Murder, She Wrote Season 1 quotes

Sarah Lapp: [after confessing to the murder] I didn't mean to kill him. It was an accident. I know I should have gone to the police, but I didn't think anyone would have believed me.

Jessica Fletcher: I do, Sarah. And I believe the Sheriff will do, too.

Laura Corman: [after Jessica accuses her of committing the murder] Do you think I wanted to work for Doc Logan? I had to. Ross spent every cent he made on stupid women that didn't give a damn about him. But Ellen was the one that he pined for. I'd already made up my mind to kill him. When I saw her give him the wine, I knew just how I'd do it. I waited in a sexy nightgown to grab his attention. I'd already poisoned a bottle of his favorite wine. It was no trouble at all to get him to drink it. I went up to bed and waited. When I heard him call my name, I knew the poison was working. After he was dead, I poured wine on his shirt and made a trail that led the Sheriff straight to Ellen. I knew he'd be so anxious to get Ellen in his jail, he wouldn't concern himself with proof.

Harry McGraw: [after Jessica explains how she deduced the murderer's identity] And that, as they say, all she wrote.

Jessica Fletcher: I'm going to be teaching at Manhattan University. And I'll also be going into the inner-city schools from time to time. But altogether, I'll only be in Manhattan probably three or four days a week.

Dr. Seth Hazlitt: Then why do you have to rent an apartment?

Jessica Fletcher: Oh, Seth, I'm sick and tired of living in hotels. I do so much of that on those book tours. And I can't keep landing on poor Grady all the time.

Dr. Seth Hazlitt: Why not? He lands on you whenever it suits him.

Beth Dawson: I don't even like Steve. In fact, I can't imagine why you ever married him.

Jane Dawson: It's not that complicated, honey. Steve is tall, he looks great in a tuxedo, and he's terrific in bed.

Jane Dawson: Everybody loves Ellen Lombard. That's why I'll have a dynamite best-seller. When people find out that America's sweetheart is now a lush and a pill addict, they'll be standing in line to buy the book. Why do you think people buy your books? Because somebody gets killed and somebody takes a fall. We're in the same racket.

Jessica Fletcher: My books are fiction, yours are only half fiction. I believe there's a difference.

Zach Franklin: [to Elaine Franklin, after Jessica exposes the murderer] I had no choice. When Terry and I became partners, he never said anything about smuggling. By the time I found out, it was too late. Your mother was sick. You needed college money. Fishing was the worst it had been in years. So I went along, figuring as soon as I could pay him off for my share of the boat, it'd be over. You know what happened? He laughed in my face. He said if I tried to quit, something would happen to you.

Jessica Fletcher: That's when you decided to kill him.

Zach Franklin: That's exactly when, Mrs. Fletcher.

Jessica Fletcher: But you knew you'd be the prime suspect. Unless you were dead, too.

Sheriff Mort Metzger: So you cooked up your little plan. All you needed was the right fall guy, and who could be more perfect than Wayne, an ex-convict?

Elaine Franklin: Oh, Dad...

Zach Franklin: Elaine, with Terry dead, the Gretchen, the whole business, it'd be all yours. I even took out extra life insurance to make sure you'd be okay.

Jessica Fletcher: And then what, Zach? Were you going to hide for the rest of your life?

Zach Franklin: Not as hard as you might think, Mrs. Fletcher. I know places in Mexico where the fishing is good and nobody cares who you are or where you came from.

Det. John Coop Jr.: You are going to catch a plane and you are going to go home. You've been a great help to my mother. Thank you. But you're no longer needed here. Understood?

Jessica Fletcher: Well, I believe I'll let Melinda tell me if she needs me. And I like to make my own arrangements as to when and where I travel. Is that understood?

Allison Franklin: You were playing a little rough this afternoon.

Clark Blanchard: Some fillies like being ridden hard.

Ginny Blanchard: I just can't help feeling that I did something wrong.

Jessica Fletcher: It's not your fault, Ginny. It's a sickness. It's Clark's sickness. Your only fault is in allowing it to continue. I'm not going to try and tell you what to do because I'm not an expert on wife battery, and there are people who are trained in these matters, but I'm going to tell you something very plainly. There are only two things you can do: seek professional advice or leave the relationship.

Allison Franklin: [after Jessica exposes her as the murderer] He was drunk, abusive. I'd never seen him like that before. He called me a slut, said that I was using him to advance my husband in the firm. I slapped him. He went crazy. He grabbed me around the throat, and I managed to push him off. But he came after me again, and somehow the poker was in my hand. He just lay there, bleeding. I was so frightened. I wanted to call an ambulance or...

Jessica Fletcher: But the phone was torn out.

Allison Franklin: Yes. And then he came to. He wanted me to take him to the hospital. He got the car keys out of Ginny's purse. And I got him up on his feet and helped him to the car. But when I got him into the car, he passed out again, and he wasn't breathing anymore. I ran all the way home along the beach. I threw the poker into the ocean.

Lt. Paul Stratton: Well, Allison, we better get you a lawyer. It looks like you've got a pretty good case for self-defense.

Gerald Innsmouth: I don't know how you can stand it, Theo. If I had a younger brother like that, I'd have drowned him in the bathtub when he was two.

Jessica Fletcher: All those people trafficking in human lives.

Michael Hagarty: Yeah. You try not to think of it, and when you do, you kind of rationalize the fact that a great many more lives are potentially at stake. Civilians, millions of them. Except, every so often, I get this sneaky thought. Maybe we're just doing a number on ourselves to justify playing Cowboys and Indians.

Claudia Cameron: Jessica was my friend long before you even met her.

Geoffrey Presser: Possession, darling, is nine-tenths of the law.

Jessica Fletcher: I wasn't exactly a teenager when I started writing. Try not to accept defeat so easily. I mean, you must have other options.

Claudia Cameron: But I don't know how to do anything else but dance. And apparently, I'm too old for that.

Jessica Fletcher: Listen, maturity and experience are benefits. They're not disadvantages. Your talent, your dedication are priceless resources.