50 free Murder, She Wrote trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 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 50 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
Lansbury made the role hers for twelve seasons and became one of the highest-paid actresses on television.
Q 02Jessica Fletcher lives in the fictional town of Cabot Cove, in which US state?
Maine
The first-season episode 'Murder Takes the Bus' places it just north of the real town of Newcastle.
Q 03Exterior shots of Cabot Cove were actually filmed in which Northern California coastal town?
Mendocino
Only 54 of the 264 episodes were even set in Cabot Cove; Jessica spent most of the series travelling.
Q 04On which US network did Murder, She Wrote air from 1984 to 1996?
CBS
It was a Sunday-night fixture there for eleven years before a fatal move to Thursdays.
Q 05How many episodes of Murder, She Wrote were made?
264
Twelve seasons, and Angela Lansbury was Emmy-nominated for every one of them.
Q 06The show's title is a play on Murder, She Said, a 1961 film adaptation of a novel by which author?
Agatha Christie
That film was a Miss Marple story, 4.50 from Paddington, with Margaret Rutherford; Lansbury herself played Marple in The Mirror Crack'd in 1980.
Q 07Which trio created Murder, She Wrote?
Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link
Levinson and Link were also the creators of Columbo.
Q 08Jessica Fletcher was a widowed, retired teacher of which subject before her writing career?
English
She worked as a substitute while raising her nephew Grady, whose parents had died.
Q 09Jessica publishes her mystery novels under a pen name that pairs her surname with which initials?
J. B.
Her full name is Jessica Beatrice Fletcher, née MacGill; the maiden name was borrowed from Lansbury's own mother, Moyna Macgill.
Q 10What was the title of Jessica's first novel, which a relative sent to an agent without telling her?
The Corpse Danced at Midnight
The pilot, 'The Murder of Sherlock Holmes', follows the book's success to a costume party where a guest dressed as Holmes is killed.
Q 11What is Jessica Fletcher's home address in Cabot Cove?
698 Candlewood Lane
The town's ZIP code is given as 03041.
Q 12Which everyday skill does Jessica lack, so she has to talk to people while investigating?
Driving a car
She gets around Cabot Cove on a bicycle and everywhere else by taxi, train and the kindness of suspects.
Q 13Who played Cabot Cove's first sheriff, Amos Tupper, from 1984 to 1988?
Tom Bosley
He left to star as Father Frank Dowling in Father Dowling Mysteries; TV audiences already knew him as Howard Cunningham on Happy Days.
Q 21A season three Murder, She Wrote episode concluded a crossover begun on which series in 'Novel Connection'?
Magnum, P.I.
The first half, 'Novel Connection', aired in that show's seventh season; Thomas Magnum is arrested for a killing he says was a hit on a party guest.
Q 22From season eight, Jessica taught which subject at a Manhattan university?
Criminology
She kept an apartment in the city and commuted back to Cabot Cove between murders.
Q 23How many lead actress drama Emmy nominations did Murder, She Wrote bring Angela Lansbury?
12
One for each season, and she never won, which is also a record.
Q 14Ron Masak took over as Cabot Cove's sheriff in 1988. What was his character's name?
Mort Metzger
His likeness, along with Lansbury's and William Windom's, was used in the 2009 point-and-click video game.
Q 15William Windom played which Cabot Cove regular, the town doctor and Jessica's close ally, in 52 episodes?
Dr Seth Hazlitt
He appeared from 1985 to the end of the series in 1996.
Q 16Michael Horton played Grady Fletcher across 12 episodes. What is Grady's relationship to Jessica?
Her nephew
Jessica and her husband Frank raised him after his parents died; he is described as her unlucky favourite nephew.
Q 17Which actor's private eye Harry McGraw got his own 1987 spin-off, The Law & Harry McGraw?
Jerry Orbach
The Boston-set series lasted 16 episodes; Orbach later found lasting fame on Law & Order.
Q 18What is the unusual back-story of Keith Michell's recurring character Dennis Stanton?
A former jewel thief turned insurance investigator
His episodes usually open with Jessica breaking the fourth wall to introduce the story, in the show's 'bookend' format.
Q 19Len Cariou's Murder, She Wrote character Michael Hagarty was a former agent of which service?
MI5
Cariou had won a Tony opposite Lansbury as the original Sweeney Todd on Broadway.
Q 20Wayne Rogers, best known as Trapper John on M*A*S*H, played which recurring Murder, She Wrote character?
Charlie Garrett, a disreputable private eye
Garrett usually got into trouble and needed Jessica's help to get out of it.
Q 24How many Golden Globes did Lansbury win for playing Jessica Fletcher?
Four
They came in 1984, 1986, 1989 and 1991, from ten nominations.
Q 25Who composed the show's famous theme, which won an Emmy in 1985?
John Addison
He was already an Oscar winner for the score of Tom Jones (1963).
Q 26CBS moved Murder, She Wrote to Thursdays for its final season, up against which NBC juggernaut?
Friends
Its season ranking collapsed from eighth to 58th and it was cancelled when the season ended.
Q 27What was the show's highest season-end ratings rank, achieved in its second season?
3rd
It stayed in the top ten for most of its run and was fifth as late as season nine.
Q 28How many Murder, She Wrote television films followed the series, between 1997 and 2003?
Four
They were South by Southwest, A Story to Die For, The Last Free Man and The Celtic Riddle.
Q 29What was the title of the first Murder, She Wrote TV movie, in 1997?
South by Southwest
The last of them, The Celtic Riddle, aired in May 2003.
Q 30Which of Angela Lansbury's relatives produced 88 episodes of the show and wrote 15 of them?
Her brother Bruce
Lansbury herself became an executive producer in 1992, through her Corymore Productions.