Amelia

Amelia is a lovelorn secretary in S1 E6: “Lovers and Other Killers.”

Edmund Gerard is the Dean of Students at Sequoia University, a major university in Seattle, WA. Edmund was friends with Jessica and Frank before they were married. Both he and his secretary, Amelia, hint at the possibility of a pairing between Edmund and Jessica now that they are both widowed. Jessica wishes only to remain friends, which is fortunate, because it turns out that Edmund is the kind of man who has affairs with married subordinates.

Allison Brevard

Allison Brevard is a lady of wealth and maturity. A relatively rarity for MSW, Allison is a completely innocent victim. She is killed by a masked intruder in S1 E6: “Lovers and Other Killers.”

Lovers and Other Killers

Hello, and welcome to one of my favorite episodes of Murder, She Wrote. We’ll dive into all the details and identify the killers, although we won’t solve every mystery this episode presents. I recommend watching the entire episode first, preferably after sating your appetite with some fin e food and drink.

There are four parts to this episode guide:

This is Part 1, an introduction that includes the setting, characters, and context within the MSW universe
Part 2 is a detailed timeline of the episode’s events
Part 3 is my analysis of the episode
Part 4 is a collection of fun extras that I like to call Bonus Features

Seminar: Murder for Profit

Bestselling author J.B. Fletcher, at the request of an old friend, Edmund Gerard, makes her first appearance as a guest lecturer at a major university. Flattered by the invitation, she nevertheless must balance her enthusiasm for teaching with the demands of her publishing schedule. As always, things quickly turn a bit murder-y.

Port of Seattle Welcomes You

Welcome to Seattle, WA, another beautiful west coast city to add to our MSW atlas. This episode is a great study in the paradox of locational specificity when the setting is a real place (Seattle!) but not too real (Sequoia University?). On one hand, the episode is awash in Seattle landmarks and skyline views. On the other hand, look too closely and you’ll see that the fine details are obscured by a thin, somewhat absurd, veneer of fiction.

We’re in Seattle!

We’re in… a place that looks like Seattle?

Pioneer Square’s Yesler Building as PD HQ

Did you say Sequoia University?

Yep. The major university featured in this episode is not the University of Washington. It just bears a striking resemblance to the UW Seattle campus. While there are no direct in-episode references to the name of the university, many of the extras portraying students are wearing Sequoia University apparel.

And just to make sure there’s no mistaking this fictious major university in Seattle for UW, Professor Lowery’s final exam is going to be held in Miller Hall, and not in the previously-pictured Smith Hall.

When Are We?

The Original Airdate

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the first guiding principal I use in my work on the MSWSW canon timeline is to place an episode’s events before, but as close as possible to, the initial airdate. This episode first aired on November 18, 1984.

The Oeuvre of J.B. Fletcher

Our lady has been invited as a guest lecturer specifically because she is a bestselling author. However, the only work that receives mention this episode is The Corpse Danced at Midnight, which was published in April 1984.

David Tolliver reads J.B. Fletcher’s first novel in S1 E6: “Lovers and Other Killers”

The Arts

One of the interior shots taken in Seattle’s Pioneer Square includes posters for two different cultural events.

The top poster is for the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, which has been held annually in July since 1978. The bottom poster is for a 1984 traveling art exhibition, Architecture in Silver.

These two events suggest a timeframe of late spring or early summer 1984, which fits within the initial post-Corpse pre-airdate timeframe of April – November 1984.

The Final Exam

Let’s return to Professor Lowery’s chalkboard:

He’s just given his class some information about their (upcoming) final exam, as follows:

English Lit. 386 Final
Miller Hall, THURS. Jun 21, 2:00
Type: True/False with choice of two of three essay questions

The handwriting isn’t especially clear – it could be “Jan” instead of “Jun”, but I’m comfortable with “Jun” because it’s in keeping with the other information we have about the time of year. That includes the posters discussed above, of course. Additionally, the flora and foliage in the outdoor scenes, the way the characters are dressed throughout the episode, and Jessica and Edmund’s al fresco breakfast all suggest a warmer time of year.

That “21” could also easily be a “26”, however, it very clearly says “THURS”, and June 21, 1984 was a Thursday.

The Days of the Week

I’ll dive more deeply into the timeline in Part 2 of this episode guide, but for now I will focus on just one detail. The way the days of the week play out this episode, Lowery chalks his board on a Thursday. Since the final exam is still in the future, the latest possible day this scene could have taken place is one week before the scheduled final, or June 14, 1984.

That’s not to say it must be June 14, it could be earlier. Until and unless we get more information, I feel comfortable assigning the events of this episode to a timeframe of May to mid-June 1984.

The Lovers and the Killers

This episode’s cast of characters is remarkably compact; more so because you don’t even notice that it is so small in size, which I think is an indication of some really good writing. There are really only eight players, but I’ve also included Ms. Brevard (an uncredited role if you can believe it) because her murder is important to the episode’s plot, and because it lends symmetry to my little tableau, below.

All the lovers, et cetera, in the order we meet them:

Allison Brevard

The Wealthy Lady

Amelia

The Secretary

Lila Schroeder

The Teaching Assistant

Edmund Gerard

The Dean of Students

David Tolliver

The Other Secretary

C.J. Andrews

The Investigating Officer

J.B. Fletcher

The Guest Lecturer

Todd Lowery

The English Professor

Jack Schroeder

The Jealous Husband

Part 2: The Timeline

Marty Strindberg

Strindberg is a contract attorney and partner with Carr, Strindberg and Roth in S1 E4: “Hooray for Homicide”.

Norman Lester

Norman is a junior contract attorney with Carr, Strindberg and Roth in S1 E4: “Hooray for Homicide”.

A Timeline

This is a timeline of all the events we’ve learned about so far on our Murder, She Wrote journey. It includes “present” events as portrayed in the episodes (1984 – 1996), as well as past events depicted or described in the series. Estimated publication dates for J.B. Fletcher’s books can be found in her Oeuvre.

Late October 1984

Jessica’s first movie deal is scuttled in “Hooray for Homicide.” (S1 E4)
October 6-13, 1984

Jessica visits her cousin in Virginia and saves the reputation of a very wealthy beagle in “It’s a Dog’s Life.” (S1 E5)
September 1984

Jessica visits her niece in San Francisco and clears her future nephew-in-law of murder charges in “Birds of a Feather.” (S1 E3)
July 21-26, 1984

Jessica visits her niece in Chicago and solves a spooky locked room mystery in “We’re Off to Kill the Wizard.” (S1 E8)
June – July 1984

A hurricane blows through Cabot Cove, and Jessica identifies a “Deadly Lady.” (S1 E2)
May – July 1984

At home in Cabot Cove, Jessica helps a friend steer clear of murder charges in “Hit, Run and Homicide.” (S1 E7)
May – June 1984

Jessica teaches a seminar in Seattle, and becomes entangled with “Lovers and Other Killers.” (S1 E6)
April 1984

Jessica travels to New York to promote her first book, and solves her first case, “The Murder of Sherlock Holmes.” (S1 E1)
1983

Jessica travels to Spain. She takes photographs. One of the rolls of film makes a cameo in “We’re Off to Kill the Wizard.” (S1 E8)
Mid 1940’s – Early 1950’s

Jessica, Frank, and their mutual friend, Edmund Gerard (S1 E6: “Lovers and Other Killers”) spend their Saturday nights at Kappa Gamma Chi. The only active chapter of the sorority during this timeframe appears to be at Emerson College in Boston, MA.