
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.

Jessica is pulled into a murder investigation by a woman (Vera Miles) who claims Jessica's husband fathered her son.

While traveling with her publisher's assistant in Amish country, Jessica's involvement in a traffic mishap leads her to a murder.

Jessica comes to the aid of a small-town diner's owner (Dee Wallace Stone), who becomes an outcast when she is blamed for three arsenic poisoning deaths.

A writer is murdered after sending Jessica a manuscript exposing a kidnapping scam, and Jessica's friend, private investigator Harry McGraw (Jerry Orbach) is caught near the body.