Murder, She Wrote: Season 3
Season 3 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Murder, She Wrote Season 2.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 3 Progress Shield
Death Stalks the Big Top (1)
Sep 28, 1986
Jessica's niece receives a gift from her grandfather---a man long thought dead---which leads Jessica (Angela Lansbury) to a circus beset by accidents and murder. Part 1 of two. Nei
Death Stalks the Big Top (2)
Oct 5, 1986
Conclusion. Despite her brother-in-law's confession, Jessica refuses to believe he killed the circus foreman. Neil Fletcher: Jackie Cooper. Preston Bartholomew: Alex Cord. Edgar Ca
Unfinished Business
Oct 12, 1986
A retired policeman decides to re-examine an old case he never solved in which Seth was a strong suspect.
One White Rose for Death
Oct 19, 1986
Attending a concert in Washington, D.C., Jessica gets involved with two East German defectors and a murder.
Corned Beef And Carnage
Nov 2, 1986
An adman handling the account of a fast-food chain is murdered and Jessica smells something funny.
Dead Man's Gold
Nov 9, 1986
While diving for sunken treasure near Cabot Cove, a young woman is murdered.
Deadline for Murder
Nov 16, 1986
A veteran reporter, who suffered a heart attack, says his best medicine would be the removal of his publisher who has turned a good paper into a yellow rag.
Magnum on Ice (II)
Nov 23, 1986
Jessica offers to help Thomas Magnum, who has been accused of killing a hitman with an unknown target. The crossover starts on Magnum, P.I. S07E09 Novel Connection (I).
Obituary for a Dead Anchor
Dec 7, 1986
Jessica reluctantly agrees to do an interview for an old friend, Paula Roman, but is surprised when Kevin Keats, a journalist who had been doing a series of stories on an art deale
Stage Struck
Dec 14, 1986
The murder of the leading lady's understudy disrupts rehearsals of a play starring two previously married, but now warring, actors.
Night of the Headless Horseman
Jan 4, 1987
The 'headless' horseman rides again, but his costume becomes more realistic.
The Corpse Flew First Class
Jan 18, 1987
Theft and murder of the courier occur on board a jet bound for London.
Crossed Up
Feb 1, 1987
The phone wires get crossed during a storm and Jessica can't convince anyone that what she heard was real.
Murder in a Minor Key
Feb 8, 1987
Jessica tells the tale of a composer accused of killing the professor who plagiarized his music.
The Bottom Line Is Murder
Feb 15, 1987
A lying TV Consumer advocate is killed. Was it done by one of the clients whose products he maligned?
Death Takes a Dive
Feb 22, 1987
Jessica inherits a boxer's contract and her old friend; Harry McGraw is accused of murdering its former owner.
Simon Says, Color Me Dead
Mar 1, 1987
An artist is murdered and his prized painting is missing.
No Laughing Murder
Mar 15, 1987
After the engagement party for the offspring of two estranged comics, someone is found dead.
No Accounting for Murder
Mar 22, 1987
Grady Fletcher is in big trouble when his boss, a specialist in tax shelters, is found dead and he is the main suspect.
The Cemetery Vote
Apr 5, 1987
First, the reform mayor dies in an "accident" and then the mayor's father is murdered after he demands an investigation of the "accident".
The Days Dwindle Down
Apr 19, 1987
Thirty years ago, Sam Wilson was sent to prison for murdering his boss, Malcolm Jarvis. After finally being released, Sam goes home to his wife and now-grown son who is expecting h
Murder, She Spoke
May 10, 1987
During a short black-out in the studio where Jessica is recording a book for the blind, the studio co-owner is murdered.