Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest

Anyone who has viewed more than two or three of Jessica's 40-minute TV episodes can set their watch by the little scene where she stops and says "Now let me see if I've got this right" - her chance to help all the dumbos to keep up with the plot.

Well 80 minutes is very different from 40 minutes, and I personally would have welcomed at least one of these idiot-board updates in the course of this bigger and busier version of 'Murder, She Wrote'. No fewer than 37 characters are listed, and their names flung about like confetti, so we only dimly understand who's who in the zoo. But don't let that put you off; the masterly ending will make the same impact anyhow.

The story takes us by rail into the baking sands of Arizona, about as far as you can get from Cabot Cove, both geographically and spiritually. Trains are always good for murder mysteries, with plenty of enigmatic strangers and chance meetings. And with Jessica on board, it's a safe bet that one or two passengers won't quite make it to their destination.

By about the midpoint, we've learned to mistrust every snarling male, but not, of course, certain gracious females who are so keen to confide in Jessica. (This view takes a bit of a knock in the closing stages.)

We can't reveal much more without giving away some key twists that are vastly superior to anything seen in the standard episodes. As for the murder-motive, this relates to a hi-tech agenda that manages to look just as fresh and topical now as it would have done in 1997 - a singular achievement. There are some pleasing touches, like a wacky hotel receptionist (Susan Blommaert) who turns out to be one of Jessica's most devoted fans. And only the inaudible dialogue at a key moment in the dining-car scene lets down the production values.

At the end, Jessica is pointing out the murderer's careless mistakes in her best schoolmarm style. (But regular viewers may like to know that we're spared the usual spluttering "But that's ridiculous..." protest from the other party this time round!)

It is good to see Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) back in action in the first TV movie after the Murder, She Wrote TV series ended. This time, Jessica meets a woman named Sarah (Mel Harris) while on a train to El Paso. Sarah disappears and leaves her purse behind, setting a stage of events where Sarah is believed to have witnessed a homicide and a criminal is pursuing her to reclaim a possession, leading the involvement of the FBI and leaving Jessica caught in the middle of the mayhem.

This movie possesses the same charm, sleuth tactics and plot twists and turns of the TV series, and is filled with some intriguing plot points and daring investigation scenes that puts Jessica all over the map that one would find compelling. The direction and pacing are pretty good, aside from the plot that tends to drag a little towards the middle of the movie. The acting is also pretty spot on.

With all the finger-pointing and unpredictability elements in the movie, you would be eager to find the truth of the matter and who is behind the all the criminal activities. It is a good TV movie that is a nice throwback to the heyday of the TV series.

Grade B

Okay . . . . the four "Murder She Wrote" movies are currently on Amazon Prime. It can be confusing how to find them, however. You must do a search for "Murder She Wrote" (New). It will show 4 seasons. Seasons 2, 3 & 4 are all showing the description of Season 2, even though they are actually the remaining two movies. Hopefully, Amazon will correct this eventually.

I never watched many of the TV episodes until the last few years, when I saw them all on Peacock. You do get really attached to Jessica, and are sad when all the episodes are watched. Seeing these movies instantly brings back that attachment. Jessica is the same, at least in this first movie.

It's an interersting story, although I guessed who the killers were before the ending, even though I wasn't trying to do so. Jessica ends up in Arizona after a train ride that ended up with one passenger missing and one murdered. Both the FBI and higher government powers are involved, which I found dull; but Jessica herself is never dull, and it was great to see the late, great Angela Lansbury in action again.

This was the first TV-movie that continued the mysteries of crime novelist and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher, a role that Angela Lansbury made loved around the world in the popular TV series, Murder She Wrote.

On the outside it may seem like just a feature length episode of that show, but if you look at it closely you'll see that it has some wonderful moments that make it a superior TV-movie. I suppose having said that you really do need to have an interest in this sort of TV mystery formula and if you have a love for the show then you will adore this.

There are some wonderful moments of mystery and intrigue built up and towards the end you are gagging to find out the truth as you always are in these mysteries. Also,as usual with a good mystery, there are some wonderful twists and turns which I'm obviously not going to talk about. I would recommend this to die hard fans of the series and anyone who enjoys a good mystery.

This story full of suspense. It starts off with a man being murdered and a woman walking her dog sees the murderer. The woman tell the police she is afraid because the killer knows what she looks like.

JB Fletcher goes on a train a makes friends with a Mrs Taylor not knowing the lady is the witness to the murder who later disappears.

There are men that get on board and they all look suspicious. You start to think maybe they will kill Mrs Taylor.

The story is about secret codes for Satellites that are worth a lot of money. They are being sought by a number of people some working for the government and some from other countries. The man that was killed was meeting a reporter because the codes where in error and the higher ups would not listen to him to correct the problem so he was going to give the reporter the story.

It kind of reminds me of what happened recently with the NSA. The NSA was spying on people and countries and Snowden not like what the NSA was doing so he started to reveal internal things that happened to news reporters.

The story has a lot of suspense and action that takes place on the train. It has lots of persons of interest. Good to watch.