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Murder, She Wrote channel icon Murder, She WroteOriginal creator 405K views Save

Ten 'Murder, She Wrote' scenes fans still love

Jessica Fletcher writes mysteries for a living, and somehow a real one lands at her feet wherever she goes. These are ten of Angela Lansbury's best scenes in the part. more

Murder, She Wrote ran twelve seasons, and it belonged to Lansbury from the first episode to the last. One longtime viewer marvels that she outlasted most of her guest stars.

It starts at a crime scene, where a police lieutenant tries to shoo her off, then realizes she is Jessica Fletcher, the author. He has read most of her books. She's helping Grady and Donna plan a wedding when the maitre d' at Donna's restaurant is murdered. She hosts a dinner at her own home, in an episode with the fine title “Who Threw the Barbitals in Mrs. Fletcher's Chowder?”, and a guest named Elmo dies during the party.

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Each new case gives Jessica Fletcher someone new to question.

The cases get bigger from there. In “A Christmas Secret,” a Gulf War veteran comes home to his fiancée and a secret that threatens to spoil the reunion. Her friend Seth, meanwhile, can't find a smidgen of Christmas spirit. The year he was 10, he tells her, he was dead sure his pop had saved up for a train set, and he got underwear and socks.

“The Dying Game” sends Jessica to New York for a double murder, and in “Benedict Arnold Slipped Here” the weapon is a fireplace poker. “Weave a Tangled Web” turns on a double life that does not stay hidden for long. And in the second part of “Nan's Ghost,” she ends up in the dungeon of an ancient Irish castle, a long way from a dinner party at home.

What fans come back for is Lansbury herself. They point out that her hair was never out of place, and that everything she wore on the show a woman could wear today without anyone blinking. One fan admits to getting through awkward moments by asking what Jessica would do.

An older adult woman wearing a black top with white polka dots in an indoor social setting, surrounded by out-of-focus figures and greenery. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Jessica Fletcher writes mysteries for a living, and somehow a real one lands at her feet wherever she goes.

She thought of herself as a writer and a detective, and the show kept handing her reasons to be both. Anyone who had it on a loop growing up still talks about her like a friend who was around for decades. In the last scene Seth phones, and she picks up pretending to be her own answering machine. “Jess,” he says, “you do not have an answering device.”