
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 probes the murder by poison of an ex-colleague's understudy (Ann Turkel), after the leading lady (Eleanor Parker) is unable to go on at a small-town theater.
Jessica comes to the aid of a shy poet (Thom Bray) who is the prime suspect when his tormentor (Barry Williams) is found dead.
A London-bound plane is the setting for the murder of an heiress's bodyguard and the theft of a valuable necklace.
While bedridden, Jessica overhears a telephone conversation between two men who are plotting a murder.