MURDER, SHE WROTE: WHO KILLED J.B. FLETCHER? (TV)

Summary

One in this murder mystery series about an unassuming Maine mystery writer turned sleuth named Jessica B. Fletcher who uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases. In this episode, Jessica—or rather, a cheery Southern imposter named Marge—breaks into the McCauley kennel after hours and is caught and arrested. Her friend Kit bails her out and chides her for her behavior, but Marge resolves to "crack the case" and goes to see the McCauleys at their home, informing Lisa that she has uncovered the truth, but she is then attacked by an unseen person. Jessica hears of her "own" arrest on TV and hurriedly calls Sheriff Tanner to clarify, but when he fails to understand, she travels to the jail in person and eventually proves her identity by showing him one of her books. When he gives her the bail information, she goes to Kit's home and comes across the ladies of the "J.B. Fletcher Literary Society," all of whom are thrilled to meet their idol. They confess that they are amateur sleuths and have fake IDs with her name, explaining that Marge was attempting to discover the truth about a suspiciously successful show dog. Jessica then sees a newspaper headline proclaiming her own death, and it turns out that Marge was killed in an apparent car accident with her fake Jessica ID still on her. Her friends are heartbroken and skeptical of the circumstances, and Jessica decides to investigate, traveling to the McCauley home with Kit. There they stumble upon a wake for Simon McCauley, killed in a strange hunting accident the day before. Jessica meets Lisa as well as Rick, a kennel employee, and Mitchell, Simon's insurance agent. Lisa denies seeing Marge at her home that morning, though Jessica sees through her lie. They also meet Boone Willoughby, a fellow hunter who reveals that Simon was a capable dog trainer.

Marge's friends decide to work together to solve the mysteries, though Jessica urges them to go through "the proper channels" first. Jessica struggles with the difficulties of being believed dead, but finds time to borrow a dog and go undercover at the kennel, questioning Rick about Marge and Simon. One of the ladies, Florence, steals the coroner's report and realizes that Marge could not have been driving the car at the time of her death. Willoughby offers some interesting details about Simon's death, and at the kennel, Jessica and Kit find Rick and Lisa in a romantic embrace. Though dismissing her interest at first, Tanner tells Jessica that her suspicions about the position of Simon's body were correct and suggest murder rather than an accident, and they collect dirt from the crime scene to test for blood. Mitchell offers to help Jessica with her efforts to "come back to life," and tells her that Simon had a standard life insurance policy. Another Fletcher society lady, Jane, who works at the blood bank, explains that Simon was a rare B- type, and Bertie hacks into the insurance company's database and finds that Simon's policy was in fact recently raised to $2 million, giving Lisa a motive. When Tanner goes to investigate, however, he finds Rick fleeing the McCauley home and Lisa dead in her bed.

As they explore the home, Jessica guesses that Simon was killed in the basement and then moved, and she finds blood evidence supporting her theory. Rick is caught but swears his innocence, saying that he had "a thing" with Lisa and that she was dead when he arrived, and his alibi proves convincing. The ladies decide that Lisa killed Simon with someone else's help, and realize that Marge must have been killed when she saw something incriminating. Jessica reads through the insurance file again and then confronts Mitchell, declaring that he and Lisa killed Simon together for the money after he posed as Simon for his insurance physical, evidenced by the incorrect blood type, and then killed Marge when she arrived and claimed to know "everything," unaware that she was referring to the fact that Simon unfairly trained the show dog, not the murder. Mitchell hurries for his gun, but is stopped by Tanner and arrested. The ladies conclude that Mitchell also killed Lisa to prevent her confessing, and they celebrate their success as Jessica praises Marge as the true hero of the case. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: February 10, 1991 8:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:33889
• GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
• SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1984-1996
• COMMERCIALS:
  • TV - Promos - "Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter"
  • TV - Promos - "Murder, She Wrote" upcoming episode

CREDITS

• Peter S. Fischer … Executive Producer, Created by
• Robert F. O'Neill … Supervising Producer
• Robert E. Swanson … Producer
• Robert Van Scoyk … Producer
• Anthony J. Magro … Associate Producer
• Richard Levinson … Created by
• William Link … Created by
• Walter Grauman … Director
• Lynn Kelsey … Writer
• David Bell … Music by
• John Addison … Theme Music by
• Angela Lansbury … Cast, Jessica Fletcher
• Max Baer … Cast, St. Trooper Boone Willoughby
• Janet Blair … Cast, Bertie
• Betty Garrett … Cast, Kit Parkins
• Earl Holliman … Cast, Sheriff J.T. Tanner
• Terry Moore … Cast, Florence
• Margaret O'Brien … Cast, Jane
• Jamie Rose … Cast, Lisa McCauley
• Tom Schanley … Cast, Rick
• Lyman Ward … Cast, Mitchell Lawrence
• Marie Windsor … Cast, Caroline
• Jane Withers … Cast, Marge Allen
• David Cowgill … Cast, Deputy
• Jon Menick … Cast, Kennel Clerk
• Mario Machado … Cast, Anchor
• Rod Britt … Cast, Clerk
• Marvyn Byrkett … Cast, Technician
• Marc Marosi … Cast, Waiter
• Michael Leopard … Cast, Cabbie
• Curt Booker … Cast, Security Guard