Former English teacher Jessica Fletcher travels to New York to celebrate the success of her debut novel. But when an unwanted guest is murdered by gunfire at a costume party, she wishes she'd stayed home.
Jessica's niece Victoria Brandon is horrified when her fiancé Howard Griffin is arrested following the gunshot murder of nasty San Francisco drag club owner Al Drake.
Jessica protests when her book is turned into a tacky B-grade horror movie, and winds up as the prime suspect when producer Jerry Lydecker is murdered with a blunt instrument.
There's in-fighting and backstabbing galore when wealthy Denton Langley snubs his family and leaves most of his estate to a dog, which is discovered after his fatal fall from a drugged horse.
While in Seattle for a series of lectures, Jessica is drawn into a dangerous case involving young secretary David Tolliver accused of killing his wealthy older lady friend Allison Brevard.
Jessica and the police are baffled by a seemingly driver-less car that suddenly appears in Cabot Cove and runs down a visitor who had fired local inventor Dan O'Brien.
Former Hollywood star Rita Bristol and her daughter Patti are about to open in a big new Broadway musical, until Patti is gunned down in a bizarre robbery attempt.
Jessica and a slew of passengers are forced to take refuge from a storm at a remote diner when one of the passengers is found stabbed in his seat on a bus to Boston.
