Mystery writer turned sleuth Jessica Fletcher played by Angela Lansbury is a beloved character in American television history. The award winning show Murder, She Wrote enchanted audiences for numerous seasons with tantalizing mysteries, quality productions, and a roster of well known guest stars. Now we can enjoy these episodes again, in the Complete Ninth Season set.
Beginning with “Murder in Milan” this season of the series included international settings along with book conventions and good old down home Cabot Cove intrigue. In Milan the story centers around a film festival where one of Jessica’s novels has been turned into a movie and there is a clash of wills over the film’s production.
Soon one of the key players is dead, and Jessica must solve the case. Back in Cabot Cove, Jessica is working with Randy Sloane who is writing a book exposing wrongdoing from over thirty years in the past in “Family Secrets.”
In a later episode Jessica is in Ireland with her good friend a retired MI-5 operative showing her the sights. With that much talent around, the local mystery of the crying woman is about to be solved.
There is a timeless quality about these episodes, like a good “cozy” mystery book, they can be enjoyed again and again for the layers of story and the clues that are neatly hidden. In the tradition of Agatha Christie, Jessica uses clues and her knowledge of people based on the homefolk of Cabot Cove to help solve the mystery.
It is great fun to see these again, and try to remember the solution, or to let yourself follow the clues and try to solve the case before Jessica. In addition the list of guest stars is another pleasure to be enjoyed. There are appearances by long time favorites as well as some famous faces who had not been seen for several years.
Watching Murder She Wrote is like a reunion of stars, and the performances are always superb. Just a few of the notables joining Jessica (Angela Lansbury) in this season are Harvey Fierstein, Neil Patrick Harris, John Polito, Amy Brenneman and David Soul.
Murder She Wrote, The Complete Ninth Season is presented attractively boxed in a set that will look nice on a library shelf. Five discs are housed in three keep cases, which have episode synopses on the back of the case. The season is in full frame format and has a running time of 16 hours and 58 minutes.
The color and sound are very good, so if you are accustomed to watching re-runs that are less than pristine, these DVD’s are a welcome change.
Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Ninth Season is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
Your Talkback on this Story