Night of the Headless Horseman

Dorian Beecher is a very talented poet, an amiable chap, who is haunted the headless horseman, who terrorises him late at night, a cloaked figure, who clutches a pumpkin, but appears to have no head. Dorian believes he knows the identity of the horseman, a local bully boy who. Jessica is on hand to help.

I can forgive this episode its minor faults, so Dorian isn't exactly overly appealing, not particularly a passionate individual, but this is actually a rather good episode, the story is excellent, I love the Gothic overtones, a cloaked figure terrorising our protagonist, it is really smart. The visuals are excellent, they made full use of the storyline. Nice touches of humour, Jessica's disbelief at Dorian's lie, plus a really interesting conclusion make this one of my favourite episodes in the third series. 9/10

Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.

"Night of the Headless Horseman" is a lesser episode of Season 3 for me, better than "Dead Man's Gold" but it is an episode that was perfectly watchable and just about decent if leaving me a little cold with how the premise was executed. Still feel the same. The characters are stereotypical somewhat (the somewhat promiscuous waitress that has her heart in the right place, a universally hated womanising town bully and a truly dim-witted sheriff).

Story-wise, it's fun but apart from the reveal and how the murder was done it's predictable stuff and the whole headless horseman stuff is under-explored and not dark or atmospheric enough. It is very obvious who the victim will be, having victim written practically on his forehead (very often on 'Murder She Wrote' it is a character loathed by all who deserves to be done in), it can be very formulaic and despite him being a liar the accused innocence is never in doubt, even looking at them you would never think they are capable of such a brutal crime. Thom Bray's Dorian is a little bland, though never Grady, Donna or Howard bland. The sheriff is also so stupid that one wants to beat him around the head and questions how he ever got the job.

On the other hand, the production values are high in quality as to be expected, with slick photography and a beautiful rustic and nostalgia-filled location. The music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune.

The script is thoughtful and suitably amiable and the story is fun despite its predictability and well-paced, some of the campiness is endearing. Other than Nate and the sheriff, the characters do have a lot of likability even with their stereotypical nature Angela Lansbury is great as always and the guest star acting is near-across the board good. Barry Williams in particular enjoys himself in a juicy role.

In conclusion, decent and perfectly watchable but doesn't do as much for me with a premise that isn't fully lived up to. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Jessica is approached by her old friend Dorian Beecher, a shy poet, who begs her to help him. Dorian wants her to impersonate his mum in order to impress his boss, the father of his true love Sarah. Jessica learns that Dorian has been ridiculed for claiming to have seen a headless horseman on his previous visits to Sarah's house, and when his chief tormentor is found decapitated, Dorian is the prime suspect.

A splendid episode that has a good character in the nerdy Beecher who is being attacked the headless horseman in the night. The headless horseman is actually his rival in his affections for a local girl. Nice gothic undertones mixed with quirky humour and a fine twist in the tale in regards who the murderer is.

"Night of the Headless Horseman" is a very odd episode...and very atypical for this show. It's obviously HEAVILY inspired by Washington Irving's story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and at first I thought is was more tongue in cheek...a funny parody. But as I watched, I saw there were tons of parallels but it wasn't as funny as it should have been. Additionally, it is extremely odd that the episode did not air around Halloween but in the winter!

A goofy Ichabod Crane-like guy, Dorian, is in pretty much the same situation as the character from the Irving tale. Jessica Fletcher has been invited to see him at the Wenton Academy...and for no reason that made sense, Dorian has told everyone that Ms. Fletcher is his mother...not a famous novelist. What follows is a beheading and folks assuming Dorian did it because he was tormented just like Crane was in the original story.

I think this episode really missed the mark. Making it SO similar to the story only would have worked well had they made it more comedic. Instead, it's neither fish nor fowl...not really funny but not really serious either. I personally did not love the episode.

Socially inept Thom Bray a poetry teacher at a boy's country day school invites fellow writer Jessica Fletcher to the school as a guest lecturer. What he tells when she arrives is that he has told everyone including stuffy schoolmaster Fritz Weaver that Angela Lansbury is his mother. A bit mortified Lansbury goes along with the lie.

That turns out to be a bad move when the school's womanizing riding instructor Barry Williams is killed, in fact decapitated. When Bray and Lansbury fess up to that lie, the sheriff Doug McClure isn't inclined to believe Bray is innocent of murder. In fact there was a public humiliation of Bray by Williams earlier.

But someone like Williams is going to have a host of people wanting to do him in. A little investigating and you know Jessica Fletcher will solve it.

Personally one look at Bray and you know he's not capable of murder.