New Mexico.  In tow are archaeology's answer to Moonlighting, Karen Parks (Cecile Callan) and Steve Gamble (Stephen Shortridge), who spend more time will-they-won't-they flirt-fighting than actually picking up a shovel.  We also have Armstrong's wife, Cynthia (Connie Stevens), who would rather be anywhere else, and Raymond Two Crows (Randolph Mantooth), the stone-faced First Nations guide who seems more annoyed that white people are trying to ransack the earth of his homeland than actually sharing accurate information with them.  

When one of the party ends up dead in the desert by means of drowning, the adventure only gets that much deeper for our heroes, struggling to figure out just how the hell that happened.  Will Jessica and Seth discover unexpected connections certain figures have with each other, unmask what secrets lie in the real estate contracts of a lifetime, and demystify a supernatural dancing vision just in time to save the day? Yes! But it may require you to scrape your shoes off afterward.

Things are getting spicy TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE.  The town of Cabot Cove is flooded with suggestive letters about affairs, fraud, arson, and more, and it's up to Sheriff Harry Pearce (John Astin) to uncover the truth from the lies!

Wait, who?  The real estate guy, Harry Pearce, is the sheriff now?! What is going on? Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley) attempts retirement and hands the badge to Gomez Addams here just in time for chaos to consume the mail slots of every resident. 

Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) makes efforts to help solve the flood of questionable accusations after a young woman ends up dead in the tub, and wonders if there's a connection... what are the odds, really? Our new Avengers also includes an enterprising young writer (Parker Stevenson) in the mix, alongside Dr. Hazlitt (William Windom), Tupper, and Pearce, all seeking the answer behind the unusual, mismatching letters that even get Jessica a pocketbook across the face from a jilted wife. 

Following some fistfights on the docks, arguments between neighbors, curious motivations between three condominium investors led by the glorious horror movie icon Betsy Palmer (Friday the 13th's Mrs. Vorhees), the exposure of a false German, and the death of an innocent old lady, it's up to booze and butter to get us the answers we need.

Our cast this week also includes Evelyn Keyes, Marsha Hunt, Denny Miller, Christopher Stone, John Campanella, and Paul Benedict. Join Petra and Viktor for STICKS AND STONES as we examine some suspiciously underused kitchenware.

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE: Jessica is getting put in the slammer! 

When murder mystery writer and former English teacher Jessica Fletcher is tapped to fill in for a friend at the local maximum security prison for women, all hell breaks loose when a body is discovered, leading to a lockdown and hostage situation. 

The warden (Psycho's Vera Miles) is the prisoners' main suspect, and well-liked inmate Mary (Linda Kelsey) is the staff's and Jessica needs to figure out if either of them done it or someone else might get killed... well, someone else other than the other person who gets eventually killed. 

Our intrepid inmates include Adrienne Barbeau, Margaret Avery, Susan Oliver, Eve Plumb, and Susan Peretz in this all-ladies cast of convicted thieves and murderers (sometimes wrongly) torn between rioting and shooting their way out and working together to save one of their own. Since the food there sucks, the clinic drugs don't work, and the staff doesn't seem to treat them well, it could go either way. 

Among our prison employees are the doctor (Janet MacLachlan), the chef (Yvonne de Carlo), the deputy warden (Barbara Baxley), and a collection of guards of varying likability.

Will Jessica be able to prove Mary innocent, the Warden ethical, and the prison food actually edible before the hotheads overtake the practical and a bloodbath of fire and fury? And is this the first TV episode where a poster of a uterus made it on TV? All this and more will be revealed in JESSICA BEHIND BARS!