How Rich Was Jessica Fletcher?

She was very poor, she would knock off these people, keep their credit cards and push the blame on others.

I'd say she had a lot more than $5million.

She also travelled first class on airplanes (in the episode "The Corpse flew first class"), designed a board game, took cruises, taught at a NY university and owned real estate in different countries. In the final episode she even gave her newly acquired Irish cottage to a young couple who got engaged through Jessica's unparalleled match-making skills.

And don't forget, she never drove so didn't have that expense to worry about!

If she was still in Cabot Cove today she could make a killing (hehe) through air b'n'b-ing her empty bedrooms. She lived in a house big enough for a medium sized family.

She was rich but never offered to loan to poor townsfolk in financial dire-straits . And she almost shat herself when she found out Doc Hazlitt only rented his house and wasn't a property owner!

She moonlighted as a high priced call girl, but few people knew that.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Why did she need the expense of such a big house? She should have downsized.

She was a penny-pinching old twat.

She must have been well off. She had books turned into Broadway plays and movies/tv series. Merchandise. A cartoon based on her book. Investments, property and art.

Her books sold well. She was always planning or writing a new one. It must have been very easy for her. She was wealthy but not super rich. It must have been difficult to live in a small village where half the population killsd the other half.

She could have afforded to get herself a cute young gigolo

Cabot Cove's busiest whore.

R11 she was usually in a company of eldery men. I wonder what happened.

She rarely paid for any meals. While eating, she would often remember some important clue and immediately dash off, leaving her dining companion (usually Seth) to foot the bill.

R13 neat trick! I'll remember that!

Wasn't there an episode where her financial advisor (so good he lives in Cabot Cove) has been diddling her finances? Then he's involved in a murda?!

As she didn’t own or drive a car, she was always hitching rides with others and never once offered to pay for gas.

Cabot Cove was inhabited by suckers.

Jessica didn’t fall for the charms of that gigolo Magnum either.

She held on to her virtue and her purse strings.

She was rich in guest stars, passed her way after "Fantasy Island" and "The Love Boat" finally got cancelled.

She supplied Cabot Cove and the surrounding area from Derry to Salem's Lot with Oxycontin and Meth. She was fucking rich.

She was a murderer for hire. You can make a lot in that line of work, working for very wealthy clients. Also, she split the profits from selling stolen diamonds, when she teamed up with Dennis Stanton.

I really doubt Jessica was a criminal but how did she churn out so many books which sold so well that she displaced Eudora McVeigh as America's premier mystery writer plus got to travel all the time and see so many old friends? What was she ON?

R21, cheesecake!

She nevah paid her bills at my shop.

That's all I'm saying.

Ever wonder why she never based a book on one of her real-life mysteries? Because she threatened to do so, and blackmailed the murderer's survivors, who paid her NOT to write the story.

She should have booked her large, miserly ass a one-way back to Ireland in steerage class!

OP, originally The Wolf of Wall Street was about Jessica Fletcher.

Also, she was going to play the Michael Douglas role in the original Wall Street movie, but Gary Shandling talked her out of it.

Gary Morton didn't give a shit about Lansbury--some old showgirl beef between her and Lucy. So another Gary had to step in.

Old cunt nevah paid a penny on her medical bills either.

She was engaged in a torrid affair with eve Simpson!

You didn't hear it from me

But that old cunt had more than a few STDs

When you’re a nosey cunt who’s got receipts on everyone somehow the living becomes very easy. Local businesses forget to send invoices and everyone falls over themselves to send dinner and lunch invitations. Jessie F never ate on her own dime. And all those “nieces” she ran must’ve brought in some coin.

She also knew about Harvey Weinstein.

Seth that isn't true, we know she paid her medical bills in kind..

She served stale clam chowder. She skimped.

We only saw her solving crimes. We never saw the will readings.

That happened more than once!

She was a huge donor to Wakanda Hospital. Statues of that very dear bug-eyed lady everywhere in Wakanda.

I always had the feeling she was quite comfortable. By her associates, and lifestyle I had assumed she was probably born into some wealth too. One doesn't make so many of those types of social connections through being a mere mystery writer.

R4 You're darn tooting.

In a few episodes they mention that Fletcher is one of the oldest families in New England and as noted above she also has an Irish lineage. I imagine most of her property is inherited. Anyway, every family member she visits also seems to be well off, in one episode she goes to a cousin's wedding on a plantation and both families are said to be good business (making the ceremony more of a merger than a marriage.)

Her books were often made into movies, so I'd say Jess would be worth 18 million in 2018 money. Wait. Her stockbrokers and investment bankers always ended up dead...so maybe not.

PS Ho much do you think Angela is worth? Take a guess.

I had just guessed 80M, but google proved me 10M too much. Good for the old girl. I love watching old episodes of Murder, She Wrote. I'm guessing her character Jess probably had roughly 10M or so, excluding her home.

Let's see, she owned that property in Cabot Cove, that apartment in Manhattan, those shares in a football team, and didn't she inherit land in Australia and Ireland and Canada too? And I think she owned a stake in some other companies.

God knows how much her endless travel bills ran to. Did her publisher cover them? At least she often had an endless array of cousins, nieces and nephews, and dear old friends to house her wherever in the world she went.

I think she was a hack. How many novels did she turn out of the show's run? And she seemed to be willing to licence them for anything: video game, board game, film, play, and wasn't there even a theme park ride. She must've loved that cash.

In the first season they dressed her in frumpy sweaters and plain old lady dresses, however La Lansbury then demanded they glam up her look. If you didn't know that you might think that once JB became successful she started spending more on clothes.

From then on she really only wore those chunky sweaters and mom jeans around Cabot Cove. Thank God since they so did not flatter her; they emphasized her FUPA and and sometimes camel toe.

I noticed that bitch never once offered to contribute to gas money despite how often she kept getting rides, often long ones which allowed her a chance to fill with exposition.

She sometimes even made them turn around when she had one of those sudden revelations that she'd "explain all about later". She also pulled that trick in restaurants and, I bet, anything a bill was about to arrive.

She was always flying to all sorts of exotic locales for "research for a new book". I wonder if she deducted them on her taxes.

And, let's not forget her brief one-episode spell as a senator. I'm sure she entertained a lobbyist or two.

She was a successful writer, she had plenty of money.

Given how extensive her output was, I wonder if she followed the Stephen King, Lee Child, James Patterson, etc., route of "here's an idea, editor flesh it out".

She certainly cranked them out. I wonder if they were any good.

PD James' property portfolio was probably made her more money by the time she died than her books did. I assume Jessica was like that.

Wasn't she even on the board of a company in one episode?

[quote] those shares in a football team

With the now Caitlyn Jenner playing its star player.

Any ideas what this house would be worth today. They mention going down to Bar Harbour and Bangor, so it must be near the Canadian border. I wonder if the town has had any big development attempts since that unsuccessful one in season twelve? The town's population is supposedly 3,560; though I'm surprised they didn't have to keep changing it given the murder rate higher than Caracas. I wonder the high risk of being killed turns people off moving there.

I like it anyway. It's nice for less than a million.

Remember the episode where she solved the Catholic child rape mystery? No, you don't. Jessica shat million dollar bills for breakfast.

[quote]Remember the episode where she solved the Catholic child rape mystery? No, you don't.

Is that the one with Mitzi Gaynor as the nun about to tell Jessica a secret before she mysteriously is pushed habit first from the Sunday school roof?

JB rarely wore outfits twice. Once DYNASTY was cancelled Angie overtook Joan Collins' long held position as highest paid woman on television, and I bet she was one of the most expensively clothed as well.

I wonder how many frequent flyer miles she built up over twelve years?

R45 I preferred how Jessica was dressed in early seasons. When they started "glamorizing" her she lost that sense of simple retired school teacher.

Between the pilot and the first episode, she apparently had written several books so she was well off from the beginning. But my theory is after visiting with Fiona Keeler at her "Referral Service" in season 2, she decided to supplement her income. Her "typing and short hand" were impeccable.

The wardrobe changes were, at first, was mostly down to Lansbury. Maybe after a screen career of character roles and matrons, she craved more glamor.

Starting in season eight there was a deliberate attempt to move the show towards a younger demographic. They tried to downplay the amateur and doddering Miss Marple element of the character and present Jessica as a more respected woman-of-the-world. The clothes then began to better fit the circumstances and naturally changing styles.

But it wasn't just the clothes -- she moved to NYC, taught criminology there, and went to more exotic locales. It made her seem better off than the retired schoolmarm without an agent in the pilot. I think it worked and improved the show, anyway. It seemed natural that she would be wealthier after a decade as a best-selling popular author.

Though those episodes in the later seasons in which she had to help a variety of ethnic inner city youths in NY falsely accused of murder never worked. She did seem better off by comparison, but awkwardly so. Like when they'd go to her apartment and have a reading group, usually for the episode's heartwarming conclusion. Gag!

Her style mimicked Margaret Thatcher's: as the show wore on she increasingly favoured business-y style stuff (but with trousers) over grandma-style dresses. It better suited Lansbury's tall frame anyway.

I loved her flat. Small but nice.

And that cute Indian bell-boy.

It can't have been cheap though. How much today? One, two million?

I love the fact that these TV people thought that putting an old woman in a pants suit was going to attract a young audience. Personally, with a few exceptions, I really don't like seasons 8-12. Most of the regulars disappear. Grady only comes back once. You never see Loretta's Beauty Parlor again. Eve Simpson disappears. Michael Haggerty comes back once I think. The new people in Cabot Cove don't feel authentic.

[quote]Eve Simpson disappears.

She was busy. Hepatitis C treatments, usually.

Lansbury doesn't like season eight, I think it is, either, though I think she does like the later ones. Peter Fischer left the show and David Moessinger replaced him for one season. Lansbury didn't care for his work, so he didn't last long. The season both she and her son got producer credits.

I used to not like the later seasons but I now find them at least just as good. They did get rid of that cutesy twee element that I didn't like and was prominent in the early seasons. Think episodes like STEAL ME A STORY and MR PENROY'S VACATION. I now prefer the harder-edged more serious tone in the later seasons.

I thought the blazers and chunky brooches better suited Angie than the Rose Nylund style dresses and pastel sweaters she wore earlier on.

Once Father Dowling was cancelled, they should have brought Tom Bosley back as Amos. His dynamic with Jessica and Seth was one of the best parts of the show.

Seth: "That meal was nice. Will I get the check?"

Jessica: *pops eyes* "The check! Of course... Seth I have to get over the old mansion. I'll explain everything later."

Seth: "I thought we were going to spli-"

Jessica: *runs out of restaurant*

She could've let out her house / apartment when she was staying at the other if she needed the cash.

She seemed to be involved in all sorts of other enterprises too. Didn't she part-own a racehorse?

She also jumped out of taxis without paying. Shameless.

Remember when she went to prison with Adrienne Barbeau and Jan Brady?

Yes, that was actually one of the show's best episodes.

What was it called again? "Murder Munches Carpet", "Lez Likely Suspect", "Death is for Dykes"?

LOL she was a skinflint is how she stayed wealthy! I almost fainted when she gave that lovely little Irish cottage away for free at the end of one of those made-for-tv movies. She must have been losing her marbles!

Her house was full of a lot of tat, she obviously didn't believe in investing in quality. Remember when she pushed her publishedr off the roof of his building when he said her latest book was shit? Murder on the thirtieth floor? Bitch.

I've never seen the TV movies. Are they worth watching?

Yes South by Southwest was a decent enough spy element to it, pretty much like an episode. It came 1 year after the show ended.

The second was a bore, A Story to Die for, set at a book convention. Watchable in parts. It came 3 years later in 2000 (don't know why there was a long break).

The Last Free Man (2001) is shite but does have Angela double of some long deceased relative who was helping to free slaves during the civil war! Hilarious southern accent and all.

The last one was the best, The Celtic Riddle (2003) I think it was based on a pre-existing novel that got adapted and Jessica inserted. They actually used real Irish actors this time so the awful attempt at the Irish brogue isn't nearly as bad in this one. Pretty decent story too.

I wished they done one last movie, set in Cabot Cove before William Windom died. It would nice to see Jess in retirement and the fold crew back together. Even Grady. Maybe.

Wouldn't it be amazing if a well known horror/mystery writer actually wrote all of the novels featured in the series in real life using Jessica Fletcher as a pseudonym?

The Corpse danced at midnight

Novels by Fletcher that are mentioned during the series:

The Corpse Danced at Midnight

Dirge for a Dead Dachshund

A Faded Rose Beside Her

Murder on the Amazon

Lover's Revenge

The Umbrella Murders

Murder at the Inn

Murder at the Digs

Murder in a Minor Key

The Stain on the Stairs

The Mystery of the Mutilated Minion

The Belgrade Murders

Sanitarium of Death

Calvin Canterbury's Revenge

Murder at the Asylum

Murder Comes to Maine

Good-bye, Charlie

The Corpse That Wasn't There

Ashes, Ashes, Fall Down Dead

The Messengers of Midnight

The Poison in My Heart

t

All the Murderers Murder at the Ridge Top The Corpse at Vespers The Triple Crown Murders The Crypt of Death A Killing at Hastings Rock The Uncaught Murder in White The Dead Must Sing The Killer Called Collect Stone Cold Dead On Wall Street Endangered The Launch Pad Murders Runway to Murder The Venomous Valentine A Case and a Half of Murder Yours Truly, Damian Sinclair The Dead Man Sang The Corpse Swam by Moonlight The Zero Aspect Murder at Midnight

My therapist looks just like Grady Fletcher.

She seemed thrifty. She grew her own vegetables, repaired things, never moved from her main house.

She turned out a lot of books and probably coasted on her rep. When Grady got married the only gift she gave them was a second hand mirror!

She was cheap. Great tits though.

Everyone in Cabot Cove knew she squirreled away her cash away in the many charming teapots and cookie jars dotted around her kitchen.

She never mingled with the poor fisher folk. She couldn’t stand the sight of them, in fact. You could see the disgust on her face as she grimaced and wrinkled her nose.

The time Mel the handyman sabotaged her bicycle, sending her off the pier as she was innocently intent on purchasing her evening meal, was the last straw. It cemented her secret rage and determination to get revenge.

She also had a percentage of merchandising rights to that puppet character based on one of her children's stories.

The Cabot Covers are holding a rummage sale to afford a new fire truck. They made very little money. If she was decent she would have given them money for it! But no..

[quote]she’s always attending star studded parties dressed to the nines,

She only buy clothes with a 30 day return policy and then return them on the 29th day.

[quote] In a few episodes they mention that Fletcher is one of the oldest families in New England

And those old families' fortunes were based on freebooters murder, slavery, pillage and rape. Towns burned to the ground, ships sunk, maidens ravaged. And Jessica lives on this filthy lucre.

Jessica wasn't rich before her books. She lived a very simple life. Fame and fortune didn't change her

She never paid for supper!

[quote]She never paid for supper!

True. Convenient how she always happened to have one of her sudden revelations right before the bill came.

She often ate out in Cabot Cove, but never alone; mostly with Seth. I assumed she let him pick up the tab.

R92 it was quid pro quo. She let Seth have a month dry hump against her fupa while she made the chowder. Seth brought the lobsters.

She gave a local kid Frank's old bike tonight but then expected her to do chores for her as payment! The bike was a wreck!

She also owned pornography shops, sold heroin to schoolchildren and regularly had women kidnapped and impregnated so that she could sell the babies to lesbian couples who wanted to adopt.

The novels are really good. There's almost 50 of them.

Remember when Jess was homeless?

Look, it's Miss Cuntwell!

If you don't have it, get it!

Well, howdy!

Serious, lush.

Does anyone remember when Bill Maher was in the show?

Roddy McDowall was such a bitch.

Cynthia Nixon was in the show. She had agoraphobia.

Megan Mullally was in the show.

....

Neil Patrick Harris.

When Miss June Allyson visited Cabot Cove, she was so charmed by Jessica’s hospitality and cleverness that she gave her a lifetime supply of Depends diapers. At $12.99 a box, Jessica saved thousands of dollars over the years.

JB Fletcher was a hack. Eudora McVeigh was the queen of mystery novelists.

Eudora McVeigh tried to steal one of Jessica's masterpieces! She also drugged her.

Eudora, that Apple picking bitch.

It was laughable that she was considered such a good writer, people always complimenting her books.

Why is that laughable? The only thing I thought was weird was that on this show, an author was just as famous as a movie star, a household name. If only.

It's funny because she spends almost no time writing!

[quote]r4 She moonlighted as a high priced call girl, but few people knew that.

The way she kept 1 step ahead of the law is she officially billed the sessions as "private readings."

Nice tits!

I can't believe Lansbury stooped to doing publicity like r115 in the final, waning season!

I love this thread so much.

Thanks, guys.

I was somewhat taken aback when Lansbury said in an interview that she absolutely refused to start shooting each season before they had 4 episodes completely written.

Like...really? You're going to just sit home on the start date and not go in? Um, okay.

God DAMN it!

Meant to put up Part 2!

Part 3

So was it Jessica who was dried up or Frank who was shooting blanks?

R118 you're welcome, I love it too!

R118 where did she say that, I've never read that. It isn't unreasonable to expect the writers to have prepared part of the season in advance though.

R125 they may have chosen not to or never had it investigated. Since in season 7 the won a n tells Jessica that Frank fathered her son and Jessica doesn't say that's impossible then it may be more likely Jessica was unable to have kids.

Jessica couldn’t have kids due to all the abortions she had.

I always thought of JB Fletcher as a fictional equivalent of Mary Higgins Clarke, thus, in my mind, Jessica was fairly wealthy.

Thinking of Seth's plump ass.

....

....

....

She had many a victim change their will in her favour, I've heard..

I thought of her as a kind of Stephen King. So of course, everybody knew her. Especially around Cabot Cove.

Who will Jessica leave her fortune to?

[quote]I’m thinking she has made at least $5million in 2018 dollars from her mystery novels.

Puh-lease, Jessica Fletcher was a high-end hooker for men who were into GILFs

Does anyone know where the beach house from "Terminal Connection" is?