
Mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher - a down-to-earth, middle-aged widow - ferrets out the criminals in idyllic Cabot Cove, Maine, which apparently is the murder capital of the United States for the show's 12-season run. Though while traveling, she uncovers a fair number of killers as well.
Murder ends a tycoon's (James Coco) plan to have Jessica design a house of horrors for one of his theme parks.
A friend (Hurd Hatfield) asks Jessica to help two Soviet dancers defect, unaware one (George de la Pena) is a murder suspect.
A hypnotist (Jose Ferrer) is murdered before a host of would-be witnesses who all were in a deep trance at the time.
Jessica is asked to complete the last weeks of an expired congressman's term, and discovers politics is murder.