Murder, She Wrote Trivia
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48 free Murder, She Wrote trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
41 free Murder, She Wrote trivia questions with answers. Murder, She Wrote ran for twelve seasons and 264 episodes, and Angela Lansbury was Emmy-nominated for every one of them without ever winning. This quiz covers the show from the pilot at a Sherlock Holmes costume party to the fatal move opposite Friends: Jessica Fletcher's pen name, address and first novel; the Cabot Cove regulars (Sheriffs Tupper and Metzger, Dr Seth Hazlitt, nephew Grady); the recurring investigators who got their own episodes; the Magnum, P.I. crossover; the Harry McGraw spin-off; the four TV movies; and the California town that stood in for Maine. It starts with questions any fan can answer (which state, which network, who played Jessica) and works up to trivia for the devoted: which season it ranked third, who composed the Emmy-winning theme, and what the show's absurd body count is nicknamed. Good for a cosy-mystery book club, a Sunday-night quiz or a Lansbury tribute. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the series, its characters and its cast, and each question shows its source.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which actress turned down the role of Jessica Fletcher before Angela Lansbury took it?
Jean Stapleton
Jean Stapleton, All in the Family's Edith Bunker, was the creators' first choice; she was interested at first but turned Jessica down, which threatened the whole project until Lansbury said yes.
Q 02Jessica Fletcher lives in the fictional town of Cabot Cove, in which US state?
Maine
Cabot Cove is a fictional fishing village on the coast of Maine; for a town of a few thousand it racks up an improbable murder count over twelve seasons.
Q 03Exterior shots of Cabot Cove were actually filmed in which Northern California coastal town?
Mendocino
Mendocino played Cabot Cove on screen; the Victorian Blair House that served as Jessica's home is now an inn that still trades on the connection.
Q 04Murder, She Wrote aired on which US network from 1984 to 1996?
CBS
CBS kept it on Sundays for eleven years before a fatal move to Thursdays.
Q 05Keith Michell, who played Dennis Stanton, was best known for playing which king on television?
Henry VIII
Henry VIII made Keith Michell's name in the BBC's The Six Wives of Henry VIII; in most of his Murder, She Wrote episodes Jessica merely introduces the story and leaves Stanton to crack the case.
Q 06Murder, She Wrote's title plays on Murder, She Said, a 1961 film of a novel by which author?
Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie's 4.50 from Paddington became the 1961 film Murder, She Said, with Margaret Rutherford as the sleuth; Lansbury had herself played a Christie detective on film before the series began.
Q 07Murder, She Wrote co-creators Richard Levinson and William Link had earlier created which TV detective?
Columbo
Columbo was Levinson and Link's creation; with Peter S. Fischer, who had produced their Ellery Queen series, they then built Murder, She Wrote around a mystery writer instead of a policeman.
Q 08Jessica Fletcher was a widowed, retired teacher of which subject before her writing career?
English
English was Jessica's subject in the classroom; she became an author only when Grady quietly showed a manuscript she had written to a contact in publishing and it turned into a bestseller.
Q 09Jessica publishes her mystery novels under a pen name that pairs her surname with which initials?
J. B.
J. B. stands for Jessica Beatrice, and the pen name exists only because Grady found her manuscript and, without telling her, showed it to a contact in publishing.
Q 10What was the title of Jessica's first novel, which a relative submitted without telling her?
The Corpse Danced at Midnight
The Corpse Danced at Midnight was the manuscript Grady sent to a publisher behind her back; its surprise success launched Jessica's career in the 1984 pilot.
Q 11What is Jessica Fletcher's home address in Cabot Cove?
698 Candlewood Lane
698 Candlewood Lane stays Jessica's home even after season eight, when she takes a Manhattan apartment for a teaching post and travels back to Cabot Cove at weekends.
Q 12Which everyday skill does Murder, She Wrote's Jessica Fletcher lack?
Driving a car
Driving a car is something Jessica never learned, so the early seasons keep showing her bicycling across Cabot Cove instead.
Q 13Who played Cabot Cove's first sheriff, Amos Tupper, from 1984 to 1988?
Tom Bosley
Tom Bosley, already familiar as Howard Cunningham on Happy Days, played Tupper until 1988, then left to front a mystery series of his own, Father Dowling Mysteries.
Q 21From season eight, Jessica taught which subject at a Manhattan university?
Criminology
Jessica took a post teaching criminology at Manhattan University in season eight, keeping a New York apartment and commuting back to Cabot Cove between murders.
Q 22Lansbury's Jessica Fletcher earned twelve nominations but never won which award?
Emmy
A Primetime Emmy eluded her all twelve times, a record run of lead-actress nominations without a win; the series itself won Emmys only for its music and its costumes.
Q 23Who composed the theme music for Murder, She Wrote?
John Addison
John Addison, the Tom Jones Oscar winner whom Hitchcock turned to after dropping Bernard Herrmann from Torn Curtain, wrote the theme and won a 1985 Emmy for the pilot's score.
Q 14William Windom played which Cabot Cove regular, one of Jessica Fletcher's closest allies, across 52 Murder, She Wrote episodes?
Dr Seth Hazlitt
Dr Seth Hazlitt, the town doctor, was Jessica's closest ally from 1985; Windom had first turned up in the season-one finale as someone else entirely, a lawyer named Sam Breen.
Q 15In Murder, She Wrote, Michael Horton played Grady Fletcher across 12 episodes; what is Grady's relationship to Jessica?
Her nephew
Her nephew Grady, an accident-prone accountant, is the relative she and her late husband raised after his parents died; he is described as her unlucky favourite.
Q 16Which actor's private eye Harry McGraw got his own 1987 spin-off, The Law & Harry McGraw?
Jerry Orbach
Jerry Orbach's seedy private eye Harry McGraw got The Law & Harry McGraw in 1987; Orbach later found lasting fame as Lennie Briscoe on Law & Order.
Q 17Keith Michell's recurring character Dennis Stanton had which former career before he investigated insurance claims?
Jewel thief
Jewel thief turned insurance investigator, Dennis Stanton fronted several 'bookend' episodes that Jessica merely introduces to camera, a device that gave Lansbury a lighter workload.
Q 18Angela Lansbury also played which relative of Jessica's, a London music-hall performer?
Her cousin Emma
Her cousin Emma, Lansbury in a dual role, co-owns a London music hall; in 'Sing a Song of Murder' Jessica rushes over on news of her death, only to learn that Emma has faked it to find out who wants her dead.
Q 19Which M*A*S*H star played disreputable private eye Charlie Garrett in five Murder, She Wrote episodes?
Wayne Rogers
Wayne Rogers, M*A*S*H's original Trapper John, played Charlie Garrett, a private eye who kept landing in trouble and needing a novelist, Jessica, to dig him out.
Q 20A season three Murder, She Wrote episode concluded a crossover begun on which series in 'Novel Connection'?
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. aired the first half, 'Novel Connection', four days earlier; Jessica then spent her own episode in Hawaii clearing Thomas Magnum of a murder charge.
Q 24Murder, She Wrote moved to Thursdays for its final season, up against which NBC juggernaut?
Friends
Friends held NBC's Thursday 8pm slot; against it Murder, She Wrote fell from eighth place to 58th in the ratings and was cancelled at the end of the 1995–96 season.
Q 25In 1985–86 Murder, She Wrote ranked third behind Family Ties and which sitcom?
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show and Family Ties were the only programmes ahead of Murder, She Wrote that season, its ratings peak, which made Jessica's cases the most-watched drama on American television.
Q 26Richard Paul played Sam Booth, who held which office in Cabot Cove?
Mayor
Mayor Sam Booth, played by Richard Paul in seven episodes, sees his re-election campaign hit by scandal in 'Town Father', when a woman turns up claiming that he is the father of her children.
Q 27Len Cariou, Murder, She Wrote's agent Michael Hagarty, had starred opposite Angela Lansbury in which Broadway musical?
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd paired Cariou's murderous barber with Lansbury on Broadway in 1979; on television he turned up as Hagarty whenever Jessica least expected to be dragged into a dangerous case.
Q 28Which of Angela Lansbury's relatives produced 88 episodes of Murder, She Wrote and wrote 15 of them?
Her brother Bruce
Her brother Bruce Lansbury had crossed the Atlantic with her as a child when the family left wartime London; five decades later he came aboard her series for its last four seasons.
Q 29Which studio produced Murder, She Wrote?
Universal Television
Universal Television made the series mostly on its sound stages in Universal City, California, so Jessica's New England village was largely Hollywood.
Q 30Which future star played Jessica Fletcher's great-niece in Murder, She Wrote's 'Death Stalks the Big Top'?
Courteney Cox
Courteney Cox played Carol, the great-niece who asks Jessica to trace her supposedly dead grandfather; the trail leads to a circus and to Jessica's long-missing brother-in-law, Neil Fletcher.