MURDER, SHE WROTE: DEADLY BIDDING (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, two years earlier, art thief Kenneth Rundle brings a stolen Degas painting, "The Dancing Class," to an artist/forger, Angus Neville, who disguises the work as a modern piece of his own, "Arrangement in Grey and Red." One month ago, one Lawrence Mezznou catches up with Rundle and demands the Degas' whereabouts, but Rundle abruptly drops dead. In the present, Jessica haggles with curator Felix Wesker about the authenticity of a journal supposedly penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, while elsewhere lawyer Milt Solomon bribes a man, Charles Garrett, to buy "Grey and Red" at auction for his "well-known" client, who wishes to avoid bidding on it personally. Diana Barrow, Milt's partner-in-crime and lover, assures him that "Grey and Red" is definitely the Degas underneath and that they can simple frame Garrett if caught.
Mezznou threatens Neville, who is desperate to buy back "his" painting, that both he and Rundle's widow Serena will be killed if he interferes with the auction. Neville appeals to Wesker and, admitting that it's the Degas, begs him to buy it – for a significant cut of the profit. Jessica decides to bid on the Doyle journal on behalf of the Museum of Cultural History after all, though she notes that it has changed hands several times in recent years, and Neville watches as auction house assistant and aspiring photographer Pete Dunning reads the storeroom combination from a slip of paper. Gallery owner Giles Havelock chases Mezznou away from Serena Rundle, explaining that he's "not an ethical character," and Jessica wins the journal – but Garrett finds himself in trouble when he accidentally bids four times what Solomon and Barrow allowed for "Grey and Red" and wins. Havelock grows suspicious of Barrow's machinations with the other bidders, and when Jessica catches Mezznou trying to shake Garrett down, she concludes that something "isn't quite right" with the painting.
Neville uses Dunning's paper to sneak into the storeroom and steal the Degas back – but he is then murdered by an unseen person. Jessica's suspicions mount when she learns that "Grey and Red" has gone missing, and Barrow and Solomon immediately suspect that Garrett learned the truth and double-crossed them. Wesker seems uninterested in the whereabouts of the painting, as Neville's other works will now increase in value thanks to his death, and Jessica learns that not only were all of the journal's past "owners" dead at the time of bidding, but Rundle was a lifelong bachelor. Jessica scolds Garrett when he admits his part in the scheme, but she helps him to evade Mezznou once again just as "Serena" reveals herself to be FBI Agent Karla Nemeth and Sergeant Unger arrests Garrett for the theft and Neville's murder. Nemeth explains that the secret Degas was place up for sale to "smoke out" the thieves, and when Garrett provides an alibi, Jessica gets an idea about the real killer. Garrett pulls a gun on her, revealing that he's allied with Havelock to protect himself – but Jessica declares that Havelock is the killer and hid the painting in his grandfather clock, which she observed to have abruptly jammed. Unger arrives, and Havelock confesses to taking the priceless painting in order to fund his dying gallery. Later, Jessica notices an anachronism in "Doyle" journal and triumphantly concludes that it's a fake after all. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 10, 1995 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:46:44
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:45858
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; Art - Forgeries; Murder; Art auctions
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1984-1996
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Angela Lansbury … Executive Producer
- David Shaw … Co-Executive Producer
- Bruce Lansbury … Supervising Producer
- Mark A. Burley … Supervising Producer
- Al Kraus … Coordinating Producer
- Tom Sawyer … Producer, Writer
- Todd London … Co-Producer
- Laurence Heath … Co-Producer
- Jerry Ludwig … Co-Producer
- Anthony Shaw … Director
- Peter S. Fischer … Created by
- Richard Levinson … Created by
- William Link … Created by
- Jeff Sturges … Music by
- John Addison … Theme Music by
- Angela Lansbury … Cast, Jessica B. Fletcher
- Tyrees Allen … Cast, Sergeant Unger
- Kathleen Garrett … Cast, Mrs. Serena Rundle / Special Agent Karla Nemeth
- Doug Hutchison … Cast, Angus Neville
- Aharon Ipalé … Cast, Lawrence Mezznou
- Martin Jarvis … Cast, Giles Havelock
- Renée Jones … Cast, Reggie Evers
- Paul Lieber … Cast, Milt Solomon
- Craig Richard Nelson … Cast, Felix Wesker
- Wayne Rogers … Cast, Charlie Garrett
- Melanie Smith … Cast, Diana Barrow
- Jeff Williams … Cast, Pete Dunning
- Charles Hoyes … Cast, Detective McKenna
- Dane Taylor Matthews … Cast, Waiter
- Edd Byrnes … Cast, Kenneth Rundle