The BEST episodes of Murder, She Wrote season 3

Every episode of Murder, She Wrote season 3, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Murder, She Wrote season 3!

Murder seems to follow Jessica Fletcher, a former English teacher and a mystery writer full of charm, zest-for-life, and personality; who happens to become "the investigator" when traveling around the country to promote a series of novels. Murder always occurs when she is present. Even in Cabot Cove!

Last Updated: 12/4/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
The Days Dwindle Down
star
7.88
165 votes

#1 - The Days Dwindle Down

Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/19/1987

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.

Directors: Michael J. Lynch
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
No Accounting for Murder
star
7.59
156 votes

#2 - No Accounting for Murder

Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/22/1987

Grady Fletcher is in big trouble when his boss, a specialist in tax shelters, is found dead and he is the main suspect.

Directors: Peter Crane
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Murder, She Spoke
star
7.50
194 votes

#3 - Murder, She Spoke

Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/10/1987

During a short black-out in the studio where Jessica is recording a book for the blind, the studio co-owner is murdered.

Writer: Si Rose
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Night of the Headless Horseman
star
7.43
169 votes

#4 - Night of the Headless Horseman

Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/4/1987

The 'headless' horseman rides again, but his costume becomes more realistic.

Directors: Walter Grauman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Corpse Flew First Class
star
7.43
140 votes

#5 - The Corpse Flew First Class

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/18/1987

Theft and murder of the courier occur on board a jet bound for London.

Directors: Walter Grauman
Writer: Donald Ross
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Crossed Up
star
7.36
137 votes

#6 - Crossed Up

Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/1/1987

The phone wires get crossed during a storm and Jessica can't convince anyone that what she heard was real.

Directors: David Hemmings
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Death Stalks the Big Top (1)
star
7.31
134 votes

#7 - Death Stalks the Big Top (1)

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/1986

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.

Directors: Seymour Robbie
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Death Stalks the Big Top (2)
star
7.22
164 votes

#8 - Death Stalks the Big Top (2)

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/1986

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.

Directors: Seymour Robbie
Watch Now:Apple TV
Obituary for a Dead Anchor
star
7.20
173 votes

#9 - Obituary for a Dead Anchor

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/7/1986

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.

Directors: Walter Grauman
Watch Now:Apple TV
Unfinished Business
star
7.19
202 votes

#10 - Unfinished Business

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/12/1986

A retired policeman decides to re-examine an old case he never solved in which Seth was a strong suspect.

Directors: Walter Grauman
Watch Now:Apple TV
Dead Man's Gold
star
7.19
198 votes

#11 - Dead Man's Gold

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/9/1986

While diving for sunken treasure near Cabot Cove, a young woman is murdered.

Directors: Seymour Robbie
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Cemetery Vote
star
7.18
219 votes

#12 - The Cemetery Vote

Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/5/1987

First, the reform mayor dies in an "accident" and then the mayor's father is murdered after he demands an investigation of the "accident".

Directors: Seymour Robbie
Watch Now:Apple TV
Stage Struck
star
7.17
166 votes

#13 - Stage Struck

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/14/1986

The murder of the leading lady's understudy disrupts rehearsals of a play starring two previously married, but now warring, actors.

Directors: John Astin
Watch Now:Apple TV
Death Takes a Dive
star
7.17
101 votes

#14 - Death Takes a Dive

Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/22/1987

Jessica inherits a boxer's contract and her old friend; Harry McGraw is accused of murdering its former owner.

Directors: Seymour Robbie
Watch Now:Apple TV
Simon Says, Color Me Dead
star
7.15
189 votes

#15 - Simon Says, Color Me Dead

Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/1/1987

An artist is murdered and his prized painting is missing.

Directors: Kevin G. Cremin
Watch Now:Apple TV
No Laughing Murder
star
7.15
154 votes

#16 - No Laughing Murder

Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/15/1987

After the engagement party for the offspring of two estranged comics, someone is found dead.

Directors: Walter Grauman
Writer: Tom Sawyer
Watch Now:Apple TV
Corned Beef and Carnage
star
7.14
169 votes

#17 - Corned Beef and Carnage

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/2/1986

An adman handling the account of a fast-food chain is murdered and Jessica smells something funny.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Magnum on Ice
star
7.08
168 votes

#18 - Magnum on Ice

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/23/1986

Jessica offers to help Thomas Magnum, who has been accused of killing a hitman with an unknown target.

Directors: Peter Crane
Watch Now:Apple TV
Murder in a Minor Key
star
7.03
136 votes

#19 - Murder in a Minor Key

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/8/1987

Jessica tells the tale of a composer accused of killing the professor who plagiarized his music.

Directors: Nick Havinga
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Bottom Line Is Murder
star
7.00
161 votes

#20 - The Bottom Line Is Murder

Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/15/1987

A lying TV Consumer advocate is killed. Was it done by one of the clients whose products he maligned?

Watch Now:Apple TV
One White Rose for Death
star
6.98
193 votes

#21 - One White Rose for Death

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/19/1986

Attending a concert in Washington, D.C., Jessica gets involved with two East German defectors and a murder.

Directors: Peter Crane
Watch Now:Apple TV
Deadline for Murder
star
6.81
174 votes

#22 - Deadline for Murder

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/16/1986

A veteran reporter, who suffered a heart attack, says his best medicine would be the removal of his publisher who has turned a good paper into a yellow rag.

Directors: Seymour Robbie
Watch Now:Apple TV