How many murders did Jessica Fletcher solve?
March 1, 2016 1:08 PM Subscribe
In the TV show Murder, She Wrote, how many murder cases total did Jessica Fletcher solve?
I'm considering just the TV show as canon here. I don't know if there were any murder cases that were mentioned on the show but didn't get solved on-screen, but if there were any, those totally count.
Bonus question: In how many of those cases was her involvement in the investigation known to the general public? Like, if one of her books had a cover blurb that said "J. B. Fletcher has personally assisted in x murder investigations, and brings that expertise to every page", what would x be?
I'm considering just the TV show as canon here. I don't know if there were any murder cases that were mentioned on the show but didn't get solved on-screen, but if there were any, those totally count.
Bonus question: In how many of those cases was her involvement in the investigation known to the general public? Like, if one of her books had a cover blurb that said "J. B. Fletcher has personally assisted in x murder investigations, and brings that expertise to every page", what would x be?
Per this old FPP BBC Radio 4 says 274 murders in Cabot Cove, but I don't know if they counted the ones that happened in episodes where she traveled or not. They might have just counted the number of episodes?
posted by Wretch729 at 1:22 PM on March 1, 2016
posted by Wretch729 at 1:22 PM on March 1, 2016
You'll have to figure out how to handle the crossover episodes with Magnum P.I. IIRC there was one crossover episode in the Magnum time slot and one in the Murder She Wrote time slot with multiple murders...do you give credit to both Jessica and Thomas? ...pro rata?
posted by Esteemed Offendi at 2:26 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Esteemed Offendi at 2:26 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
There was a murder in every episode, were any ever unsolved? Seems this would be awfully close to the episode count, no? Subtract out two-parters and the aforementioned crossovers.
posted by hwyengr at 2:52 PM on March 1, 2016
posted by hwyengr at 2:52 PM on March 1, 2016
Seems this would be awfully close to the episode count, no?
You'd think so, but there are episodes with multiple murders as part of the plot, either with multiple dead bodies in the episode or where the motive for the murder on screen was covering up a past murder and Jessica by solving one solves them both.
There are also at least 13 "bookend episodes" where Angela Lansbury was sick of doing a full season of the show but it was making so much money that CBS would let her do what she wanted so, she'd introduce the story, usually either about a friend of hers or an actual "JB Fletcher story" (or written by her friends) with all new characters, and then disappear until the end.
All that being said, there are 264 episodes of the show, and 4 TV movies, so it seems like with those plus and minuses, 274 might be a fairly accurate count.*
As for your bonus questions and as for the accuracy of this estimation, and because I've wondered both these questions before, if no one else is able to accurately find a better answer, I might have to do the hard episode-by-episode research on this one.
(In parallel, I would do the research to put together Jessica Fletcher's family tree to try to figure out how all her and her late husband Frank's often-murder-adjacent nieces and nephews are related.)
* The previously linked thread shows I've done some research on this previously as well.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:37 PM on March 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
You'd think so, but there are episodes with multiple murders as part of the plot, either with multiple dead bodies in the episode or where the motive for the murder on screen was covering up a past murder and Jessica by solving one solves them both.
There are also at least 13 "bookend episodes" where Angela Lansbury was sick of doing a full season of the show but it was making so much money that CBS would let her do what she wanted so, she'd introduce the story, usually either about a friend of hers or an actual "JB Fletcher story" (or written by her friends) with all new characters, and then disappear until the end.
All that being said, there are 264 episodes of the show, and 4 TV movies, so it seems like with those plus and minuses, 274 might be a fairly accurate count.*
As for your bonus questions and as for the accuracy of this estimation, and because I've wondered both these questions before, if no one else is able to accurately find a better answer, I might have to do the hard episode-by-episode research on this one.
(In parallel, I would do the research to put together Jessica Fletcher's family tree to try to figure out how all her and her late husband Frank's often-murder-adjacent nieces and nephews are related.)
* The previously linked thread shows I've done some research on this previously as well.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:37 PM on March 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
MCMikeNamara, let me know if you need a research assistant.
My gut feeling is that the average number of murders per episode is closer to 1.5 than to 1. Cover-up murders are super common in the world of J.B. Fletcher.
posted by mskyle at 3:41 PM on March 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
My gut feeling is that the average number of murders per episode is closer to 1.5 than to 1. Cover-up murders are super common in the world of J.B. Fletcher.
posted by mskyle at 3:41 PM on March 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I guess both halves of the Magnum PI crossover should probably count. If the one in the Murder, She Wrote time slot is canon, the one in the Magnum time slot pretty much has to be canon too. If both Fletcher and Magnum were instrumental to figuring out who did a murder, then I would count it in the "murders solved" tally for both of them.
posted by baf at 12:06 PM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by baf at 12:06 PM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:15 PM on March 1, 2016