the half-a-million the Bulgarian was carryin'

 

Sept. 28, 1984

The New York Times

TV WEEKEND; A SPRIGHTLY WHODUNIT IN 'MURDER, SHE WROTE'

By John J. O'Connor

LIGHT mystery stories, the traditional sort of whodunits, were once a television staple, but they somehow fell out of favor in recent years.  CBS will try to change that situation with "Murder, She Wrote," a series getting under way on Channel 2 Sunday evening at 8 with a special two-hour premiere.

The vital signs are good.  The creators and executive producers are Peter S. Fischer and two quality-television veterans, Richard Levinson and William Link ("Columbo").  And the star is Angela Lansbury, who made her movie debut in the 1944 movie "Gaslight" and has since won four Tony Awards as best actress in a Broadway musical.

Miss Lansbury plays Jessica Fletcher, a widowed substitute teacher living in a coastal village in Maine.  Mrs. Fletcher is a tweedy, commonsensical woman with a talent for writing fictional mysteries and solving real ones.  She jogs, fishes and charms New York taxi drivers with such practical ploys as a folk cure for foot callouses.  She probably would not be too upset if, at a quick glance, she were taken for Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.

Sunday's "Murder of Sherlock Holmes" seems to be a television movie that turned out so nicely the network decided to commission a weekly series.  When Mrs. Fletcher's nephew, Grady (Michael Horton), finds a story she has been fiddling with in her spare time and brings it to a Manhattan publishing company, she is at first embarrassed, but then delighted by the book's becoming a best seller.  

        Invited to New York to do the usual publicity tour with snide or bored television interviewers, she is asked by the publisher (Arthur Hill) to spend a weekend at his Connecticut home.  He promises to introduce her to "real people - not those self-important media types."  His friends, however, turn out to be far more unreal than any media types I know.

In any event, a costume party ends with a body floating in the family pool.  The victim is wearing a Sherlock Holmes costume, and it is assumed that he is the rather nasty tycoon from the party (Brian Keith).  But it seems that there was a costume change some time during the evening and things soon get more complicated.  

        When her nephew ends up as a chief suspect, Mrs. Fletcher goes into action, action that includes following somebody on a city bus and getting mugged in a dark alley.

Mrs. Fletcher's zest occasionally becomes overly cute, but Miss Lansbury keeps the character on a remarkably attractive course.  At one point, she even manages to get in a few moments of touching romance.

Not taking itself very seriously, "Murder, She Wrote" is a pleasant, almost old-fashioned entertainment, and it does not require a single screeching car chase.  It deserves best wishes.  Mr. Fischer's teleplay, based on a story he devised with Mr. Levinson and Mr. Link, was directed by Corey Allen.  The supporting cast includes Ned Beatty, Bert Convy, Herb Edelman, Tricia O'Neil and Raymond St. Jacques.

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