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Holy Jessica Fletcher, There’s a ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Tour in Mendocino

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A senior woman with short tousled hair stands in a doorway looking perturbed.
Jessica Fletcher, encountering a poisoned guest in her dining room, as she was wont to do.  (CBS Television)

Any child of the 1980s will remember at least one sick day spent at home from school, under a blanket, in front of the (very boxy) television, watching Murder, She Wrote. This gentlest of crime procedurals ran from 1984 to 1996 and featured guest stars like Joaquin Phoenix (about 10 years old at the time), Cynthia Nixon, Bryan Cranston, Jerry Stiller, Linda Hamilton and Neil Patrick Harris.

For those of you not currently languishing in middle age, the CBS show centered around Jessica Fletcher, a witty woman of a certain age played with aplomb by Angela Lansbury. Fletcher, mostly a mystery novel writer by trade, encountered murder and mayhem in her every day life, but always managed to solve whatever crime was in front of her. So yes, she was essentially Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot at the same time. (Or a very masterful serial killer, if everyone’s mom’s theory is correct.)

As luck would have it, much of Murder, She Wrote was filmed a short drive up the coast from the Bay Area, in Mendocino. As such, it’s long been a tourist destination for Jessica Fletcher stans keen to get a first hand taste of “Cabot Cove.” That never-ending stream of visitors gave the folks at the local Kelley House Museum the idea to start a full-blown Murder, She Wrote walking tour. Now, they regularly guide groups around a dozen major landmarks from the show, including Fletcher’s beautiful home (locally known as the Blair House Inn) and Cabot Cove docks (Noyo Harbor), while sharing behind-the-scenes stories from the series.

The next Murder, She Wrote Tour is on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. and lasts 90 minutes. Tickets are still available, but fear not if you can’t make it — the Kelley House Museum does group tours by request, that aren’t listed on their website. You just have to email them and coordinate. (They also do this for their Haunted Mendocino tour, which is additionally worth a visit.)

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Since Angela Lansbury’s death prompted an enormous outpouring of grief in 2022, the Kelley Museum has also been hosting an entire Murder, She Wrote festival. This year’s will run May 2–4, and will include a scavenger hunt, interactive screening, tea tasting, author talk and, naturally, the walking tour. (Adult tickets, which also included a trivia night and reception at the Blair House Inn, sold out within ten days!) Don’t forget your clickety-clackety typewriters!


Tickets for the Kelley House Museum’s ‘Murder, She Wrote’ tour on Jan. 25, 2025 cost $25 per person. Additional tour requests can be made at the museum’s website. Junior tickets for May 2025’s ‘Murder, She Wrote’ festival are available for $100. ‘Murder, She Wrote’ is currently streaming on Peacock, Prime Video, FuboTV and Philo.

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