7.2/10444 votes#1 - J.B. As in Jailbird
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 10/23/1988
A colossal mix-up puts Jessica in jail as a suspect in a murder only she witnessed. British agent Hagarty returns.
Director: Anthony Pullen Shaw
Writer: Robert Swanson
7.5/10427 votes#2 - A Little Night Work
Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 10/30/1988
A senatorial hopeful is murdered and his wife's necklace stolen.
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
8.2/10573 votes#3 - Mr. Penroy's Vacation
Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 11/6/1988
The sisters used a new type of fertilizer to make their chrysanthemums best of show.
Director: Anthony Pullen Shaw
Writer: Robert Swanson
7.8/10541 votes#4 - Snow White, Blood Red
Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 11/13/1988
A blizzard interrupts a skiing vacation and traps everyone, including a killer.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Chris Manheim
7.3/10442 votes#5 - Coal Miner's Slaughter
Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 11/20/1988
The coal miner's daughter thinks the mine owner is responsible for her father's death and someone takes action.
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: Chris Manheim
7.3/10456 votes#6 - Wearing of the Green
Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 11/27/1988
A Fletcher novel is the entree to a legendary actress who is a hermit refusing to meet anyone. The occasion is the theft of a famous tiara.
Director: Seymour Robbie
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
7.9/10504 votes#7 - The Last Flight of the Dixie Damsel
Season 5 Episode 7 - Aired 12/18/1988
The airplane her late husband bailed out of in 1952 has finally been found -- with a body inside.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
7.8/10454 votes#8 - Prediction: Murder
Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 1/1/1989
A psychic's predictions have come true, convincing a rancher's daughter that the next one, a fatal fire, will happen.
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: N/A
8.0/10538 votes#9 - Something Borrowed, Someone Blue
Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 1/8/1989
Grady's wedding seems doomed when someone does in the persnickety housekeeper.
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey
Writer: N/A
7.3/10421 votes#10 - Weave a Tangled Web
Season 5 Episode 10 - Aired 1/15/1989
Things look bad when a married woman's keys are found by the body in a motel room and she can't explain why.
Director: Seymour Robbie
Writer: Robert Swanson
7.6/10419 votes#11 - The Search for Peter Kerry
Season 5 Episode 11 - Aired 2/5/1989
A long missing heir turns up and trouble ensues.
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
7.5/10409 votes#12 - Smooth Operators
Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 2/12/1989
When a drunk is found dead in the alley, it raises a lot of questions. He was well dressed (but only one shoe) and had no id or money--a robbery or something else?
Director: Anthony Pullen Shaw
Writer: Gerald K. Siegel
7.5/10477 votes#13 - Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble
Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 2/19/1989
A very attractive young witch appears in Cabot Cove making some residents wonder if she really died a century or so ago.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Tom Sawyer
7.2/10401 votes#14 - From Russia ... With Blood
Season 5 Episode 14 - Aired 2/26/1989
A purse snatcher gets Jessica in big trouble in Moscow. What they found in her purse shouldn't have been there.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Donald Ross
7.6/10415 votes#15 - Alma Murder
Season 5 Episode 15 - Aired 3/12/1989
An old English professor is caught red-handed over a young girl's body and insists he did it, but a young man later confesses. Whodunit?
Director: Anthony Pullen Shaw
Writer: Chris Manheim
7.0/10460 votes#16 - Truck Stop
Season 5 Episode 16 - Aired 4/2/1989
Walter tells his story by way of black and white flashbacks which makes an interesting change from the usual. He has made a tape of the events that ended with his murder and we see the events unfold.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: N/A
8.2/10529 votes#17 - The Sins of Castle Cove
Season 5 Episode 17 - Aired 4/9/1989
A red hot novel, written by a former Fletcher student, seems to expose the small town's secrets and inspires murder. Julie Adams, Gloria DeHaven, Kathryn Grayson and Ruth Roman appear again as the local gossips.
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey
Writer: N/A
7.2/10388 votes#18 - Trevor Hudson's Legacy
Season 5 Episode 18 - Aired 4/16/1989
A small town editor in Montana threatens to claim in public that he is the real author of a dead man's manuscript.
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: Paul Savage
7.6/10414 votes#19 - Double Exposure
Season 5 Episode 19 - Aired 4/30/1989
In a strange case, Jessica bumps into an old friend who is supposed to be dead. His widow insists he is dead and Jessica hires Harry McGraw to investigate.
Director: Anthony Pullen Shaw
Writer: Robert Swanson
6.9/10366 votes#20 - Three Strikes, You're Out
Season 5 Episode 20 - Aired 5/7/1989
A surprised burglar is blamed for the death of the team's pre-game TV Host.
Director: Seymour Robbie
Writer: Donald Ross
8.5/10520 votes#21 - Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall (1)
Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 5/14/1989
Eudora McVeigh, a rival mystery writer, arrives at Jessica's door with seemingly friendly intentions, but the discovery of a corpse and a web of deceit follows her to Cabot Cove leading Jessica to suspect the woman of ulterior and sinister motives.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
8.5/10476 votes#22 - Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall (2)
Season 5 Episode 22 - Aired 5/21/1989
After Seth is hospitalized and diagnosed as poisoned, with an apple Eudora gave Jessica, she still believes in her colleague's innocence. Sheriff Metzger discovers the murdered P.I. was following her husband, Hank Shipton, and found him adulterous with rich Victor Casper's wife, Lisa. Hank's son, Bobby, is beaten up by local Arnie on account of pool bet debts. Jessica ties up all the loose ends.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
The Best Episodes of Murder, She Wrote Season 5
Every episode of Murder, She Wrote Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Murder, She Wrote Season 5!
An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases.
Genres:MysteryCrimeDrama
Network:CBS
Season 5 Ratings Summary
"J.B. As in Jailbird" is the best rated episode of "Murder, She Wrote" season 5. It scored 7.2/10 based on 444 votes. Directed by Anthony Pullen Shaw and written by Robert Swanson, it aired on 10/23/1988. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "A Little Night Work".