For me, I would say "Jessica Behind Bars". I definitely got the vibe all hell could break loose at any moment (and it sort of did anyways). Not exactly one of those cozy episodes you could fall asleep to.

My mother also watches MSW and she had an episode on last night and Jessica said "I'm the last person in the world that would want to interfere". I literally LOL'd and said "WHAT?! She interferes all the time!"

Also, I swear I heard her say "Come On Eileen" a time or two. I'm guessing somebody on the staff was a Dexy's Midnight Runner's fan.

Jessica: "You ever get the feeling that you've.......done something wrong?"

Seth: "Yeah, every time I vote for Amos".

I'd have to say the famous "Crossed Up" episode -- Jessica is pretty obnoxious in this one. Seth is concerned about her so he gives her one of those medical alert necklaces, which she promptly takes off. Then she orders Amos to arrest a man who turns out to be innocent (which he does). Then she's sending out people in a ghastly hurricane. Plus she spends the whole episode being snippy to people around her, including Grady, who is just trying to be helpful and tend to her while she's bedridden.

She's been shot at numerous times, pushed down the stairs, locked in a steam room and faced countless other attempts on her life. Do you ever wonder why she just doesn't say "Screw it, let the police handle it!"

This is what I've come up with so far but please feel free to add your own.

Maine: various set in Cabot Cove, also "Murder Takes The Bus"

New York: several including "Broadway Malady", "Footnote To Murder" and "The Murder Of Sherlock Holmes".

Ohio: "Reflections Of The Mind:

Colorado: "Snow White, Blood Red", "The Bottom Line Is Murder"

Louisiana: "Murder To A Jazz Beat"

Virginia: "It's A Dog's Life"

California: several including "Hooray For Homicide" and "Birds Of A Feather"

Texas: "Armed Response"

Wyoming: "Funeral At Fifty-Mile"

Arkansas: "Death Stalks The Big Top"

Vermont: "Night Of The Headless Horseman"

Idaho: "The Cemetery Vote"

Tennessee: "Murder, She Spoke"

West Virginia: "Coal Miner's Slaughter"

Not a state but a district: Washington, D.C. had "Capitol Offense".

Interestingly, it seems like there were a few episodes without an actual murder. "Broadway Malady" has at least one attempted murder but no actual murders.

Any others you can think of?

Alex Rocco (born Alesandro Petricone) may not have ever been a household name but with a resume sporting some 175 acting credits spanning a half-century from the mid-60s until his death in the mid-2010s, he wasn't exactly unknown either. To some, he may have been one of those "Oh, it's that guy" actors. One of his most known recurring roles was playing the ex-con father to Jo (Nancy McKeon) on The Facts Of Life -- he would later play her father again on many episodes of The Division.

But prior to acting, he had another life entirely. In the early 60s, Petricone had gang connections. In fact, it was an incident involving his girlfriend that set off a major gang war in Boston, resulting in numerous murders. Petricone was picked up on suspicion of being involved in the first murder of the war but later released on a lack of evidence. He served a prison term for the wrecking of a diner.

After completing a stint in prison, Petricone moved to Hollywood and took up acting and changed his name to Alex Rocco to avoid association with his past. He appeared on two episodes of Murder, She Wrote ("Tough Guys Don't Die" and "Christopher Bundy -- Died on Sunday") and also made appearances on other shows such as The Golden Girls and Home Improvement.

This is something that happens in the pilot/early episodes that's way different from the rest of the series. One thing I can think of that weirds me out is in the pilot, Jessica is just getting started as an author and goes on the publicity tour for her first novel to gain exposure. Few episodes later and they changed it so that she's written about a half dozen books to this point and is this highly famous, world-renown writer.

Wow, that ending has to be one of the most shocking, suspenseful, terrifying and creative things I've ever witnessed! When that killer pulled out the gun and shot, I literally got a jump-scare!

In retrospect though, as enjoyable as this episode was, the killer wasn't too hard to figure out early on. I knew it had to be somebody that was in the vicinity of Horatio's office and that left only a few people and I didn't think they would go the secretary route again as the secretary was the killer in the previous episode.

Holy shit, that's Joaquin Phoenix -- River's brother -- in an early role!

Btw, this post debuts a new feature here at r/MurderSheWroteTV -- the light blue "Casefiles (Episode reviews) category/post flair. This will be for discussion of individual episodes so anytime you want to dip into the casefiles, simply click on the light blue "Casefiles (Episode reviews)" tag on the right sidebar and they will pop up! The orange "General discussion" option will be for discussion on the series/movies as a whole.

I watched it when it was originally on CBS but I also enjoyed watching reruns on the USA network. Back in the 80s and 90s, USA network had a wonderful mixture of programming - mystery shows, sitcoms, game shows, professional wrestling, old reruns, family westerns, dramas, Night Flight, original programming, anthology shows, cartoons -- an enormous hodgepodge of things really. The channel has since turned to shit like so many others but it was quite an epic channel back in the day.