Television movie based on the series "Murder, She Wrote," which was broadcast on CBS from 1986 - 1996. While Jessica Fletcher is giving a lecture at a writers' conference, another guest lecturer -- Yuri Malenkovich, the author of a non-fiction book about the KGB -- is murdered.While at the writers' conference, Jessica Fletcher meets Warren Pierce, an old friend and fellow author who has been depressed about his life since he lost his son, a reporter who was killed on an assignment. Pierce introduces Jessica to Patricia Williams, a talented young woman whom he hopes to assist in getting her first break. Also speaking at the conference is Yuri Malenkovich, a Russian dissident who has written a book exposing the inner workings of the KGB. On his first day at the hotel, Yuri manages to offend many people, but it is still unexpected when a maid discovers him dead in his room later that night. The list of murder suspects is long and includes: Patricia, who was seen leaving Yuri's room upset; Mendoza, an intern assigned to help Jessica at the conference; Mack Rollins, a political columnist with whom Yuri had a heated disagreement; and a man in a plaid suit seen loitering around the hotel grounds.