Murder, She Wrote; Mord ist ihr Hobby; Murder Is Her Hobby
/ Exposé
Let’s take a minute to lament how the Germans willfully shamed the great American treasure, Murder, She Wrote, or, Mord ist ihr Hobby, as it’s known there. Translated back into English: Murder Is Her Hobby. Hobby. Are we supposed to believe Jessica Fletcher just casually solved murders in her spare-time? Or is the implication that her hobby was killing people?
The Germans are walking dangerously close to libel if it’s the latter, and the only murder committed would be that of Jessica Fletcher’s character. Sure, I suppose a certain air of suspicion could be cast over the 274 or so murders that happened around the teacher-turned-crime-author, but I chalk that down to coincidence. At some point, people should have realized it was bad luck hanging around her.
As for the former, the fact that she solved 274—two hundred and seventy-four—murders should effectively throw out any thesis that she was just dabbling around, haphazardly doing cops’ work for them. I mean, I guess we could take this to a dark place and suggest Fletcher was running around killing people just so she would look good when she solved
the crimes, sending innocent people to death sentences—we never really see any of this going to trial—but I refuse to degrade Ms. Fletcher to having been a narcissistic sociopath. Not a court in the country would convict her on such circumstantial evidence as tossing out, Oh, but this was no accident. No, this was murder,
with a titch too much confidence.
No, Jessica Fletcher was wronged by the Germans, there is no doubt about that. Whatever Ms. Fletcher may or may not have done could have been many things, but a trivial hobby it was not. It makes one question how these people wronged Diagnosis: Murder.