By: Jay Kt
The Journeys and Guest Stars of Murder, She Wrote in One of My Life’s Passions
A Mardi Gras parade, a Paris fashion show, a ghost story in Ireland. Wherever J.B. Fletcher traveled, a mystery was already waiting.
In The Secret of Gila Junction, a bus driver assures Jessica Fletcher that nothing ever happens in his town. By the time she leaves, a local man has found a stash of cash, been murdered and had his killer unmasked. The driver repeats his claim anyway, and Jessica can only laugh.
Andrew Balzano clearly enjoys that irony. In One of My Life’s Passions: Classics and Mysteries, he shows how Murder, She Wrote took its famous mystery writer far beyond Cabot Cove and filled each journey with remarkable guest stars.
From New Orleans to London
The Perfect Foil may be Jessica’s best New Orleans episode, in Balzano’s view. She clears a distant relative of murder against a backdrop of Mardi Gras, both in the streets and inside her cousin’s home. George DiCenzo plays the victim here and later returns as a detective in Murder in Milan, where Susan Blakely is among the guest stars and the scenery is beautiful.
Sing a Song of Murder takes Jessica to London and gives Angela Lansbury a dual role as Jessica’s cousin Emma. Kristoffer Tabori plays the lawyer Ernest Fielding, the same Kristoffer Tabori whose direction of Murder, She Baked Balzano praises at the start of his book. When Emma’s dresser is run down by a car while wearing Emma’s coat, Jessica realizes the motive is personal.
Balzano’s travel favorites raise a fun question: Can a mystery writer ever truly take a vacation?
Paris, Monte Carlo and Beyond
Paris appears more than once. In A Fashionable Way to Die, Fritz Weaver plays a Paris police detective whose French accent adds flair. Murder à la Mode, which Balzano calls outstanding, combines fashion shows with a murder investigation, as Jessica also clears a Cambodian immigrant whose wife died in a sweatshop owned by the victim. The Monte Carlo Murders features Dina Merrill as Jessica’s friend, a hotel owner deep in debt to an unscrupulous businessman played by David Birney. Amsterdam Kill brings Theodore Bikel and Richard Lynch together in a story of murder and kidnapping.
Even the journey itself can become the crime scene. The Corpse Flew First Class traps Jessica aboard a plane with a murderer and the theft of an expensive piece of jewelry. My Johnny Lies Over the Ocean puts her on a cruise ship, determined to find out who is terrorizing her niece Pamela.
● Which setting would you choose for a mystery of your own?
● How does a new location change the way a familiar detective works?
Danger Behind the Curtain
Some journeys carry real danger. In From Russia… With Blood, a title that plays on the James Bond film From Russia with Love, Jessica is accused of espionage while attending a writers’ conference in Moscow. Nan’s Ghost, a two-part story set in Ireland during the twelfth and final season, has her helping the local constabulary catch a killer, with Rod Taylor as a dear friend. Balzano calls it a testimony to the show’s high quality right to the end.
Closer to home but still far from Maine, Night of the Coyote takes Jessica to New Mexico with Steve Forrest and Mariette Hartley. Murder Digs Deep takes her and Seth Hazlitt to the desert for an archaeological expedition. A Killing in Vegas boasts Howard Keel, David Soul and Andreas Katsulas, and it closes with a playful exchange about a hotel key. A Quaking in Aspen opens with a memorable stunt, a sports car careening off a cliff. Capitol Offense even sends Jessica to Congress to serve out the rest of a congressman’s unexpired term, and Balzano’s favorite part is the compelling testimony she gives with Maine’s best interest at heart.
A Guest List Worth Celebrating
Balzano repeatedly praises the casting. Gene Barry, Darren McGavin, Robert Vaughn, Chuck Connors, Van Johnson and Peter Donat all appear among his favorites, each one, as he puts it, a testament to the quality of the cast. Wherever the story traveled, the series brought its standards along.
A ticket can lead to a new city…
A new city can lead to a new mystery…
Jessica Fletcher was ready for both…
In One of My Life’s Passions: Classics and Mysteries, every journey ends with the truth revealed!
Author Name: Andrew Balzano; Book Title: One of My Life’s Passions; Published By: Global Author Publishing
