
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 seeks a link between the electrocution of the town bully and the hanging of a teacher who was his lover.
Jessica is caught in a game of deadly politics when a close friend's campaign is threatened by scandal.
When Jessica is arrested for murder, secret agent Michael Hagarty and her nephew Grady conspire to keep her safely in jail while they seek the real killer.
Jessica attends a fund-raiser for a New York publisher, and he is found dead, and his wife's diamond necklace is missing from his safe.