Murder, She Wrote: Season 3

1986 · 22 episodes · ★ 7.7

What Season 3 of Murder, She Wrote

The third season opens with an unexpected gift. Jessica's niece receives news from her grandfather, a man long presumed dead, and that thread leads Jessica to a small circus marked by accidents. From there, the mysteries spread across Cabot Cove, other U.S. cities, and abroad. The conflicts include a political espionage case, an old unsolved file, and several journalists, producers, and businesspeople involved in shady dealings. Jessica, a retired teacher and mystery novelist, drives the action with her curiosity. Her brother-in-law Seth and MI6 agent Michael Hagarty are two of the celebrities who play the largest roles in the story.

22episodes

Sep 28, 1986premiered

May 10, 1987latest episode

16.5 hrtotal runtime

Season 3 Episodes

3x01 Death Stalks the Big Top (1)
Sep 28, 1986 · 45 min · ★ 7.7
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. Neil Fletcher: Jackie Cooper. Edgar Carmody: Martin Balsam. Brad Kaneally: Greg Evigan. Katie McCallum: Pamela Susan Shoop.
Directing: Seymour Robbie · Writing: Paul Savage · Starring: Mark Shera, Jackie Cooper, Joey Cramer, Martin Balsam
3x02 Death Stalks the Big Top (2)
Oct 5, 1986 · 45 min
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 Carmody: Martin Balsam. Brad Kaneally: Greg Evigan. Katie McCallum: Pamela Susan Shoop.
Directing: Seymour Robbie · Writing: Paul Savage · Starring: Mark Shera, Jackie Cooper, Joey Cramer, Martin Balsam
3x03 Unfinished Business
Oct 12, 1986 · 45 min
A retired policeman decides to re-examine an old case he never solved in which Seth was a strong suspect.
Directed by: Walter Grauman · Writing: Jackson Gillis · Starring: Tom Bosley, J.D. Cannon, Pat Hingle, William Windom
3x04 One White Rose for Death
Oct 19, 1986 · 45 min · ★ 7.7
Attending a concert in Washington, D.C., Jessica gets involved with two East German defectors and a murder.
Directed by: Peter Crane · Written by: Peter S. Fischer · Starring: Tony Bonner, Jenny Agutter, Michael Anderson Jr., Bernard Fox
3x05 Corned Beef and Carnage
Nov 2, 1986 · 45 min
An adman handling the account of a fast-food chain is murdered and Jessica smells something funny.
Directed by: John Llewellyn Moxey · Written by: Robert E. Swanson · Starring: Bill Macy, Susan Anton, Peter Haskell, James Sloyan
3x06 Dead Man's Gold
Nov 9, 1986 · 45 min
While diving for sunken treasure near Cabot Cove, a young woman is murdered.
Directed by: Seymour Robbie · Starring: Tom Bosley, Julia Montgomery, Wendy Kilbourne, Sean McClory
3x07 Deadline for Murder
Nov 16, 1986 · 45 min
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.
Directed by: Seymour Robbie · Written by: Tom Sawyer, Michael McGough · Starring: Harry Guardino, Tim O'Connor, Katherine Cannon, William Smith
3x08 Magnum on Ice (II)
Nov 23, 1986 · 45 min
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).
Directed by: Peter Crane · Written by: Robert E. Swanson · Starring: Stephanie Faracy, Tom Selleck, John Hillerman, Dorothy Loudon
3x09 Obituary for a Dead Anchor
Dec 7, 1986 · 45 min
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 dealer who was really a drug dealer, shows up to do the interview, complete with cameras and crew. After Kevin is presumed dead when a boat Amos chartered for him explodes, Cabot Cove explodes with press and paparazzi, and the citizens blame Jessica for all the problems it causes, demanding that she solve the mystery. Unfortunately, once Keats is revealed to be alive and well, the real question is who the true target was.
Directing: Walter Grauman · Writing: Robert Van Scoyk · Starring: Tom Bosley, Richard Paul, Robert Pine, Kathleen Lloyd
3x10 Stage Struck
Dec 14, 1986 · 45 min
The murder of the leading lady's understudy disrupts rehearsals of a play starring two previously married, but now warring, actors.
Directed by: Walter Grauman, John Astin · Starring: Ann Turkel, Eleanor Parker, Christopher Norris, Shea Farrell
3x11 Night of the Headless Horseman
Jan 4, 1987 · 45 min · ★ 8.4
The 'headless' horseman rides again, but his costume becomes more realistic.
Directed by: Walter Grauman · Written by: R. Barker Price · Starring: Thom Bray, Barry Williams, Guy Stockwell, Judy Landers
3x12 The Corpse Flew First Class
Jan 18, 1987 · 45 min
Theft and murder of the courier occur on board a jet bound for London.
Directed by: Walter Grauman · Writing: Donald Ross · Starring: Robert Walker Jr., David Hemmings, James Shigeta, John S. Ragin
3x13 Crossed Up
Feb 1, 1987 · 45 min
The phone wires get crossed during a storm and Jessica can't convince anyone that what she heard was real.
Directed by: David Hemmings · Writing: Craig W. Van Sickle · Starring: Tom Bosley, Colleen Camp, Henry Brandon, Gisele MacKenzie
3x14 Murder in a Minor Key
Feb 8, 1987 · 45 min · ★ 4.9
Jessica tells the tale of a composer accused of killing the professor who plagiarized his music.
Starring: Shaun Cassidy, Scott Jacoby, Karen Grassle, Dinah Manoff
3x15 The Bottom Line Is Murder
Feb 15, 1987 · 45 min · ★ 7.1
A lying TV Consumer advocate is killed. Was it done by one of the clients whose products he maligned?
Directing: Anthony Pullen Shaw · Writing: Craig W. Van Sickle · Starring: Judith Chapman, Joe Santos, Barry Corbin, Pat Klous
3x16 Death Takes a Dive
Feb 22, 1987 · 45 min
Jessica inherits a boxer's contract and her old friend; Harry McGraw is accused of murdering its former owner.
Directed by: Seymour Robbie · Written by: Peter S. Fischer · Starring: LeVar Burton, Caren Kaye, Harold Sylvester, Adam West
3x17 Simon Says, Color Me Dead
Mar 1, 1987 · 45 min
An artist is murdered and his prized painting is missing.
Directed by: Walter Grauman · Writing: Robert E. Swanson · Starring: Tom Bosley, Chris Hebert, Leonard Frey, William Windom
3x18 No Laughing Murder
Mar 15, 1987 · 45 min
After the engagement party for the offspring of two estranged comics, someone is found dead.
Directing: Walter Grauman · Writing: Tom Sawyer · Starring: Sheree North, Pat Crowley, George Furth, Arte Johnson
3x19 No Accounting for Murder
Mar 22, 1987 · 45 min
Grady Fletcher is in big trouble when his boss, a specialist in tax shelters, is found dead and he is the main suspect.
Directed by: Peter Crane · Written by: Gerald K. Siegel · Starring: Dorothy Lamour, James Noble, Geoffrey Lewis, Barney Martin
3x20 The Cemetery Vote
Apr 5, 1987 · 45 min
First, the reform mayor dies in an "accident" and then the mayor's father is murdered after he demands an investigation of the "accident".
Directed by: Seymour Robbie · Written by: Robert Van Scoyk · Starring: Mitchell Ryan, Marie Windsor, Charlene Tilton, Ed Lauter
3x21 The Days Dwindle Down
Apr 19, 1987 · 45 min · ★ 8.6
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 his first child with his wife, Terry. At Georgia Jarvis' request, Jessica looks into the crime, and through flashbacks, Sam remembers when Jarvis had offered him $10,000 to make his suicide look like murder. While Jessica believes that Sam is innocent, she doesn't believe it was suicide, and asks Sam's son Rod, a police officer, to lend a hand.
Starring: June Havoc, Susan Strasberg, Richard Beymer, Russ Marin
3x22 Murder, She Spoke Season Finale
May 10, 1987 · 45 min
During a short black-out in the studio where Jessica is recording a book for the blind, the studio co-owner is murdered.
Directed by: Anthony Pullen Shaw · Starring: Jonna Lee, Patrick Wayne, Charlie Daniels, Wendy Phillips