Murder, She Wrote: Fit for Murder

Former editor of the Cabot Cove Gazette Evelyn Phillips is back in Cabot Cove. Evelyn tells Jessica and Seth that she got a couple of really weird notes from Bertha Mae Cormier, so she’s come back to town to check on her old friend. She demands that Jessica come with her to see Bertha Mae, who is a bit dithery, but no more so than Jessica remembers her being in recent years.

Jessica does become somewhat concerned when Bertha Mae starts to talk about her new neighbor, Martin Terranova. Quite charming and very health conscious, Terranova teaches yoga and meditation in his pool house. Maureen Metzger says that she and Bertha Mae became friends in Terranova’s class and mentions how solicitous he is to his older clients.

Jessica attends one of his classes and does notice that Terranova is flirtatious with several elderly clients, especially Bertha Mae. Evelyn becomes convinced that Bertha Mae is being mesmerized by Terranova and that he is after Bertha Mae’s money. A short while later, Martin turns up dead in his weight room. What at first blush seems to be an accident soon proves to be murder, and Jessica must put her investigative skills to the test when Evelyn becomes the prime suspect.