Retired schoolteacher Jessica Fletcher is shocked to find out that not only did her nephew send her manuscript to a publisher, but it's been accepted! Jessica is caught up in a whirlwind of publicity tours, book signings, and public appearances, but everything takes a turn when she attends a costume party and a private investigator dressed as Sherlock Holmes ends up facedown in the pool, shot. Jessica initially tries to stay out of things until her nephew Grady becomes the prime suspect, and Jessica decides to take matters into her own hands while fighting her attraction to Preston Giles, the first man to interest her since the death of her husband Frank.
After a terrible storm, Stephen Earl's four daughters tell Sheriff Tupper that their father died while they were out on the boat. Jessica is only midly intrigued; she finds Ralph, the older gentleman who has offered to work for food, much more intriguing, especially since it is obvious he comes from money. The womens' stories about what happened on the boat change constantly, but once Ralph is found dead and later found to be Stephen Earl, Jessica has to help Amos wage through the inconsistencies in the four Earl daughters storylines to determine who killed their father and why.
Jessica heads to San Francisco for the wedding of her niece, Victoria Brandon, only to learn that Victoria is having second thoughts because she suspects that her fiancé, Howard, is having an affair. Although Jessica and Victoria are relieved to learn that Howard isn't cheating but rather dressing up as a woman to perform at a nightclub, the relief is short lived when Howard is arrested for murdering his boss, Al Drake, who had been refusing to pay him. The police are convinced that Drake was shot during Freddy York's act, which doesn't leave a lot of time, but Jessica is determined to prove Howard's innocence.
Jessica's first book, The Corpse Danced at Midnight, is being made into a major Hollywood motion picture, backed by producer Jerry Lydecker. Jessica is furious to see how her book is being butchered by Lydecker and his crew. She heads out to Hollywood to confront Lydecker, but things take a turn when Lydecker is found dead on stage. Jessica ends up being the prime suspect in the murder, but luckily the officer in charge of the investigation believes she's too smart to be the killer and sets her up to find the real murderer.
Plans to build a new hotel in Cabot Cove are put on hold when diggers discover an old skeleton that had been buried deeply that many of the townspeople believe to be the remains of Joshua Peabody. Not everyone is thus inclined though, and many people believe it's just a random dead body. But when Jessica and Amos head back to the dig site, they find there's another body there! Jessica not only has to find out who killed Wheatley, she has to help an old friend when his past comes back to haunt him.
When Jessica is offered an honorary degree from Crenshaw University, she has no idea she's about to become embroiled in a murder. After the boyfriend of (in)famous writer Daphne Clover is found murdered, Jessica agrees to assist the chief of police, who has never had a murder case before, find out who the killer is. She soon has more on her plate than she bargained for when first Daphne's mother confesses, then Daphne herself confesses. Jessica realises the two women are simply trying to protect each other, and begins to look at the faculty at the university.
Jessica decides to pay a visit to her long-time friend Francesca, only to learn that Francesca, who is now married to a much younger man, is convinced that she is being haunted by the ghost of her first husband, Ross. When her new husband, Scott, turns up dead, the investigation reveals that he had been poisoned, and suspicion turns to Francesca. Jessica, however, is determined to prove that her friend did not commit the crime, and begins looking into the mysterious re-appearances of her dead husband.
After their car breaks down after dinner with the governor, Jessica and her friend Ames Caufield find themselves in a small southern town just in time for local bad boy Ed Bonner to be found dead, and young Matt Burns, the son of a former student of Ames', ends up accused of the murder. At the behest of Linda Bonner, the victim's sister who happens to care deeply about the accused, Jessica takes a look into the murder, but hatred runs deep in this town and it's pure luck (and Andy Crane) that leads Jessica and Ames to the right answer.
Jessica and Grady head to the home of publisher Christopher Bundy, whose publishing company owns the rights to Jessica's first short story. Jessica is quite upset, as Bundy's magazine is known for it's racy pictures of young women. While there, Jessica is pleased to run into an old acquaintance, Chester Harrison, and when Harrison is accused of murdering Christopher Bundy, Jessica vows to prove his innocence but runs into trouble when the family isn't interested in having their own skeletons dragged out of the closet.
At the request of aunt Mildred, Jessica agrees to stop by New Orleans to check on cousin Cal while on her way to Houston. No sooner does Jessica get to New Orleans then she is tossed into a Mardi Gras party where the host ends up dead, and Cal is accused of the crime. While attempting to clear Cal's name and reputation, Jessica delves into the world of cheating poker players, cheating girlfriends and vengefilled police officers while trying to convince a local lieutenant that Cal is not capable of murder.
After Julia Marcus Granger is found murdered during what seems to have been an apparent art theft, suspicion turns to her husband Donald, who, as a result, also ends up being suspected in a recent rash of art thefts where there were no fatalities. Julia's sister Sabrina is convinced that Donald didn't do it and begs Jessica for help. While looking into Julia's murder, Jessica realises that she has two completely different criminals on her hands, and someone tampered with the scene of Julia's murder to make it look like something else.
After Jessica's great-niece Carol receives a wedding gift of a silver leprechaun, she confides in Jessica that it was the one gift her grandfather had always promised her. Years earlier Neil was presumed dead in a boating accident, but his body was never found. Jessica agrees to search for Neil, and her search leads her to the Carmody circus, and a roustabout named Carl Schum, who she soon realises is Neil. Unfortunately, when a body is found on the grounds, Neil is the primary suspect, even though everyone had good reason to want Hank Sutter dead.
Despite Neil's confession to Hank Sutter's murder, Jessica is convinced that he didn't do it, and soon Neil confesses that he only said he did to protect young Charlie McCallum after finding his baseball bat at the scene. When rival circus owner Harry Kingman is found dead in his motel room, Jessica realises that the connection isn't Hank Sutter, but rather the Kingman circus, where many of the employees used to work. Unfortunately, she's up against an arrogant mayor who fancies himself a cop, and a circus full of people who aren't too helpful.
Jessica reluctantly agrees to do an interview for an old friend, Paula Roman, but is surprised when Kevin Keats, a journalist who had been doing a series of stories on an art dealer who was really a drug dealer, shows up to do the interview, complete with cameras and crew. After Kevin is presumed dead when a boat Amos chartered for him explodes, Cabot Cove explodes with press and paparazzi, and the citizens blame Jessica for all the problems it causes, demanding that she solve the mystery. Unfortunately, once Keats is revealed to be alive and well, the real question is who the true target was.
Thirty years ago, Sam Wilson was sent to prison for murdering his boss, Malcolm Jarvis. After finally being released, Sam goes home to his wife and now-grown son who is expecting his first child with his wife, Terry. At Georgia Jarvis' request, Jessica looks into the crime, and through flashbacks, Sam remembers when Jarvis had offered him $10,000 to make his suicide look like murder. While Jessica believes that Sam is innocent, she doesn't believe it was suicide, and asks Sam's son Rod, a police officer, to lend a hand.
Jessica visits her old friend Eugene McClendon, who soon stands accused of the murder of an old friend, Jonathan Keeler. While helping clear Eugene's name, Jessica learns that her friend believes he is dying, and is surprised when he asks her to marry him so that she can look after his affairs once he's gone. Jessica agrees, but only so that they can expose Jonathan's true killer.
Jessica gets herself into a mess of trouble after overhearing the dying words of a professional hitman. When she investigates the murder of Adam Cosgrove, she soon discovers that no one seems to want to admit he's missing, let alone dead. With the help of a prickly police sergeant and a priest who isn't quite what he seems, Jessica discovers that the man who was killed was in charge of leading a top-secret government mission to protect a foreign diplomat, and that someone in the safehouse has gone to the other side.
Jessica heads off to New York to begin teaching and has difficulty finding an apartment. She finally gets one that she likes, only to learn that a murder recently took place in the apartment complex and that someone desperately wants something that is inside her apartment. She's relieved when Seth comes to New York to check up on her, and enlists his help in cracking the case.
After Jane Dawson informs Jessica of her plans to write an unauthorized biography on her good friend Ellen Lombard, Ellen's husband Arthur comes under suspicion when Jane's sister and husband find her dead body electrocuted after a T.V. was dropped in her hot tub, and Arthur is seen leaving the house.
The town is concerned when a local fisherman dies, but concern turns to confusion when a second body is discovered aboard a fishing boat. Both men died from carbon monoxide poisoning, but seem to have no connection until the fisherman's daughter receives her father's logbook and nautical charts in the mail.
When Jessica spends some time at a zoo researching her latest novel, she soon gets drawn into a case of murder when the body of Mark Atwater, the fiancé of one of the zoo workers, is found murdered (death by snake venom), and another employee is charged with his murder. In the course of her investigation, she soon learns that a number of people had a motive to want Mark dead.
While on a visit to Amsterdam, Jessica meets up with fellow novelist and old friend Nigel Allison. When Allison goes missing, Colin Biddle, who claims to be Allison's publishing liaison, try to convince her that nothing is wrong. Jessica soon realises that both Nigel and Colin are secret agents, and despite Colin's request for her to stay out of it, Jessica investigates Allison's disappearance and soon convinces a previously reluctant inspector that there is something terribly wrong. At the same time, Philip and Lydia de Kooning are trying to make a deal in diamonds, and when Philip turns up dead after Jessica gets a note supposedly from him, Jessica is the prime suspect in his murder.
Jessica is on a train headed for El Paso where she is to lecture at a conference. She shares a table in the dining car with a woman who subsequently vanishes, leaving her purse on the table. Then a message is announced for the woman and Jessica accepts it. This leads to an attack in her compartment and a demand for 'it'. She has no idea what 'it' is and is rescued by a man claiming to be a journalist. The plot thickens. She is warned away by an FBI man, but continues to follow her clues to Agua Verde where the woman apparently lives. The plot twists and turns as she delves deeper in a most devious mystery.....