The 10 Best ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Episodes For Horror Fans

©CBS/courtesy Everett Collection (ca. 1985 photo)

Hollywood lost a legend on October 11, 2022 when Angela Lansbury passed away five days shy of her 97th birthday. Her final screen performance comes in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, streaming on Netflix this December, capping a career with over one hundred credits. For most fans, she’s best remembered as Jessica Fletcher, the crime-solving mystery novelist from Cabot Cove on the long-running CBS series Murder, She Wrote. The show ran for twelve seasons and 264 episodes from 1984 to 1996 and also spawned four made-for-television movies.

This past spring my wife and I made this our show to watch before bed. While I can watch horror until my eyelids are drooping and I shuffle off to put my head on the pillow, my wife needs to wind down with less grisly subject matter before closing her eyes. Murder, She Wrote became our go-to nighttime watch because of its simple and inviting formula.

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Every week Ms. Fletcher would either interact with the familiar residents of Cabot’s Cove or travel to an exotic location to promote her latest page-turner (Jessica Fletcher churns out novels at a breakneck speed that would cause Stephen King to tell her to slow down a bit). Before the first commercial break, a fresh corpse would turn up. Jessica would be left to investigate while the local police stumbled all over themselves. By the end of the episode, Ms. Fletcher would find the one bit of evidence everyone else had overlooked, and the criminal would make their confession moments before the credits rolled. Oh, and in almost every episode Jessica would have a stately male gentleman trying to woo her affections as well. It’s a simple show that goes down easy at the end of a long day’s work.

What many people might not be aware of is what a treasure trove of goodies the show is for long-time horror fans. While there are few, if any, horror-themed episodes, the revolving cast of guest stars is a Who’s Who for genre fans of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Almost every episode I found myself pointing to the screen like that Leonardo DiCaprio meme and exclaiming “That’s the self-help psychiatrist from Joe Dante’s The Howling” or words to that effect. One of the highlights of watching the show is that jolt of recognition, as well as being brought back to the television of my childhood where performers from other favorite movies and shows would pop up unexpectedly.

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In some cases, the supporting performances also served a larger purpose. Lansbury was keenly aware that some of her guest stars hadn’t worked on a production in a long time, and as such faced the possibility of losing their SAG membership along with the health and insurance benefits that came with the union. By insisting on casting certain older performers, Lansbury provided them the means to retain their guild union membership, and keep their benefits. It was an altruistic move that spoke to her great character.

While my wife and I still have more seasons to go through, here are ten examples of episodes that should appeal to any horror fan. The show is available on a number of streaming platforms, including Freevee and Peacock so it’s easy to catch up. You’ll either be hooked or left asking yourself if Jessica Fletcher is the most devious serial killer of all time with hundreds of dead bodies in her wake and scores of innocent men and women framed for her crimes.

Season 5, Episode 13: Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble

If I could steer horror fans to one episode, this fifth-season barn burner (literally, a young, smarmy Bill Maher sets fire to an old barn as a public relations stunt) would be my first choice. It kicks off with a young woman dressed like a Salem witch praying to Bezelbub over a pentagram during a thunderstorm.

This episode features a trio of horror royalty in guest-starring spots. Dee Wallace Stone might be best known as Elliot’s mom in E.T. but she also had a stellar run in horror throughout the eighties that continues to the present day. To list all her genre credits would be an article itself, but from 1981 through 1987 she led Joe Dante’s seminal werewolf tale The Howling, was terrorized by everyone’s favorite rabid Saint Benard in Cujo, and was the matriarch of the Brown family in the alien invasion flick Critters. This episode finds Wallace playing the town librarian who assisted our second horror legend Roddy Mcdowell (Fright Night), in his research for his book on Cabot Cove’s three-hundred-year-old witch.

McDowell shines as a hammy prick desperate for a successful launch to his book tour. Finally, Chucky himself, Brad Dourif makes a brief but memorable appearance as a huckster exorcist that claims he can cleanse Cabot Cove of the witch’s curse once and for all. It’s a fantastic episode that also features Dee Wallace’s real-life husband Christopher Stone, who also starred alongside her in The Howling. 

Season 3, Episode 11: Night of the Headless Horseman

This take on Washington Irving’s classic short story would be my next choice if I wanted genre fans to give this show a watch. To be honest, it’s in no small part for the tiny thrill of watching Barry Williams, best known as Greg Brady on The Brady Bunch, play a local tough guy that gets in bar fights, terrorizes the nerdy poetry professor, and breaks all the ladies’ hearts before he gets murdered by the ex-spouse of one of his many lovers. It also features no shortage of notable horror performers.

Thom Barry makes a fantastic Ichabod Crane stand-in with his lanky frame and hangdog facial expressions. Prior to appearing here, he starred in the ultra-violent early 80s slasher The Prowler. After this appearance, Barry would go on to have leading roles in John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, DeepStar Six, and House 3. That’s a heck of a run. Hope Lange (Jessie’s mother in A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge) also makes a brief appearance but the most notable performance comes from Fritz Weaver. Already having acted in four separate decades prior to his guest turn here, Weaver is best remembered by horror fans as Dexter from Creepshow’s  best segment (I’ll take no arguments here) “The Crate.” 

Season 1, Episode 3: Hooray For Homicide

This early episode sees Jessica headed to Hollywood to protest one of her novels being optioned as a gore-soaked, T&A slasher film. When the film’s producer gets offed a mere hours after his meeting with her, Ms. Fletcher finds up as a prime murder suspect. Who better to have in a show about a potential slasher movie than the star of one herself?

Melissa Sue Anderson wanted to shed the good girl image from Little House on the Prairie when she took on the final girl role of Ginny Wainwright in 1981’s Happy Birthday To Me. Here she plays an up-and-coming actor wanting to escape the casting couch and the grasping hands of her leering producer by any means available, even murder.

Does that sound intriguing? What if I told you the sleazeball producer was played by none other than John Saxon, or as we call him around these parts, “Daddy”? Best known for playing good guy cops in Black Christmas, A Nightmare on Elm Street,  and A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors Saxon really digs into playing dirty here. The way he manages to infuriate Jessica by calling her book “dull” is a pure delight. Finally, we get the first appearance of John Astin as a member of the production team. With a career that features over 160 acting credits that span eight decades, Astin is best known as Gomez Addams, the patriarch of The Addams Family. 

Season 2, Episode 9: Jessica Behind Bars  

Murder, She Wrote veered into exploitation territory with its take on the women-in-prison trope. Jessica finds herself trapped behind bars after the prison doctor is found dead and the inmates object to being treated as suspects by the shady warden. Fletcher finds herself staring down the business end of a shotgun by the head of the rioters played by Adrienne Barbeau. By this point, Barbeau had given memorable performances in The Fog, Swamp Thing, and television movies The Darker Side of Terror and future husband John Carpenter’s Someone’s Watching Me! She might be most beloved in the horror community for her turn in Creepshow, the gin-swilling loudmouth who berates her poor husband Henry at every turn until she meets a grisly demise in “The Crate.”

Here she’s a force to be reckoned with as she leads a troop of revolting prisoners as they try to make a break for freedom. The episode also features Mary Woronov who would go on to feature in a number of eighties favorites including Night of the Comet, Blood Theater, Chopping Mall, and Terrorvision. There are also brief appearances from Psycho’s Vera Miles and Yvonne De Carlo, who played Lily Munster on The Munsters. 

Season 1, Episode 13: My Johnny Lies Over the Ocean

It seems Death can take a holiday when Jessica and her niece embark on a sea cruise after the recent death of the latter’s husband. After more than a dozen shows, one might start to question why anyone would willingly spend time with Jessica on a vessel without an exit as people close to her often wind up dead. This one includes Lynda Day George of Pieces infamy as one of the passengers and suspects alongside Leslie Nielsen as the ship’s captain. We’ll get back to Nielsen in just a moment. 

Season 1, Episode 21: Funeral At Fifty-Mile

The first season’s finale takes place on a dude ranch, so it’s fitting to have a pair of old ranch hands guest star in this one. The plot revolves around a disputed inheritance, which on this show is a surefire way to find yourself either dead or a suspect. Seriously, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching Murder, She Wrote is when my mom passes away, I don’t want her to leave me so much as a pile of used Kleenex for fear that some relative will come gunning for me with poisoned whiskey or a lead pipe to the back of my head.

Clu Gulager (Return of the Living Dead, Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge) finds himself swinging from a noose after waltzing into the estate as the disputed sole heir of the ranch and all its assets. Donald Moffat (The Thing) plays one of the suspects. In a brilliant reveal, we learn that all the suspects were in on Gulager’s death because he was such a prick they all had to see him hang. 

Season 3, Episode 5: Dead Man’s Gold

Leslie Nielson is best known for his comic chops as the legendary Detective Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun movies. But, there is no denying his horror pedigree. Nielsen could turn the dial back to show a more menacing side when he had to. After a supporting role as Jamie Lee Curtis’ father in 1981’s Prom Night, Nielsen made a more memorable impression in Creepshow. In the segment “Something To Tide You Over” he plays the vengeful husband that buries his buries Gaylen Ross and a young Ted Danson up to their necks in beach sand before allowing the oncoming tide to drown him. When the pair return to seek revenge, the madness in his laughter is still a chilling moment.

Years later Nielson would go on to play the head vamp himself in Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Okay, that one is a comedy.

In his guest appearance in Murder, She Wrote, he plays David, an ex-boyfriend of Jessica that greets her by planting a kiss right on her lips. David is in a bit of hot water after scamming some loan sharks out of tens of thousands of dollars. Nielsen is effortlessly charming and, dare I say, carries a bit of sex appeal in the role. The highlight of his appearance is him cooking eggs for Jessica at her place in the morning, which in the more conservative television days of the eighties is code for “they totally fucked last night.” 

Season 12, Episodes 6 & 7: Nan’s Ghost

During its last season, CBS moved Murder, She Wrote from its familiar Sunday night time slot to Thursday night in order to put it head-to-head with Friends, then entering its second season. Lansbury and fans protested the move, which saw the network’s top-rated drama get slaughtered in the ratings by the sitcom. If it were an episode of the show (the season’s sixteenth episode ‘Murder Among Friends’ is considered a shot across the bow to Rachel, Ross, and company) then our beloved mystery writer might have found herself the victim of a homicide, her body found slumped over a table with an arsenic-laced mug of java in her hands at Central Perk.

In response to declining ratings, the show tried something rare—a supernatural-themed episode delivered around Halloween. This two-parter finds Jessica staying at an alleged haunted castle in Ireland.  The second part found Jessica trying to escape from the rat-infested dungeons in a more spooky than usual story. This movie-length pair of episodes makes great use of atmosphere and has some creepy would-be ghost sightings as well

Season 5, Episode 4: Snow White, Blood Red

Almost two decades before the Norwegian slasher film Cold Prey saw a lunatic wreaking havoc at a ski lodge, Murder, She Wrote did it first. This fifth-season entry goes full slasher and even borrows visual cues from giallo with a black-gloved killer wielding a crossbow. Whereas most episodes are contained to a singular murder, this one wracks up an impressive body count with three kills in just over forty minutes.

Also, for a network television show in the eighties that even in its heyday skewed towards older viewers, one of the deaths is quite impressive. As a POV camera shot stalks a young woman in a deserted locker room, she stumbles across a corpse hanging from a shower nozzle, his heart pierced with an arrow. There’s enough blood running down the torso and into the shower drain to resemble something more akin to a Friday the 13th film than a television drama. 

Season 1, Episode 19: Murder Takes The Bus

Finally, this Murder, She Wrote episode makes the list because it takes place during a wicked thunderstorm that creates a terrific horror atmosphere. Plus, The Exorcist’s own Linda Blair serves as the lead guest star. After the Greyhound Jessica is traveling on breaks down, she and the other riders take refuge in a local diner to wait out the repairs and avoid the downpour. Typical of a night out with Jessica Fletcher, someone winds up dead with a screwdriver jutting out of their neck. This one has some slasher elements to it, and is a fan favorite with an 8.5 user rating on IMDB, making it the highest-rated episode of the first season. 

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t tout Lansbury’s own work in the horror genre. While she didn’t have many genre appearances in her storied career, there is at least one of note. In 1984 she appeared as the grandmother in Neil Jordan’s atmospheric werewolf film, The Company of Wolves. With 12 seasons of Murder, She Wrote to binge, rest assured the surface of hidden treasures for horror fans has barely been scratched here. 

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