Angela Lansbury in front of the Kelley House, 1988. Kelley House Collection.
The first weekend of May marks the second annual Murder, She Wrote Festival, bringing hundreds of fans of all ages to Mendocino. The series aired from 1984 to 1996 and has been in syndication since, contributing to its lasting popularity. In her 2025 book Murder, She Wrote, Bridget Kies investigates this popularity, and the impact Jessica Fletcher had on television roles for women. Kies discussed these subjects and more in the following interview.
How did you become interested in Murder, She Wrote?
“It’s a show I grew up with and kept returning to at important points in my life. When I was little and it was first broadcast, I remember my family voting on who we thought the murderer was during the final commercial break before Jessica revealed the killer. Later, in graduate school, I decided to rewatch every episode in order, and I realized the series was, for me, a quintessential comfort TV show. Sometimes, when I’m in social situations where I feel uncomfortable, I’ll ask myself, “What would Jessica Fletcher do?” And it helps me figure out how to act and what to say. It’s just a series that’s always been around in my life and has shaped me in ways I’m still realizing.”
At the Kelley House, we’ve been asked— “What’s the big deal behind Murder, She Wrote?” How would you explain fandom culture and the fandom behind Murder, She Wrote to people who aren’t fans?
“Murder, She Wrote has been on television steadily for forty years. There’s no way that could happen without a thriving fandom. It came on television a little before the term “cozy mystery” was coined, when mystery novels started following the same trend of having an amateur sleuth and minimal violence. The cozy exploded during Murder, She Wrote’s run, and, I argue, the series was one of the reasons that we have so many mystery movies and series on television today. In chapter four of my book I interview fans and talk in a lot more detail about fan practices, but briefly I’ll just say that part of what makes us so connected to Murder, She Wrote is that it was one of the last great episodic series broadcast for household viewing at the exact moment television started to become more fractured and more individual. It reminds us of watching with our families on Sunday nights. Among fans of a certain age, I hear over and over, “I used to watch with my grandmother!” So, for some, Jessica and their grandmother have become conflated in ways that making watching the show now a nostalgic experience that reminds them of their own grandmother and their childhood.”
Do you have a favorite anecdote from the research and writing process for this book? Or a story from the show you uncovered?
“I found a lot of treasures while looking through Angela Lansbury’s archive at Boston University: a credit card receipt Peter Shaw (Lansbury’s husband) had signed that still had his credit card number, a hotel restaurant ticket from when the family was in Budapest filming Mrs. ’Arris Goes to Paris, just some great stuff that really told me more about who Lansbury was. Probably my favorite Murder, She Wrote finds were the multiple drafts of letters she wrote to the writers and producers asserting how they should and shouldn’t write Jessica Fletcher. The multiple drafts show Lansbury’s thoughtfulness in her personal correspondence, and her ideas show her commitment to the series and her character. She was obviously deeply protective of Jessica.”
In this book, you discuss Jessica Fletcher, her role as an older female character and comparable roles, like those in The Golden Girls. What impact do you think Jessica had on shifting Hollywood characterizations of older women, even after Murder, She Wrote ended?
“Jessica had a huge impact on portrayals of older women. She was single, successful, and had a fabulous life in which she flew around the world meeting people and solving mysteries. While she wasn’t the only older woman character like this, or the first, the fact that she persisted on TV for twelve years of the original broadcast and now forty with syndicated reruns means Jessica has had a lasting impact on generations of children who’ve grown up with the series. There were lots of women on television in the 1980s who had careers, and often the plots of episodes are about how they struggle to balance work and home or how they don’t feel respected enough in the workplace or committed enough as mothers. Murder, She Wrote – and The Golden Girls, too – told us not to worry so much about that because once we reach our sixties, with kids grown and husbands gone, we’ll be able to do anything we want and be successful at it. I don’t think we should underestimate how powerful that message was.
In the last ten or so years, we’ve seen a rise of television and streaming series with older women, after decades of Hollywood being criticized for not having enough meaningful roles for women over forty. I like to say that the new Matlock with Kathy Bates is a fitting successor to Murder, She Wrote. Week after week, we see Bates’s character fix problems, just like Jessica Fletcher solved mysteries. Both of them use their age to their advantage when people assume it to be a limitation. I just love the way we see older women outsmart everyone around them.”
Do you have a favorite episode of Murder, She Wrote that was filmed in Mendocino? A favorite murder weapon?
“The Cabot Cove episodes have always been my favorites, which means I’ve loved Mendocino before I even knew that’s where some of the episodes were filmed! But my favorite is “If It’s Thursday, It Must Be Beverly.” I even made a point to do an extended analysis of that episode in my book because I think it’s one of the best examples of how Murder, She Wrote used humor to lighten its tone.
I don’t know if this counts as a murder weapon, but in “It’s a Dog’s Life,” the beagle Teddy was trained to push a button to open and close the security gate to a fancy property. He was cued to push the button right as someone was trying get through the gate, and it killed her. So Teddy was actually the murderer, even if he didn’t know that’s what he was doing. I adore dogs, so I hate that he was used this way, but it’s a pretty clever plot twist. There’s even an episode of Monk that calls back to the idea.”
“Murder, She Wrote” by Bridget Kies may be purchased at Gallery Bookshop on Main Street, Mendocino.
A small Angela Lansbury exhibit is on view at the Kelley House Musuem; we’re open Thursday-Monday 11-3. Subscribe to the Kelley House newsletter for info on next year’s Murder, She Wrote Festival. https://www.kelleyhousemuseum.org/about-newsletter-archives/ This event is an unofficial event and is not associated with NBCUniversal.