Murder, She Wrote - Season 5

When Jessica is arrested for murder, secret agent Michael Haggerty 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.

Following Sheriff Tupper's retirement, his replacement quickly has to adjust to small town life in Cabot Cove when a fairly new resident, Mr. Penroy, is found dead and buried in the yard of the spinster sisters he was renting a room from. Irked by the fact that everyone suggests that he turn to Jessica for help in discovering how he died, Sheriff Metzger tries to convince the town that he'd be able to do the job on his own. However, things don't go as planned when a second body is found in the same fashion as Mr. Penroy and Sheriff Metzger reluctantly has to turn to Jessica for help.

While waiting on Grady before enjoying a skiing vacation, Jessica and members of the U.S. World Cup Ski team gets stranded at a lodge with a killer when the womanizing star of the team and two other guests are killed during a massive snow storm. As a result, Jessica and a retired NYPD Lieutenant have to work together to find out who the killer is amongst the guests.

When a West Virginia mine owner is murdered, a former student of Jessica's is the prime suspect. When she arrives in the town to help Molly prove her innocence, Jessica runs into numerous roadblocks when the residents refuse to help and the fact that several people wanted him dead. They just have to wade through the evidence to find out who the killer is.

While researching her latest novel, Jessica almost becomes a casualty in the bombing of a jewelry store. It later turns out that the store's owner has been murdered and the priceless Queen of Tara tiara has been stolen. Forming an uneasy alliance with a pair of wisecracking "Cagney and Lacey" style female cops, Jessica follows the trail of clues to the home of a famously reclusive actress named Siobhan O'Dea.

During the Korean War, Frank Fletcher, late husband of mystery writer Jessica Fletcher, was forced to bail out of the "Dixie Damsel", a crippled C97 cargo plane. Now, 36 years later, the wreckage of the "Dixie Damsel" has been found--with the remains of a murdered man inside! An Air Force inquiry is established to determine if Frank Fletcher had committed murder, prompting Jessica to team up with her old friend, retired pilot Lee Goddard, to clear her husband's name and find out what really happened.

After Frank's old Army buddy convinces Jessica to visit his ranch on her way back to Cabot Cove, a psychic's dire predictions put a large damper on party festivities when he predicts that the daughter-in-law of Jessica's host will die in a fiery death. However, Jessica soon discovers that the psychic and the intended victim has a past that can't be overlooked, especially after a murder does take place.

Jessica's nephew Grady Fletcher and his fiancée Donna Mayberry have decided to get married in the home of Donna's parents. With Jessica on the guest list, can murder be far behind? Not likely: This time the victim is Mr. and Mrs. Mayberry's fanatically fastidious housekeeper, who is "done in" with her own meat thermometer!

Sheriff Metzger investigates when Vivian Proctor, one of Cabot Cove's best-liked and busiest housewives, is implicated in the murder of a well-known womanizer who has been found dead in a cheap motel. Although Vivian is widely regarded as the "perfect" wife and mother, her keys and a lurid personal note have been found next to the body of the victim--and she refuses to explain why. It soon develops that Vivian was leading a double life...and it falls to her friend Jessica to help untangle Vivian's web of lies and find out who the real killer is.

Just before attending the funeral of an old friend, Jessica makes the acquaintance of young Rick Banner, former college roommate of the dead woman's long-lost son Peter. When Rick hears a song written by Peter, the ball starts rolling for a onslaught of intrigue, ill will and murder predicated on the fact that the missing Peter will fall heir to millions should he ever make a return appearance. Jessica's fellow sleuth on this occasion is rumpled, clownish Chief Underwood.

A derelict is found dead in a New York alley. At first glance, it appears that the dead man succumbed to alcoholism, but the other clues--including several conspicuously missing items--don't add up. Jessica Fletcher teams with ulcerated NYPD lieutenant Hanratty to make sense of the case, leading both sleuths to a group of disreputable doctors.

Jessica is suspicious when the appearance of the ghost of a long-dead witch burned at the stake coincides with the release of a book on the very subject.

Jessica travels to Moscow to attend the International Artists and Writers Conference. No sooner has she arrived that someone steals her purse--and when the police catch up with the thief, they find a role of microfilm amongst Jessica's belongings. Immediately, the KGB accuses our heroine of being a spy--which doesn't anger her quite as much as the subsequent murder accusation leveled at an old friend.

Jessica takes a sentimental journey to the New Hampshire campus of her old alma mater. Alas, her favorite English professor Leon Walker is in no mood for a reunion: Discovered at the scene of a young girl's murder, Professor Walker has already confessed to the crime, claiming that he killed in self-defense. Jessica does not believe this confession any more than she believes the subsequent confession made by a young student with whom the dead woman had been involved.

Travelling to Hollywood in the company of elderly writer Walter Murray, with whom she is slated to collaborate on a movie script, Jessica makes a brief stop at a seedy motel-diner. Later that evening, Walter is found dead in his motel room, leaving behind a tape recording detailing the events leading up to his demise. In a series of stunningly photographed black-and-white flashbacks, Jessica learns that on the previous evening, Walter had been reunited with a woman whom he hadn't seen in 19 years--not since he killed her abusive husband!

When a former student of Jessica's writes a steamy book based on the residents of Cabot Cove, several of Jessica's friends are less than thrilled about the publicity they start to receive. When someone eventually winds up dead as a result of the book, it's up to Jessica to remind her neighbors that there's a difference between fact and fiction when trying to figure out who the killer is and why they wanted the victim dead.

At the recommendation of Jessica Fletcher, a young editor heads to Montana, there to organize the unpublished manuscript of the last novel written by a celebrated, recently deceased author. Unable to make heads or tails of the author's notes, the editor concocts a readable volume from his own imagination. Just as he is poised to tell the world that he, and not the late author, penned the novel, the editor is murdered and from here on in, it's up to Jessica to solve the crime.

While visiting Boston, Jessica runs into her former neighbor John Winslow who brusquely insists that he's never seen her before in her life. Quickly dialing up Winslow's wife Maude, Jessica is informed that John died two weeks before! To solve this mystery, Jessica capitalizes upon her friendship with gruff-but-lovable Boston P.I. Harry McGraw.

Jessica heads to the baseball stadium to visit her nephew, up-and-coming ballplayer Johnny Eaton. Soon afterward, the team's new TV pre-game hostess is murdered, and a startled burglar is arrested for the crime. So what has this to do with Jessica? Well, it seems that the hapless burglar is nephew Johnny's best friend.

Jessica Fletcher crosses swords with rival mystery writer Eudora McVeigh Shipton. Envious that Jessica's star has risen while hers has fallen, Eudora publicly declares that she intends to murder our heroine! But when Eudora shows up in Cabot Cove, she couldn't be more friendly or effusive towards Jessica. In fact, Eudora is even bearing a gift...a basket of big juicy apples.

Jessica is still contending with her witchy rival mystery writer Eudora McVeigh Shipton. Although the duplicitous Eudora confesses that she has stolen the notes for Jessica's latest novel, she denies that she tried to do her rival in with a poisoned apple and even more emphatically denies murdering the detective who has trailed Eudora all the way to Cabot Cove. The two amateur sleuths decide to briefly bury the hatchet and solve the mystery provided that Eudora can be trusted any farther than she can be thrown!