CBS's Murder, She Wrote was a cozy mystery series starring the late Angela Lansbury as a retired teacher and world-famous mystery writer Jessica Fletcher. Over the course of twelve seasons, Jessica solved hundreds of murders all over the world, but how many of those murders actually occurred in her hometown of Cabot Cove is a bit of a mystery. So what was the Cabot Cove murder rate per capita?

Many sources erroneously report the number of Cabot Cove murders in Murder, She Wrote to be 274 murders, but this number instead actually is closer to the total number of murders solved by Jessica Fletcher on the show -- whether they were in Cabot Cove or not. Instead, Jessica actually solved approximately 60 suspicious deaths that occurred in her hometown of Cabot Cove, Maine. Given that Cabot Cove had a population of 3,560 people at the beginning of the series, 60 murders over the course of twelve years, an average of five murders per year, is a significantly high number.

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Why the Cabot Cove Murder Rate Is Much Lower Than You Think

A Cabot Cove sign showing that the population was 3560 in Murder, She Wrote

Many of the murder victims were people from out of town, and in many cases, the murderers also were from outside of Cabot Cove, too. The showrunners did seem to make an effort not to overload the number of murders occurring in Cabot Cove to avoid stretching their viewers' suspension of disbelief too far. However, the assumption that there were 274 murders in Cabot Cove, as reported by The Daily Mail and many other sources, points to underlying assumptions about Jessica Fletcher and Murder, She Wrote as a whole.

Murder, She Wrote is a standout cozy mystery series, and cozy mysteries often take place in small towns away from the hustle and bustle of major cities. Murder, She Wrote does frame itself within the small-town charm of Cabot Cove. For example, the series' opening credits included three types of clips: Jessica typing her manuscripts, various picturesque clips of Jessica interacting with the town and more exciting moments from some of her cases. Overall, the shows' opening credits paint Jessica Fletcher as a small-town heroine, firmly ensconced within Cabot Cove.

However, this framework does not quite match the reality of the show. While Jessica is associated mainly with Cabot Cove, the majority of the episodes of Murder, She Wrote actually took place elsewhere. Only 54 of the series' 264 episodes take place in Cabot Cove itself, not counting the episodes where Jessica narrated other peoples' adventures and crime-solving from the comfort of her home. Instead, in most episodes, Jessica traveled across the world, either promoting her books or visiting various friends and family members, many of whom wind up implicated in murders that Jessica must then solve. As Jessica's fame grew, she also became more involved with Hollywood and various adaptations of her work into movies, television shows and even a virtual reality video game. In some cases, Jessica also was roped into more serious investigations with official agencies, such as multiple cases with MI6.

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Cabot Cove Was Still Pretty Dangerous

Jessica Fletcher fires a fake gun in the Murder, She Wrote opening credits. A sheet saying "Bang" hangs from the gun itself.

From the eighth season onwards, Murder, She Wrote did try to focus more on one location, but that location was actually not Cabot Cove. Instead, at the beginning of the season, Jessica began teaching classes in criminology at Manhattan University in New York City. The higher murder rate in New York City is a bit more believable than it would be in Cabot Cove. Still, this choice of location also shows that a small town is not necessarily a requirement for a mystery series or for Jessica's murder mystery solving.

Therefore, while Jessica Fletcher may hold the record for “Most Prolific Amateur Sleuth” in the Guinness World Records and Jessica may have been one of Lansbury's best roles in her career, most of her mystery-solving actually took place away from Cabot Cove, Maine. But while Cabot Cove was more dangerous than your average town with a population of 3,560 people, it still was not too unbelievably dangerous, even with its high murder rate. Murder, She Wrote does invoke the nostalgic feeling of cozy mysteries and small-town charm, but Jessica Fletcher's travels all over the world show that she thrived as a writer, friend and amateur detective in any location and at any age.

All 12 seasons of Murder, She Wrote are available to stream on Peacock and The Roku Channel.