
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 plays a part in the death of a wealthy woman who leaves her fortune to an evangelist instead of her family.
Jessica and Boston private detective Harry McGraw (Jerry Orbach) seek a murderer and the thief of a dead sex-symbol's diary.
A corpse, returned to Cabot Cove for burial, turns out to be misidentified.
The ruthless new owner (Bert Convy) of a formerly classy periodical is murdered, and Jessica takes on the case.