Cabot Cove syndrome

English

Etymology

Named from the fictional setting of the long-running US television series Murder, She Wrote.

Noun

Cabot Cove syndrome (uncountable)

1. (humorous) The situation where, in order to create storylines for a detective drama, the protagonist encounters far more murders than is plausible.
   • 2012, John Charles, Candace Clark, Joanne Hamilton-Selway, The Readers' Advisory Guide to Mystery, page 20:

     If an author cannot figure out some credible way to introduce murder into an amateur sleuth's life, the writer risks creating a detective who suffers from the dreaded Cabot Cove syndrome […]