Angela Lansbury

When celebrities die, there's some times a oh-sigh factor. That's too bad. I loved him/her for (fill in the blank).

Rick and were sitting in the BnB breakfast room in Inverness, Scotland. It wasn't raining. Outside the white clouds seemed to have arranged themselves over the black clouds to resemble snow-covered Alps. The BBC news was on and between the murder and mayhem in the world, Angela Lansbury's death was announced along with the proper tribute.

Along with her character Jessica Fletcher, she played a small part in my daughter's and my relationship during Llara's teen years. Every Sunday night we would watch Murder She Wrote after we'd opened our Jiffy Pop popcorn. 

I remember the episode where the term "Down East" referring to Maine helped us solve the crime.

At that time I was writing and trying to be published. "I want to be like her." I was referring to Jessica Fletcher, Lansbury's character. There was always the line in almost every episode "I think I know who did it."

"If you come across a murder, you are going straight into a nursing home." 

"Why?" I asked my daughter.

"Because it is usually Jessica's relatives that get accused of the murder and I'm your closest relative."

Fast forward a couple of decades. I was spending a month with my daughter in D.C. having traveled from Switzerland for the Christmas holiday. She used the time I was there to have dental surgery, and we were hunkering down between the cold and her discomfort. We were planning to binge watch Murder She Wrote. 

At that point I had published several Third Culture Kid Mysteries. My daughter made it clear that her nursing home threat still was on the table.

To date, I've never come across a murder. The series is on Swiss and French stations and there are times I will watch an episode without Jiffy Pop popcorn or my daughter who lives in the Boston area. There is always that flash of good memories triggered by one very talented woman and her television series.

R.I.P. Angela Lansbury. You had a great run.