Here’s how TV movie Murder, She Wrote: The Celtic Riddle concluded the classic crime drama. Airing for twelve seasons and over 260 episodes between 1984 and 1996, Murder, She Wrote is one of the longest-running murder mystery shows in television history. Veteran actress Angela Lansbury stars as Jessica Fletcher, a crime writer-turned-amateur detective who more often than not proves to be more competent at solving the slightly alarming number of murders that happen in her vicinity than actual police officers.
Although the show itself came to an end in the mid-1990s, Murder, She Wrote continued for a few more years with a series of made-for-TV movies. A total of four Murder, She Wrote movies were made and each was helmed by Angela Lansbury’s son Anthony Pullen Shaw, who also directed 68 episodes of the show. The film series began with 1997's Murder, She Wrote: South By Southwest which was followed by Murder, She Wrote: A Story To Die For in 2000 and Murder, She Wrote: The Last Free Man in 2001.
The fourth and final TV movie Murder, She Wrote: A Celtic Riddle arrived in 2003 and officially brought the murder mystery franchise to an end. Like quite a few episodes before it, the film is set in Ireland where Jessica travels to attend the will reading of her deceased friend Eamon Byrnes (Peter Donat, The X-Files). Eamon’s widow Margaret (Fionnula Flanagan, The Others) and his eldest daughter Fiona (Geraldine Hughes) are none too pleased to learn how he has bequeathed his assets, and are angered further when they discover his last wish is for his family and friends to take part in a riddle-laden treasure hunt that will lead them to one final heirloom.
Murder, She Wrote: The Celtic Riddle sees Jessica Fletcher team up with Eamon’s sweet youngest daughter Breeta (Sarah-Jane Potts, Holby City) – who shares her father’s love of Celtic lore – to solve the treasure hunt mystery. Soon enough, however, people start turning up dead - as they so often do when Jessica Fletcher is around - and our amateur detective finds herself trying to solve both Eamon’s riddle and the mystery of who is behind the mounting body count.
There have been talks of reviving Murder, She Wrote. Over the years Angela Lansbury has expressed interest in returning to her long-running role a few times and there were even plans to reboot the crime drama with Octavia Spencer in the lead role, although they were quickly abandoned. For now, at least, Murder, She Wrote: The Celtic Riddle remains the franchise’s last hurrah.