Jessica Fletcher, lecturing at a writers' conference, finds herself called on to solve the killing of a guest speaker, an arrogant Russian author who'd written a nonfiction, tell-all book about his tenure as head of the KGB.
Jessica Fletcher discovers a shocking old family secret that leads her on a journey to the deep South to bring to light the mysterious details surrounding the death of a slave owned by one of her long dead ancestors in the mid-1800s.
When her doctor recommends that a widow pursue her unfulfilled life ambitions, he doesn't realize that she has always wanted to be a spy. Sending a letter to her congressman gets her an interview with the CIA and accidentally gets her an assignment to Morocco for a supposed easy task of picking up an encrypted code book. When the agency realizes their mistake, they send a super-agent to watch over her. Both are taken prisoner and the real agent is injured, leaving Mrs. Pollifax to use her considerable wits to help them escape and to save the day.
An ex-newspaper woman who is now a suburban housewife can't resist getting involved in an investigation of the murder of a philandering dentist who had been having affairs with several of her neighbors.
McBride is a former cop-turned-defense lawyer with a penchant for taking on "lost cause" cases. After serving as a juror on an attempted murder case, McBride reluctantly agrees to represent the defendant in her retrial. Assisted by the case's former public defender, Phil Newberry, and McBride's ex, Roberta, the three attempt to unravel the mystery of a tycoon nearly poisoned to death, and the many mysteries surrounding the case.
The police have arrested a Latino teenager caught pawning a murdered attorney's stolen Rolex. To complicate matters, the suspect's sister wants McBride to defend her brother - despite the fact that the victim was a close friend of McBride's.
When Tracy, an aspiring singer breaks up with her longtime boyfriend Joe on the set of a popular talk show, everyone assumes it's nothing more than tv tabloid hijinks. But when the talk show host turns up dead, all evidence points to Joe. McBride must take center stage and clear his client of murder.
McBride's case involves two larger than life radio stars who host the highly successful morning show "Ron and Bob." But when Ron is murdered and all the evidence points to Bob, McBride and Phil begin investigating and what they turn up are a lot of unanswered questions.