Trivia: The song Angela Lansbury sings, "Little Yellow Bird," when she plays musical hall performer Emma, is the same song she sang in the 1945 film The Picture of Dorian Gray, when she played music hall performer Sybil Vane.
Trivia: This is the only episode in the entire series where the victim is attacked but is later revealed to be still alive.
Trivia: Angela Lansbury is the only actress to appear in all 264 episodes of the show.
Trivia: During the Revolutionary War era, Maine was part of Massachusetts, even though it was physically separated from Massachusetts proper by New Hampshire. Maine did not become a separate state until 1820.
Trivia: The name of the horse, "Anchors Ahoy," is meaningless and silly. The term, "anchor's aweigh," is short for "the anchor is aweigh," meaning the anchor has been pulled free of the bottom. However, "ahoy" is a hailing call, used to attract the attention of another vessel or, perhaps, a person, and requires an answer. (It's kind of like saying, "Hey, you!") Since anchors are inanimate objects, they can neither hear nor respond to the call.
Chosen answer: This is the very reason my brother and I used to jokingly call the show, "Murder, She Caused." It's amazing she was ever on anyone's guest list for a party, given the likelihood someone would end up deceased. As to your question, most of the time, Jessica Fletcher would have had an air-tight alibi, as she was in a room full of people, or her whereabouts were accounted for when a murder occurred elsewhere. It also seems to me that there were episodes where she, purely with respect to opportunity, could have been a suspect. I believe she even acknowledged that as a logical possibility from time to time, even though she knew, of course, she was not the killer. However, the investigation would obviously rule out the possibility of her involvement, eventually.
Michael Albert