The third season of Murder, She Wrote began airing on September 28, 1986 and completed on May 10, 1987 with twenty-two episodes.
Summary[]
Jessica spends this year solving even more murders. Jessica starts by investigating the origins of a wedding gift sent to her niece; Jessica's interest is piqued when her niece insists that the gift could only have been sent by her presumed dead uncle, Jessica's brother in law Neil Fletcher. Jessica not only discovers that Neill is alive but that he has been charged with murder, prompting Jessica to dig to the bottom of the case to exonerate him.
Jessica also has another run in with MI6 Agent Michael Hagarty, in which she is swept away at gun point by Michael when two prominent East German Artists defect under less than perfect circumstances. Matters get even more dire when Michael's colleague from MI6 is murdered on the grounds of the British Embassy, with a white rose left with the body, an unusual calling card to be sure. Jessica and Michael must team up and get to the bottom of an old MI6 operation in Africa in order to uncover both the motive for the murder and the identiyy of the assassin.
Jessica then finds herself thrown into the world of amateur boxing, when her old friend Harry McGraw enlists her to fund his prize boxer. She finds herself on record as the boxers manager after Harry is arrested for the murder of a prominent boxing manager, she must discover the secrets of the boxing world to get to the bottom of the case.
Starring[]
Regular Cast[]
- Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher
- Tom Bosley as Sheriff Amos Tupper
- William Windom as Dr. Seth Hazlitt
Recurring Cast[]
- Michael Horton as Grady Fletcher
- Jeff Conaway as Howard Griffin
- Genie Francis as Victoria Brandon
- Jerry Orbach as Harry McGraw
- Len Cariou as Michael Hagarty
- Richard Paul as Mayor Sam Booth
- Barney Martin as Lt. Timothy Hanratty
Special Guest Stars[]
- Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum
- John Hillerman as Jonathan Higgins
Episodes[]
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Prod. code | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | 1 | "Death Stalks the Big Top: Part 1" | 62104 | September 28, 1986 |
| When Jessica's niece receives a silver Leprechaun from someone who has been presumed dead for years, Jessica decides to hunt down the mysterious gift giver from beyond the grave. Her search leads her to a circus, where unnatural things are happening in and out of the ring. | ||||
| 46 | 2 | "Death Stalks the Big Top: Part 2" | 62105 | October 5, 1986 |
| One murder leads to another as Jessica finds herself chasing down false alibis and the employees of a rival circus. Just when she thinks she has all the funny business behind her, a stunning confession will throw everyone for a loop. | ||||
| 47 | 3 | "Unfinished Business" | 62103 | October 12, 1986 |
| A retired policeman decides to re-examine an old case he never solved, in which Seth was a strong suspect, and returns to the lakeside cabins where the murder occurred, gathering all the old suspects together. It isn't long before there's another murder. | ||||
| 48 | 4 | "One White Rose for Death" | 62107 | October 19, 1986 |
| While attending a concert in Washington, D.C., Jessica gets involved with two East German defectors and a murder. | ||||
| 49 | 5 | "Corned Beef and Carnage" | 62108 | November 2, 1986 |
| Jessica gets involved when her niece, Victoria, is believed to be connected to the murder of her lecherous boss, who had been trying to barter more than just Victoria's advertising skills to a new client. | ||||
| 50 | 6 | "Dead Man's Gold" | 62102 | November 9, 1986 |
| A group of young treasure hunters come to Cabot Cove looking for sunken treasure but after one dies and the other is arrested for her murder, Jessica gets involved both to clear a young man she believes is innocent and to help an old friend she knows tends not to be. | ||||
| 51 | 7 | "Deadline for Murder" | 62101 | November 16, 1986 |
| A veteran reporter, who suffered a heart attack, says his best medicine would be the removal of his publisher who has turned a good paper into a yellow rag. Jessica gets involved after the man ends up dead, but there seems to be more than enough people with motives. | ||||
| N/A | N/A | "Novel Connection" | N/A | November 19, 1986 |
| This is a crossover episode with Magnum, P.I.: Jessica Fletcher helps Magnum investigate an attempt on the life of Higgins and several guests. | ||||
| 52 | 8 | "Magnum on Ice" | 62121 | November 23, 1986 |
| This is a crossover episode with Magnum, P.I.: Jessica comes to the assistance of Magnum when he's framed for two murders that occurred during her vacation in Hawaii. | ||||
| 53 | 9 | "Obituary for a Dead Anchor" | 62111 | December 7, 1986 |
| Cabot Cove becomes a media magnet when a TV news reporter is presumed dead on a chartered boat. But Jessica finds there's even more action off-camera, when the murder turns out to be a publicity ploy by the reporter in order to avoid one of his former sources. | ||||
| 54 | 10 | "Stage Struck" | 62115 | December 14, 1986 |
| The murder of the leading lady's understudy disrupts rehearsals of a play starring two previously married, but now warring, actors, who have a secret of their own to hide. | ||||
| 55 | 11 | "Night of the Headless Horseman" | 62106 | January 4, 1987 |
| Jessica is in the wrong place at the right time to help her friend Dorian Beecher when he is accused of a murder he didn't commit after Nate Findley, his primary rival for Sarah Dupont's affections, is found dead. | ||||
| 56 | 12 | "The Corpse Flew First Class" | 62114 | January 18, 1987 |
| Theft and murder of the courier occur on board a jet bound for London with a plethora of suspects ranging from an older couple to a well-known actress to a former police officer. | ||||
| 57 | 13 | "Crossed Up" | 62120 | February 1, 1987 |
| The phone wires get crossed during a storm and Jessica can't convince anyone that what she heard was real. | ||||
| 58 | 14 | "Murder in a Minor Key" | 62122 | February 8, 1987 |
| Jessica tells the story of her new novel about a composer accused of killing the professor who plagiarized his music. | ||||
| 59 | 15 | "The Bottom Line is Murder" | 62110 | February 15, 1987 |
| A lying TV consumer advocate is killed and suspicion lands on one of the clients whose products he maligned. | ||||
| 60 | 16 | "Death Takes a Dive" | 62112 | February 22, 1987 |
| Jessica visits her old friend Harry McGraw in New York who has become wrangled in the high stakes game of boxing. | ||||
| 61 | 17 | "Simon Says, Color Me Dead" | 62123 | March 1, 1987 |
| An artist is murdered and his prized painting is missing, Jessica investigates. | ||||
| 62 | 18 | "No Laughing Murder" | 62113 | March 15, 1987 |
| After the engagement party for the offspring of two estranged comics, someone is found dead. | ||||
| 63 | 19 | "No Accounting for Murder" | 62117 | March 22, 1987 |
| Grady Fletcher is in big trouble when his boss, a specialist in tax shelters, is found dead and he is the main suspect. | ||||
| 64 | 20 | "The Cemetery Vote" | 62116 | April 5, 1987 |
| The reform mayor dies in a so called "accident" and then the mayor's father is murdered after he demands an investigation of it. | ||||
| 65 | 21 | "The Days Dwindle Down" | 62124 | April 19, 1987 |
| Jessica investigates the possibility that Sam, a recent parolee, went to jail for a crime he didn't commit. | ||||
| 66 | 22 | "Murder, She Spoke" | 62109 | May 10, 1987 |
| A temporary black-out at a recording studio leaves Jessica in the dark when the wealthy soon-to-be-owner is stabbed to death. When the murder weapon matches the cutlery set of an old friend, Jessica takes on the case with a plan to put the real culprit on the record. | ||||
Background Information[]
- This is one of only two seasons to feature "Special Guest Stars", this honor was reserved for Tom Selleck and John Hillerman, both main cast members of CBS sister show Magnum, P.I.
- This season features a two-part crossover episode with Magnum, P.I. The first part entitled "Novel Connection" aired as a Magnum episode, while the second part entitled "Magnum on Ice" aired as a Murder, She Wrote episode.