Fletcher (née MacGill) is a fictional detective and writer and the main character and protagonist of the American television series Murder, She Wrote.
Portrayed by award-winning actress Angela Lansbury, Fletcher is a best-selling author of mystery novels, an English teacher, amateur detective, criminology professor, and (briefly) congresswoman.
Jessica is introduced as a widow in the first episode, her beloved husband Frank having died a couple of years before the start of the series.
In the show's first episode, it is Grady who launches Jessica's career as an author when he secretly sends her book The Corpse Danced at Midnight to an agent after she said she had no intention of doing so herself.
Grady has several relationships that end in disappointment in some way until the introduction of girlfriend Donna Mayberry (played by Horton's wife, Debbie Zipp) in the season 4 episode "Just Another Fish Story".
After the sudden death of a congressman for Maine, she is asked to temporarily assume the position as congresswoman until another politician can step in; she also teaches a creative writing class at a women's prison at one time.
Jessica's travels as an author frequently take her to places around much of the world, giving the show writers freedom to explore characters and situations beyond rural New England.
Although Grady and Donna featured prominently, there were also numerous other nieces, nephews, and cousins who found themselves in need of Jessica's help after becoming involved in murder cases.
After Grady, the most notable recurring relative was Jessica's niece Victoria Brandon (Genie Francis), who was married to hapless actor Howard Griffin (Jeff Conaway); both found one or the other of themselves accused of murder on no less than three occasions.
Despite her own skepticism, Jessica investigates and discovers that Neil faked his death, changed his name to Carl Schulman, and ran away to join the circus.
When found, he confesses to Jessica that he could no longer face living out a loveless marriage to his domineering wife Constance (Laraine Day), nor could he tolerate his materialistic daughter Audrey (Susan Brown); he does express regret for not saying goodbye to Carol or her father, Audrey's genial but henpecked husband Howard (Dennis Howard).
Other relatives who appeared in the series for one-time appearances include niece Carol Donovan (Anne Kerry Ford), her detective husband Bert (James Stephens) and their children, Billy and Cindy (sibling actors Summer and Joaquin Phoenix); her brother Marshall's widowed daughter, Pamela Crane (Belinda Montgomery); nieces Nita Cochran (Alice Krige), Jill Morton (Kristy McNichol) and Carrie Palmer (Kate McNeil); nephew Johnny Eaton (Todd Bryant); cousins Abby Benton Freestone (Lynn Redgrave), Ann Owens Arden (Shirley Jones), Helen Owens (Doris Roberts) and George Owens (Robert Walker Jr); and Frank's distant cousin, Calhoun Fletcher (Peter Bonerz).
The format of the show usually has Jessica solving the mysteries within five minutes of the end of each program, unless the producers felt they could prolong the suspense across two episodes.
In fact, on at least one occasion, a law enforcement officer is actually unmasked as the killer, when John Astin appears as the villainous Sheriff Harry Pierce.
The episode opens as Fletcher arrives, either in her fictitious town of residence (Cabot Cove, Maine), or visiting elsewhere (typically in New York City or Boston) and meets several characters.
An unrelated conversation will often suggest to Jessica the solution to the mystery, at which point she will rush off to confirm her suspicion (without telling the viewers what she has in mind and sometimes even says she thinks she knows the culprit but must still figure out how to prove it before she reveals who).