The popular ’80s series Murder, She Wrote centered around Jessica Fletcher, a murder mystery novelist, and her uncanny knack of stumbling across and helping to solve crimes, before writing about them. This show ran for 12 years, from 1984 to 1996 and was immensely popular.
Who didn’t feel just a little heartbroken when we had to say good-bye to Jessica Fletcher? Which fan can erase the Murder, She Wrote tune from their memory? Still, there are some things fans might have missed. Here are just 10 hidden details about the show you might have overlooked.
Hotel, on the map
Blair House Bed & Breakfast is the bed & breakfast you didn’t know you had visited. It is a quaint establishment well-frequented in Mendocino, California.
Most people would say no, they hadn’t visited there. Still, this Bed & Breakfast has been a part of many TV viewer’s lives as the setting for 698 Candlewood Lane, home of Jessica Fletcher.
43 books under her belt
Jessica Fletcher is always writing. Even the show’s intro shows her typing away, with a fury only a committed mystery and murder novelist, such as herself, would understand. Considering this, it should come as no surprise that over the show’s entire run, Fletcher manages to write 43 mystery novels.
Her first book on the series was The Corpse Danced At Midnight. Sounds intriguing! Even more so considering the characters and events in Fletcher’s books have been inspired by real-life drama.
The series behind the series
Something which might surprise viewers is that the series is based on the 1961 film called Murder, She Said. Admittedly, it feels strange to think of the series without “She wrote” in the title, as it seems like such a pivotal part of the show’s narrative.
The image of Jessica Fletcher’s hands typing avidly on that typewriter to write her stories is hard to erase from memory. Apparently, the actual character of Jessica Fletcher was modeled after the lead character in the ’60s series, Miss Marple.
Saying ‘good-bye’ wasn’t easy
The series finale seems to take a jab at the CBS’ decision to cancel the show. Call it sentimental whims or sour grapes; however, it seemed clear from this final episode that the directors and team of Murder, She Wrote weren’t going to wish good-bye to audiences without having their final say.
The episode was set at a radio station in San Francisco, which was changing its program guide and line-up to accommodate younger audiences. Viewers might have missed this veiled inference to the decision of CBS to cancel Murder, She Wrote.
Cabot Cove meets Jaws Lake
Jaws Lake seems an unlikely setting for the sweet, homely town of Cabot Cove, Maine where Murder, She Wrote’s narrative takes place. However, this was the setting for the fictional town where most of the action of the popular ’80s TV series took place.
The lake is called such as it was used for the filming of Jaws and it is set at Universal Studios, where many of the great movies and series of TV and big screen acclaim were filmed. There might have not been an actual shark coming out of the waters, but Fletcher dealt with many metaphorical sharks during the series and she always put them to justice.
From space adventure to murder mystery
Commodore Matt Decker from Star Trek also featured in Murder, She Wrote. Actor William Windom from the space adventure series demonstrated his versatility as an actor, taking on the role of Dr. Seth Hazlitt in the murder mystery TV series.
Dr. Hazlitt was the town doctor of the quiet, yet deathly Cabot Cove, where mystery and murder abounded. Not an easy task being a doctor who has to piece together medical evidence for the nosy Fletcher but Windom pulled off the role with aplomb – taught by the best on the Star Trek team.
A place where murder prevails
With its small size and high murder rate, Cabot Cove could easily top the charts as the Murder Capital Of The World. If the Maine town was a real place, with its population of 3560 residents, and its high rate of 5,3 murders each year, it would have a 60 percent higher rate than a country like Honduras, which registered roughly 90 murders per 100 000 residents.
For this reason, Cabot Cove is the perfect town for an old dear like Jessica Fletcher to set up residence as a murder mystery writer.
World record holder
The little old dear Jessica Fletcher holds the World Record for Most Prolific Amateur Sleuth. Throughout the course of Murder, She Wrote’s 12 seasons, Fletcher solved more cases than any other character.
This, in addition to four movies which she also starred in. Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple comes close to matching Fletcher but has not outshone the crime-solving skills of the writer/detective who has an uncanny knack of stumbling across crime scenes.
Conspiracy theories abound
How does she do it? This relatively unassuming lady who seems to always stumble across murder after murder, before helping solve the cases and then writing the stories. What a wonder! There are, however, some fans who have developed a conspiracy theory about the dear Mrs. Fletcher, believing that she could, in fact, be a serial killer.
It’s one of those conspiracy theories which has done its rounds and is relatively innocuous. Still, it could provide one plausible hypothesis that answers all the questions around Jessica Fletcher.
Friends & Murder, She Wrote
In an episode entitled ‘Murder Among Friends’, the clever directors of Murder, She Wrote took a stab at the sitcom Friends, which was the contending show at the time. The series featured a New York coffee shop, with six characters starring in a popular series, called Buds.
Fletcher got involved after someone tried to bump off one of the Buds cast members. It was all done in good spirits and viewers probably enjoyed the jab at Friends.
