Celebrating Four Decades of the Langley Mystery Weekend

by Jon Bach  • photos by Jamie Conners

Remember the television show Murder, She Wrote? It aired from 1984 to 1996 and starred actress Angela Lansbury as main character Jessica Fletcher—a mystery writer and detective in the fictional small town of Cabot Cove, Maine. 

In the same year the show made its debut, a few business owners came together and accidentally turned Whidbey Island’s City of Langley into Cabot Cove. The aim was to create an immersive citywide activity to attract and engage visitors to discover the island in a “novel” way. 

While the show lasted 12 seasons, the annual Langley Mystery Weekend has endured for far longer, having celebrated its 40th anniversary this past February. Today it’s hosted by the Langley Chamber of Commerce and holds the title of longest-running immersive mystery weekend in the country, with the 2025 festivities attracting

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