The murder mystery TV genre has a huge flaw built into its DNA: how do its protagonists keep stumbling on dead bodies? If the main character is an actual detective either with the police, like in Columbo, or a private detective, like in Moonlighting, this can be avoided because it’s part of the job description. But with amateur detectives, a lot of narrative gymnastics need to happen. For example, in the entirety of Murder, She Wrote a total of 274 murders occur for mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher to solve, despite her town of Cabot Cove only having 3500 residents.
