After the pilot, we learn who Jessica is, what she does, and how she solves crimes. But what about Cabot Cove, her hometown? What’s that like? And how does it become the murder capital of the world, thanks to Jessica living there? This episode will introduce us to its many recurring characters.

Season 1, episode 1: Deadly Lady (October 7, 1984)

Tonight on Murder, She Wrote…

A mysterious person visits Jessica — who never even met him — and is swept into a hurricane. 

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury and were they in any exploitation movies?

The first continuing cast member — for four episodes — is Captain Ethan Cragg, played by Claude Atkins, who is used to playing lawmen. After all, he was the son of a police officer. Beyond being Sheriff Lobo, a spinoff character from BJ and the Bear, he also was in The Curse, Tentacles (as a sheriff), Battle for the Planet of the Apes as General Aldo, The Night Stalker TV movie (yes, as a sheriff) and a ton of guest star roles on TV shows.

Sheriff Amos Tupper is the main recurring character on the show, other than Jessica. In addition to appearing on 255 episodes of Happy Days, Tom Bosley left the show to appear on the Father Dowling Mysteries for 42 episodes. He’s in 19 episodes of this show and is one of the main culprits that I bring up of older men who are trying to get wild with Mrs. Fletcher.

Doran Clark (The Warriors, Black Eagle) is Nancy Earle. Like many actors, she would be on Murder, She Wrote more than once, returning for two more appearances as different characters.

Howard Duff comes from the Golden Age of Hollywood and guest-starred on just about every major TV show of the 1970s and 1980s. Here, he plays Ralph and Stephen Earl in a dual role.

Marilyn Hassett is most famous for the two The Other Side of the Mountain movies. This is the first of three guest star roles on the show for her, as she appears as Maggie Earl.

Terry Jones is played by former Battlestar Galactica actor Richard Hatch, who was in some great junk like Prisoners of the Lost Universe, Party Line, Dark Bar and Delta Force Commando II: Priority Red One.

Ann Lockhart has plenty of voiceover work on her resume and appearances in Dark Tower, Troll and 10 to Midnight. She’s Grace Earl Lamont in this one.

Loretta Young discovered Dack Rambo, best known for playing Jack Ewing in Dallas. On August 30, 1991, he left the soap opera Another World and never acted again after learning he had contracted HIV. Sadly, he died in 1994, one of the first celebrities to be open about AIDS.

Cassie Yates appeared in The Evil before this episode, the first of four in which she would appear.

In the minor roles, we have Tom Bower, Carol Swarbrick, John Petlock, Robert Beecher and Jackie Joseph, the original Audry in Little Shop of Horrors.

What happens?

A hurricane has hit Cabot Cove, home of mystery writer Jessica Fletcher, and a yacht with four sisters — Nancy, Maggie, Lisa and Grace — is rescued, but claim that their father, Stephen, was swept overboard.

Meanwhile, a seemingly homeless man named Ralph appears and asks Jessica if he can do some work around the house. Despite being what some would call a hobo, he’s well-dressed, and she quickly takes a liking to him.

Sheriff Tupper refuses to declare Stephen dead, as the girls are all heirs to his fortune. Maggie soon confesses to killing him, but then Ralph’s body washes up and he’s definitely Stephen. The truth? The sisters worked with their dad to draw out Nancy’s ex-fiancé, Terry Jones, and prove he stole from her. But then, who killed the dad?

Stephen died while Maggie was in the custody of the police. What a tangled mess of shoe colors, family rivalry and Jessica making educated guesses. Can Cabot Cove’s most famous citizen find the real killer?

Who did it?

Maggie, working with Terry, set up her sister Nancy.

Who made it?

The same character made the pilot with Corey Allan directing and show creators Fischer, Levinson and Link writing for the first official episode of the series. It’s shot by the same talent as that episode, Mario Di Leo.

Some facts…

For those Battlestar fans, you already know that Richard Hatch and Anne Lockhart played Captain Apollo and Lieutenant Sheba on the original show.

The Hill House Hotel in Cabot Cove is actually The Hill House Inn in Mendocino, CA. According to its website, it’s currently being renovated but will open soon.

It seemed like every 80s show had an unseen character, like Vera on Cheers. Murder, She Wrote has telephone operator Letitia, who makes her first audio appearance in this installment.

In this episode, we learn that Jessica has written at least three books, the latest of which is Dirge for a Dead Dachshund.

Does Jessica get some?

It doesn’t seem like it, but we set up the relationships between Jessica and Amos- a long-time friend- and her and Ethan, who can’t stand her. Then again, there’s a thin line between anger and rolling around in the sack. After all, just look at this flirty dialogue between them:

Capt. Ethan Cragg: I suppose that means you’ll want me to bait your hook, too.

Jessica Fletcher: Of course. You always do, don’t you?

That said, if I were writing fan fiction, Ralph would make a home between her thighs. Just look at her face while they’re talking.

Does Jessica dress up and act stupid?

No, but trust me, these moments are coming.

Was it any good?

It’s a good first regular-length episode, setting up the town, how Jessica fits in and how easily she can solve these mysteries.

Give me a reasonable quote:

Capt. Ethan Cragg: Amos, you’ve been reading too many of Jessica’s books.

Sheriff Amos Tupper: Well, that’s how much you know, Ethan. I haven’t read any of ’em.

Got a TV Guide ad?

No, but I have the show’s page from the fall preview issue.

What’s next?

In “Birds of a Feather,” Jessica’s niece Victoria Brandon — another problem relative — is shocked when her fiancé Howard Griffin is arrested for the murder of San Francisco drag club owner Al Drake.