Before the world shut down, I would occasionally have to leave my home for work purposes that would require that I stay somewhere abroad, like a hotel, for instance. A majority of the time, these visits would be in areas I knew or had no reason to wander and explore. So, I would spend a fair amount of my time relaxing in the hotel room when I wasn’t at work. During these visits, there would be three programs I would watch: whatever is on HGTV, Forensic Files, and Murder She Wrote. I’ve already got a drinking game for the other two, so why not complete the trifecta?

Murder She Wrote, starring Angela Lansbury, is one of the best TV shows to come out of the 1980s. It’s about this relatively unassuming mystery author named Jessica Fletcher who is friendly, beloved by her neighborhood, and who also happens to be the Angel of Death. You might think I’m exaggerating, but you explain how it is that someone always dies when they’re within a 20-mile radius of this woman!

Regardless of how evil Mrs. Fletcher is, her adventures in crime fighting are consistently entertaining. Some of the logic doesn’t always make sense, and the loose interpretation of the law can be questionable at times. Nonetheless, I can’t help but love this show. I’m a fan of murder mystery stories. Even after watching the entire show from start to finish, I tend to forget who the killer is of the episode and I still have to figure it out. Sometimes, it still manages to be a surprise. For veterans of the show, these rules will come as no surprise.

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Murder She Wrote Drinking Game - Hair of the Dog

__She Wrote

Let’s get some of the easy ones out of the way. This rule is pretty straightforward and it ensures that you’ll get a sip in for every episode. After all, it’s what the whole show is about.

Take a sip of your drink whenever a character dies

OR

Take a sip of your drink when the body is discovered.

Confess!

It would be somewhat rare in reality for someone to just confess to their crimes, how they did it, or why they did it, especially to an unintimidating mystery writer who just happened to put the pieces together. Murder She Wrote doesn’t care about that, though. It is almost a guarantee at the end of each episode to hear a character’s justification for their criminal act, usually involving a flashback of sorts. Sometimes, you even get an extra confession from a red-herring character who is guilty of something, just not murder.

Take a sip of your drink whenever a suspect confesses to a crime.

Out of My Way!

Since Jessica Fletcher is just an author with no legal authority, she often relies on the help of the police (local to whatever region she’s in) to help solve the murder. Obviously, she does a great deal of the legwork and they just have to carry the guns and the handcuffs. However, a lot of the time they’re not too pleased to have her assistance, even the Sheriff in her hometown of Cabot Cove, Maine.

Take a sip of your drink whenever the local law enforcement tells Jessica Fletcher to stay out of the investigation.

You Remind Me of Someone

Jessica Fletcher is not just good at solving mysteries. She’s also a prolific and accomplished mystery writer, as mentioned earlier. As a result, it’s quite common for other characters to recognize her and fawn over her for her work. Now if only they would recognize the fact that she’s been in the vicinity of hundreds of murders and run away as fast as they can. Nothing seems to be more dangerous than being a friend or relative of JB Fletcher.

Take a sip of your drink whenever someone recognizes Jessica Fletcher as the famous mystery writer, having never met her before.
Take an extra sip if they read her books or are a “big fan.”

You’ve Got the Wrong Guy!

In addition to being quite confrontational towards Mrs. Fletcher in her involvement with the investigations, the police will often make it apparent how much they need her help by arresting the wrong person. It doesn’t matter if the evidence is purely circumstantial or if she makes a good case against the arrest. The police in this show are often presented as incompetent and stubborn. The politicians are often even worse.

Take a sip of your drink when the wrong person is arrested for the murder.

Sign of the Times

Since Murder She Wrote started in the 1980s, there were a lot of limitations to the type of technology that was available to the characters at the time. Personal computers were just beginning to take off and cell phones were 20 lb bricks that only people like Gordon Gecko would own. Thus, you see a lot of typewriters, pay phones, VHS tapes and other assorted technological relics. Sometimes, these old relics play a key part in ensuring that tension exists in the episode, like being able to reach someone on a telephone when there’s an emergency.

Take a sip of your drink whenever an obsolete piece of technology is used. Use your discretion on what applies.

Eureka!

Episode after episode, there is always one moment, if not multiple moments, in which Jessica Fletcher gets that look in her eyes and the music perks up with it. As her eyes light up and the thought crosses her mind about a particular clue, or even the solution to the case, the music whimsically swells and she gets excited. So, you know what to do...

Take a sip of your drink whenever the epiphany moment occurs: Jessica Fletcher perks up, her eyes light up, and she says something about figuring something out as the music does a little twirl.

Murder Bingo

Here’s a special rule that you will have to incorporate on your own for each episode. Before the episode gets more than 10 minutes in, make a guess about the following:

Who is/are the murder victim(s)?
Who is the killer?
What is the method of murder (strangulation, gunshot, stabbing, drowning, poison, blunt-force trauma, etc.)?