MURDER, SHE WROTE: THE MURDER OF SHERLOCK HOLMES {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The premiere episode of 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 the premiere, Jessica has her first novel published, gets her first taste of life as a celebrity, and becomes embroiled in a murder case. Jessica, a widow and substitute school teacher, content with her peaceful life in the small coastal town of Cabot Cove, Maine, is shocked to learn that her nephew Grady read a mystery novel she had written for her own amusement and has shown her manuscript to a friend at a New York publishing house. Jessica insists she never intended to publish her work, but Grady persists, and she reluctantly agrees to have the book published. To Jessica's great surprise, it becomes a national best-seller and Grady invites her to New York to meet her publisher and to appear on various radio and television programs to promote her book. Jessica's first impressions of fame and New York are not favorable: she suffers through patronizing television and radio talk-show interviews, encounters rude autograph-seekers at a book-signing, and is subpoenaed by a woman who claims Jessica stole her story. However, she does get along well with her distinguished, solicitous publisher, Preston Giles, who invites her to his country house for a masquerade party at which each person must dress as his or her favorite character from literature. However, this pastoral weekend turns out to be even more nerve-rattling than the teeming city when "Sherlock Holmes" is found floating face down in the swimming pool early the next morning. At first everyone assumes the victim -- who had been shot directly in the face -- is Grady's much-disliked boss, Capt. Caleb McCallum, who had attended the party dressed as Sherlock Holmes. Several party guests, including his wife, are suspects. By looking at the victim's shoes, however, Jessica deduces that the victim was really a private investigator who had crashed the party early in the evening. The question remains as to whether the murderer thought he was shooting the private investigator or whether he really meant to kill Caleb McCallum. When McCallum turns up dead, the answer to query seems crystal clear, but as she assists the local police chief in his investigation, Jessica finds that something is still not quite right with the case. Meanwhile, against her better judgment, Jessica finds herself falling for Giles and later puts herself in jeopardy to clear her nephew's name when Grady is accused of having stolen industry secrets from McCallum and is arrested in New York on murder charges. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: September 30, 1984 Sunday 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:33:38
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:11201
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1984-1996
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Peter S. Fischer … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Richard Levinson … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- William Link … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Robert F. O'Neill … Producer
- Corey Allen … Director
- John Addison … Music by
- Angela Lansbury … Cast, Jessica B. Fletcher
- Ned Beatty … Cast, Chief Roy Gunderson
- Arthur Hill … Cast, Preston Giles
- Brian Keith … Cast, Capt. Caleb McCallum
- Eddie Barth … Cast, Bernie
- Jessica Browne … Cast, Kitt Donovan
- Bert Convy … Cast, Peter Brill
- Herb Edelman … Cast, the Bus Driver
- Anne Lloyd Francis … Cast, Louise McCallum
- Michael Horton … Cast, Grady Fletcher
- Tricia O'Neil … Cast, Ashley Vickers
- Dennis Patrick … Cast, Dexter Baxendale
- Raymond St. Jacques … Cast, Local Doctor
- Rosanna Huffman … Cast, Eleanor Thompson
- Paddi Edwards … Cast, Lois Hoey
- Ellen Crawford … Cast, Muriel
- David Byrd … Cast, Davis
- Richard Erdman … Cast, Eggman
- Danny Wells … Cast, Talk Show Host
- John Hancock … Cast, Daniel
- Jay Fenichel … Cast, Cellini
- Stanley Brock … Cast, Marvin
- Hap Lawrence … Cast, Young Deputy
- Kat Sawyer-Young … Cast, Feminist Interviewer
- Joseph Perry … Cast, Heavy Set Crude Man
- Howard Mann … Cast, New Holvang Cabbie
- Freddye Chapman … Cast, Jane
- Russell Curry … Cast, Black Youth
- Johnny Venocur … Cast, Second White Tough
- Andy Garcia … Cast, First White Tough
- Anne Ramsey … Cast, Bag Lady
- Jimmy Joyce … Cast, Tom
- Ken Olfson … Cast, TV Book Critic
- Paula Victor … Cast, Agnes Peabody
- Billie Hayes … Cast, Peter Pan
- Cathey Paine … Cast, Young Woman
- Beau Starr … Cast, Policeman on Boat
- Larry McCormick … Cast, TV Reporter
- Dan Chambers … Cast, Cab Driver
- Sallee Young … Cast, Performer
- Donald Elson … Cast, Bookstore Owner
- Daniel Zippi … Cast, Mailman