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MURDER, SHE WROTE: A LITTLE NIGHT WORK (TV)

Summary

One in this murder mystery series about an unassuming Maine mystery writer turned sleuth named Jessica B. Fletcher who uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases. In this episode, senatorial hopeful Axel Weingard and his wife Marta attend an upscale dinner event at the hotel in which they live, with Marta wearing an expensive diamond necklace. Wexler introduces them to Jessica, saying that he is her new agent since Jonathan's retirement, though Jessica reminds him that nothing is yet decided. Condominium dealer Miles Hatcher also meets Dennis Stanton, and as they talk business, Jessica chats with Andy, a busboy and aspiring writer who requests her advice. Dennis approaches Jessica for a dance, and they discuss her books, with Jessica revealing that she "abhors violence" in real life. Later that night, she is shocked when he appears on her balcony from above, claiming that he is avoiding the man with whose wife he is having an affair and asking Jessica to provide an alibi if need be, sneaking out past the cops as they arrive at the hotel. In the morning, Andy brings Jessica's breakfast, and she is distracted by a story in the paper about the theft of Marta's necklace. Jessica notes that the Weingard penthouse is directly above her room, and then learns that Axel has been found strangled in a laundry bin.

Jessica immediately tells Lieutenant Alffano about Dennis' suspicious behavior, and then goes to Wexler's office, where Hatcher is attempting to cajole him into joining his business, as he believes Weingard is about to pull out and bankrupt him. Jessica tells Wexler that she does not wish to be his client, but he pleads that he is in "a bind," saying that Weingard damaged his business. When she informs him that he is dead, Wexler is elated, saying that his stock will drop and he will get his money back. Stanton then appears and hauls Jessica out to lunch, assuring her that he has an alibi for the time of the robbery and murder, though she quickly realizes that it is false. As she packs to go home, Agent McBride appears on her balcony, saying she represents the company that insured the necklace and telling Jessica that Stanton is a well-known "partygoer" and thief, though she cannot prove it. She offers Jessica $50,000 to help catch him, but Jessica then receives a call that Andy has been arrested for the crime. Alffano shows her a threatening letter that Andy wrote to Weingard after he rejected his book, but Andy swears his innocence, and when he describes his novel, she realizes that it is essentially "The Brothers Karamazov" and Weingard was right to turn him down.

Jessica asks about the robbery, and Alffano explains that Marta hurled the necklace at Weingard during a fight and returned to the penthouse to find both it and him missing. Alffano seems reluctant to pursue Stanton, but Jessica makes a date with him and agrees to wear a wire. On the way there, Alffano tells her about a carnation petal with a drop of blood on it found in the penthouse living room and about the scratches on the victim's hand. At dinner, Stanton says that McBride is "deluded" and explains that after his wife's death, the insurance company refused to pay her medical bills and plunged him into debt, so he began stealing his rich friends' belongings that were insured by the same company as revenge, and then later for fun. He maintains his innocence about Weingard, however, describing how he broke into the penthouse bedroom and witnessed Weingard arguing with someone, never entering the living room himself. He then escapes after finding her wire, however, and McBride reaffirms her belief in his guilt. Stanton then makes an incriminating phone call, and Jessica examines newspaper photos from the night of the event and makes a connection. Later, Stanton meets with Hatcher at a bus station and Hatcher, revealed as the criminal, delivers the necklace in exchange for Stanton's silence, but they are both caught by the police. Jessica explains that Weingard scratched his hand on the pin as he crushed Hatcher's lapel flower while Hatcher strangled him, leaving the bloodstained petal behind, and Hatcher confesses to killing Weingard over business and staging the robbery. Stanton happily informs Jessica that he has escaped punishment for his many thefts by providing information about Hatcher, and Jessica is alarmed to learn that he intends to team up with Wexler to tell his criminal tales in a new book series. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: CBS
  • DATE: October 30, 1988 8:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: B:33894
  • GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
  • SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1984-1996
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Peter S. Fischer … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
  • Robert F. O'Neill … Supervising Producer
  • Robert E. Swanson … Producer
  • Anthony J. Magro … Associate Producer
  • Walter Grauman … Director
  • Richard Levinson … Created by
  • William Link … Created by
  • David Bell … Music by
  • John Addison … Theme Music by
  • Angela Lansbury … Cast, Jessica Fletcher
  • John Dye … Cast, Andy Broom
  • Jamie Farr … Cast, Theo Wexler
  • Leann Hunley … Cast, Shannon McBride
  • Conrad Janis … Cast, Miles Hatcher
  • Rick Jason … Cast, Axel Weingard
  • Keith Michell … Cast, Dennis Stanton
  • Joe Santos … Cast, NYPD Lt. Bert Alffano
  • Julie Parrish … Cast, Marta Weingard
  • Bill Cort … Cast, Ray
  • Jensen Collier … Cast, Joanna
  • Gerald A. Sharp … Cast, Uniformed Policeman
  • Ronda Pierson … Cast, Reporter #1
  • Harry Cason … Cast, Reporter #2
  • Armand Cerami … Cast, Security Guard