User Reviews

Wenton, Vermont, maintains its rural Colonial charm from its railroad depot to its old-fashioned inn, from its stables to its covered bridge, from its proclivity to costuming to its conforming school for boys, Wenton Academy.

It is into this nostalgic community which poet Dorian Beecher (Thom Bray) accepts a teaching position. to succeed the late Gretchen Van Stotter, who perished from a mysterious accident one year prior to the action of this episode.

Gretchen's father, Dorn Van Stotter (Guy Stockwell), serves as Stablemaster at Wenton Academy, under the supervision of proprietor Edwin Dupont (Fritz Weaver) and Administrator Charlotte Newcastle (Hope Lange), who soon begin to encounter an investigation over swindled funds.

Gretchen's fiancé at the time of her passing, Dentist Penn 'Doc' Walker (Charles Siebert), welcomes Mrs. Beecher, Dorian's "mother" upon her arrival to Wenton. It seems that Dorian has become serious with Sarah Dupont (Karlene Crockett), daughter of the stern Edwin Dupont, and needs someone kindly to present. And so, when he invites his former teacher Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), he doesn't relate the entire story.

Waitress Bobbie (Judy Landers) tends to serving Jessica and Dorian, as they gather at the Inn with Doctor Penn Walker, but festivities are interrupted by town bully Nate Findley (Barry Williams), who picks a fight with Dorian, who grabs a sword from the wall, but is interrupted by the entrance of Sheriff Sam Rankin (Doug McClure) and his assistants Deputy (Gary Pagett) and Uniformed Policeman (Tom Ohmer) when a brawl breaks out.

Those credited as 1st Man (Sanford Clark), 2nd Man (Forry Smith), 3rd Man (John England) and 4th Man (Brad Zerbst) appear at the mêlée and afterward, as they toss the sword from their truck upon finding Dorian by the creek. However, three of the combination are seen in either scene.

Because it happens to be a three-day autumn holiday at Wenton Academy, most of its pupils have left campus, with the exception of Todd Carrier (Donald Thompson), Robert (Brandon Douglas) and Brendan (Adam Ferris), who seem to enjoy the stable to the degree of founding a clubhouse upon its loft. They also seem to enjoy sleuthing around corners, and through the window of the loft.

So, on the "Night of the Headless Horseman," when a murder thickens the plot of romance from a distance, Dorian enlists Jessica to achieve "Poetic Justice."

Socially inept Thom Bray a poetry teacher at a boy's country day school invites fellow writer Jessica Fletcher to the school as a guest lecturer. What he tells when she arrives is that he has told everyone including stuffy schoolmaster Fritz Weaver that Angela Lansbury is his mother. A bit mortified Lansbury goes along with the lie.

That turns out to be a bad move when the school's womanizing riding instructor Barry Williams is killed, in fact decapitated. When Bray and Lansbury fess up to that lie, the sheriff Doug McClure isn't inclined to believe Bray is innocent of murder. In fact there was a public humiliation of Bray by Williams earlier.

But someone like Williams is going to have a host of people wanting to do him in. A little investigating and you know Jessica Fletcher will solve it.

Personally one look at Bray and you know he's not capable of murder.

Jessica is approached by her old friend Dorian Beecher, a shy poet, who begs her to help him. Dorian wants her to impersonate his mum in order to impress his boss, the father of his true love Sarah. Jessica learns that Dorian has been ridiculed for claiming to have seen a headless horseman on his previous visits to Sarah's house, and when his chief tormentor is found decapitated, Dorian is the prime suspect.

A splendid episode that has a good character in the nerdy Beecher who is being attacked the headless horseman in the night. The headless horseman is actually his rival in his affections for a local girl. Nice gothic undertones mixed with quirky humour and a fine twist in the tale in regards who the murderer is.

Dorian Beecher is a very talented poet, an amiable chap, who is haunted the headless horseman, who terrorises him late at night, a cloaked figure, who clutches a pumpkin, but appears to have no head. Dorian believes he knows the identity of the horseman, a local bully boy who. Jessica is on hand to help.

I can forgive this episode its minor faults, so Dorian isn't exactly overly appealing, not particularly a passionate individual, but this is actually a rather good episode, the story is excellent, I love the Gothic overtones, a cloaked figure terrorising our protagonist, it is really smart. The visuals are excellent, they made full use of the storyline. Nice touches of humour, Jessica's disbelief at Dorian's lie, plus a really interesting conclusion make this one of my favourite episodes in the third series. 9/10

Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.

"Night of the Headless Horseman" is a lesser episode of Season 3 for me, better than "Dead Man's Gold" but it is an episode that was perfectly watchable and just about decent if leaving me a little cold with how the premise was executed. Still feel the same. The characters are stereotypical somewhat (the somewhat promiscuous waitress that has her heart in the right place, a universally hated womanising town bully and a truly dim-witted sheriff).

Story-wise, it's fun but apart from the reveal and how the murder was done it's predictable stuff and the whole headless horseman stuff is under-explored and not dark or atmospheric enough. It is very obvious who the victim will be, having victim written practically on his forehead (very often on 'Murder She Wrote' it is a character loathed by all who deserves to be done in), it can be very formulaic and despite him being a liar the accused innocence is never in doubt, even looking at them you would never think they are capable of such a brutal crime. Thom Bray's Dorian is a little bland, though never Grady, Donna or Howard bland. The sheriff is also so stupid that one wants to beat him around the head and questions how he ever got the job.

On the other hand, the production values are high in quality as to be expected, with slick photography and a beautiful rustic and nostalgia-filled location. The music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune.

The script is thoughtful and suitably amiable and the story is fun despite its predictability and well-paced, some of the campiness is endearing. Other than Nate and the sheriff, the characters do have a lot of likability even with their stereotypical nature Angela Lansbury is great as always and the guest star acting is near-across the board good. Barry Williams in particular enjoys himself in a juicy role.

In conclusion, decent and perfectly watchable but doesn't do as much for me with a premise that isn't fully lived up to. 6/10 Bethany Cox

I suppose all shows need to do a Halloween Special. Here Dorian (Thom Bray) swindles Jess Fletcher (Angela Landsbury) to come out to a private school where Dorian teaches poetry so she can pretend to be his mother. He is in love with the school's owner's daughter and has to come off as more of a polished legacy instead of his real history of being an orphan.

There is a town bully named Nate played by "Brady Bunch" famed Barry Williams. He's more corny than evil. But he also seems to be a womanizer.

He lives to torment Dorian (and the town) until one day they have a fight, and the next morning Nate ends up being beheaded.

What is genius about this particular episode is the blend between grim and humorous. While it's pretty clear a beheaded victim would come off, in this hoity toity town as a five alarm fire, some of this is played for slight chuckles. For instance a stablehand who walks with a scythe as he recollects moments of disgust for the people he works for. It's not laugh out loud funny, but some times played for a side-eyed smile.

Barry is the weakest part of this one. He seems to be phoning it in. Not committed to the bully role. Perhaps overdoing it.

The town dentist, Doc Walker (Charles Siebert) is phenomenal as is the always dependable Hope Lang as a mysterious stable mistress.

Give time, if this were to be extended as a feature, it would absolutely work.

The resolution is dark but honest. It's heartbreaking as much as it is emotionally painful. It somehow took a turn towards a lighter buoyant series into a more tragic one. Save for the tacked on epilogue which tries to make it fun again.

Excellent episode, even after a few stumbles. Look out for, what amounts to a cameo, from the lovely Judy Landers as Bobbie. Her Marilyn Monroe breathy speak is always a hoot.

"Night of the Headless Horseman" is a very odd episode...and very atypical for this show. It's obviously HEAVILY inspired by Washington Irving's story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and at first I thought is was more tongue in cheek...a funny parody. But as I watched, I saw there were tons of parallels but it wasn't as funny as it should have been. Additionally, it is extremely odd that the episode did not air around Halloween but in the winter!

A goofy Ichabod Crane-like guy, Dorian, is in pretty much the same situation as the character from the Irving tale. Jessica Fletcher has been invited to see him at the Wenton Academy...and for no reason that made sense, Dorian has told everyone that Ms. Fletcher is his mother...not a famous novelist. What follows is a beheading and folks assuming Dorian did it because he was tormented just like Crane was in the original story.

I think this episode really missed the mark. Making it SO similar to the story only would have worked well had they made it more comedic. Instead, it's neither fish nor fowl...not really funny but not really serious either. I personally did not love the episode.