Jessica Fletcher is returning to television.  NBC is developing a reboot of the mystery series Murder, She Wrote, with Oscar-winning The Help actress Octavia Spencer set as the lead.  The original murder mystery show ran for 12 seasons on CBS from 1984 to 1996, with Angela Lansbury playing an English teacher turned mystery writer who solved crimes.  Deadline reports that the new series will be a “light, contemporary procedural in the vein of Bones or Fargo,” with Desperate Housewives alum Alexandra Cunningham penning the script and executive producing alongside producer David Janollari.

Spencer will play a hospital administrator and amateur sleuth who self-publishes her first mystery novel, with the logline as follows: “Set in a day where sensational headlines inundate the news, this woman’s avid fascination with true crime leads her to become an active participant in the investigations.”  Lansbury has been approached about being a part of the reboot, and the project has received a put-pilot commitment from NBC.  Watch the opening credits from the original series after the jump.