r/murdershewrote

“There are three things you can never get enough of: chocolate, friends, and the theater!”

That’s one of my favorite JB Fletcher quotes. What’s one (or more) of yours?

I just finished a poison Episode of MSW. It's the one where the evil ghost paints pins with Thallium I was just wondering, what would our awesome sleuth do if some was really poisoned. Not as the character but the real person.

Has something like this ever happened?

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In my mind Grady & Donna have been married for nearly 40 years they have 4 children their eldest is a daughter. Grady & Donna live in New York but the story will focus on their eldest daughter.

She is nearly 40 if not just 40 to be accurate. Her name is Jennifer Beth Fletcher (JB) which is appropriate name for her age. She is a gossip columnist who is recently divorced now children.

After her recent divorce she takes time off from work to “reevaluate” her life. She heads to the family vacation home which has been empty for years. Yup her great aunt Jess’s Cabot Cove. Cabot Cove is still a small quaint town that has been resident to technology and kind of known as a dead zone for cell phones in certain parts.

While reevaluating her life and choices she looks through old photos and some diaries of her great aunt. One night as a storm comes in as they do in Cabot Cove she has a roaring fire and literally uncovers the “typewriter”. She finds it amusing but then sits down playfully taps on the keys. Then grabs a sheet of paper and starts typing. She finds it thrilling compared to her tablet she uses to type her gossip.

I then imagine she types so much she accidentally fell asleep and is awoken by a hard knocking at the door. Enter case one someone in Cabot Cove is missing.

Thoughts? It came to me one night and I thought I would watch a version like this giving enough respect to the OG Angela but tying it to the original plot picking up. By having no kids and no spouse she is free to travel. Having parents and 3 younger adult siblings who probably have small children it opens up the possibility of more storylines.

First of all, I think Maine was a perfect place to be Jessica's home state, because Mainers I've noticed tend to have an accent that's a mix of Northern US and Canadian-British, so Angela Lansbury's sometimes obvious British accent doesn't seem out of place.

But I couldn't remember if Jessica is a native Cabot Cover.

I remember her talking about her and Frank buying the house as newlyweds, and that she was a teacher in Cabot Cove, but there's just something about the vibe that makes it seem like she wasn't born and raised in the Cove.

I know part of it may be that she basically becomes famous in the first season, but she doesn't have any close female friends; even the ladies at Loretta's are more acquaintances. She's sometimes on committees, but nothing weekly like a craft club or book club or garden club... or bike club! She doesn't have a group of friends over for tea (except Ethan or Seth, but not a group), she doesn't host parties or teas (unless it fits into the story); same with being invited to them... she just seems like an outsider.

I know that many small communities consider someone an outsider even if they've lived there for decades, this is why I wondered about that dynamic.

Hi Everyone! :)

I'm going to be presenting at next year's Murder, She Wrote Festival and am looking for your input! Given that the show is so formulaic, it is perfect for some really fun deep dive analyses.

I'm a statistician and do a lot of data storytelling in my day job, so I've put my focus to deep diving into all 264 episodes (will be excluding films for this project). I've got a bunch of questions I plan on exploring but would love to hear from this wonderful community -- do you have any interesting questions about the show that could be answered through data analysis? I'm looking to capture a wide breadth of questions before starting a full series rewatch. I'll be manually collecting data points from each episode in order to answer said questions.

A sample of questions I'm thinking of including:

• General demographics of murderers and how they are related to the victim - family? business partner? rival? other?
• What's the deal with Jessica Fletcher's nieces and nephews when it comes to being a murder suspect?
• A breakdown of how Jessica closes a case: what percentage of her victories rely on physical evidence versus a killer's inevitable verbal slip-up during the final five minutes

The more questions I have, the more fun the exploration (and ultimately, the festival talk) will be, so if you've ever wondered something, let me know!

My favorite shows to fall asleep to are The Golden Girls and Murder She Wrote. What are your go to seasons to start your sleeping to? For me it's somewhere in season 1-5.

What are some of your favorite exaggerated acting scenes of victims on MSW?

I thought about this because I watched Dagger of Death & I thought Mr Jobe completely nailed dying on the phone without us actually seeing it happen.

His facial expressions & sounds were superb I was thinking 🤔 I think he may top the cake 😆

Not the actual death victim but still super exaggerated I'll also include

The tennis one where that woman was shaking like a leaf saying Barbara did it

The screaming sponsor from the ski Lodge when she found the guy hanging from the showerhead

And my favorite would be Mrs Lodge where her daughter & gardener bf were driving her nuts was hysterical in the mental ward & the doctor gave her shaken baby I mean woman syndrome

Memorable also

Blanche Deveraux actress swooning into Sheriff Tupper arms on Murder takes the bus

Granted, I haven't seen every episode, but I've seen a lot. And Jessica is always portrayed as a morally-upright character. She feels almost sinless! Does she ever do anything wrong? Seeing her make a mistake would humanize her a bit. 😆

To just say Sean Sheleen The Irish Shillelagh. Anyone else?

…the way she says Barbara. At least two episodes that I can think of she says the name “Barbara” and it literally hurts. “Stage Struck” and “Menace, Anyone?”are the two I can think of. Anything this perfect woman does that sets your teeth on edge?

Do you have any episodes that you feel are missing an important scene ?

For me I always felt that Season 4's "Showdown in Saskatchewan" needed a scene where Jill confronts Marty about lying to her. Once she finds out, the characters never say a word to each other again.

In season 12's "The Dark Side of the Door", I always wanted a scene where (SPOILER ALERT) the girl finds out that her mother was responsible for her kidnapping. It's a big reveal and would have been a great emotional scene.

It’s been storming in my town for hours. So, of course, I’m about to start Murder Takes the Bus. If it’s still going after, I’ll put on Crossed Up. Any other good thunderstorm episodes?

What do we think? Was there a historical Joshua Peabody (in the MSW Cabot Cove world)?