
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.

The closing of a family-owned department store leads to a double murder in New York, and Jessica has no shortage of suspects in the crime.

Fresh blood stains indicate foul play when Seth (William Windom) disappears; a proliferation of strangers in town raises Jessica's suspicions.

A Texas trucker (Earl Holliman) is charged with insurance fraud; his son (Patrick Cassidy) is accused of murder.

Jessica investigates a cold case to help an agoraphobic woman (Cynthia Nixon) who is haunted by dreams of her mother's murder five years earlier.