Episode 18 - "Footnote to Murder"
This is a fun one - a group of writers gather at an awards show and their comically outsized egos ensure lots of conflict and, eventually, murder.
Jessica and her poet friend Horace (!) go to the awards together; Horace is a real character and I wish he was in every episode - he's funny, sarcastic in a self-deprecating way, clever, perceptive, and sensitive. He makes a ton of jokes about drinking a lot, but never crosses the line into bad behavior - probably why Jessica takes a shine to him.
Anyway, Jessica and Horace encounter Hemsley Post, who is a blowhard novelist who seems like a cross between Faulkner, Hemingway, and Normal Mailer. Post has stolen his latest novel, on Vietnam, from an actual vet... but honestly, any number of people had good motives to kill Post, all the way down to bartenders, waitresses, and people who pass him on the street. He's that big of a jerk.
His actual manner of death - some kind of javelin or fireplace poker or something right in the chest like a lance - is pretty gruesome even for this show. I loved it! At first the idiot cop thinks Horace is involved - boy, law enforcement comes off poorly on this show - but eventually Jessica does some very clever detective work and steers the investigation straight. It's a great episode.
Horace, our main man, is played by the great Paul Sand, who has many TV credits to his name; I know him from longer turns on Gimme a Break (1986) and St. Elsewhere (1983). The superjerk novelist Post is played by Kenneth Mars, who interestingly has a ton of video game and cartoon voice work on his resume. Finally, a key suspect is Talia Balsam, TV veteran of Mad Men, Homeland, Without a Trace, and many others.
Episode 19 - "Murder Takes the Bus"
This might be my favorite episode of the entire first season, although a few others are in the running. It's a great premise - Jessica and sheriff Amos take a bus to the Sheriff's Convention, where Jessica is giving a speech and Amos hopes to win a big-screen TV... but severe weather damages the bus and forces the passengers to shelter in a diner, which puts us in an Agatha Christie-esque locked room style mystery - no one can come or go (the storm is still raging) and soon it becomes apparent that there is a murderer among them, as one of the passengers is found stabbed to death with a screwdriver... AND strangled. Wow, someone did not like this guy at all. The backstory of this one is also very interesting, and all the various passengers are colorful.
For starters, there is a little bit of a Golden Girls crossover here, as Rue McClanahan (Blanche on Golden Girls) is one of the passengers. And a M*A*S*H crossover too, as her husband is played by the great Larry Linville (Frank Burns on M*A*S*H). And another passenger is Linda Blair! Still another is Michael Constantine, known for My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Room 222, and a slew of others. It's a great cast.
Episode 20 - "Armed Response"
Missing/Unknown - Another one that doesn't appear on Netflix. I'll keep working on digging up these missing episodes. Other blogs/tumblrs/etc. also complain about this, apparently Netflix is known for deleting random episodes from many older TV shows.
Episode 21 - "Murder at the Oasis"
This one wasn't bad, and felt thoroughly '80s: music producer Johnny Shannon rules his family with an iron fist and cruel words, and continues to complicate the life of his ex-wife Peggy - who happens to be friends with Jessica Fletcher. Uh oh. As we all know, wherever Jessica goes, murder follows, and soon Johnny Shannon has been executed gangland style in his living room. Someone in his house did it, but the list of people in the house during the murder quickly grows and it's up to Jessica and a detective recently transferred from Chicago (gangland central!) to figure this out.
Great actors here: Johnny Shannon is the great Ed Ames, who plays a great villain here and is also known for the Daniel Boone TV show in the '60s. His lackey Buster Bailey is played by Rat Pack veteran Joey Bishop. The daughter is played by Linda Purl, known for Homeland, The Office, Robin's Hoods, and many other parts. And Jessica's friend Peggy is Piper Laurie! Who I know best from Twin Peaks, but her career goes back to the '50s. Finally, the police detective is played by Ken Howard, who just died a couple months ago (March, 2016). He was president of SAG for years, and appeared in many shows. He was good enough on Murder, She Wrote to be asked back several times.
Episode 22 - "Funeral at Fifty-Mile"
Season finale! Readers, we are officially 1/12 done with the quest to review every episode.
This is sort of a middle-of-the-road episode, neither good nor bad. Jessica travels to Wyoming to the funeral of a veteran who served with her late husband. He died without a will and so his kind, deserving daughter will inherit everything. Then a scuzzbucket named Carl shows up, with a floozy on his arm, waving a will around and declaring he's the heir. Everyone at the funeral is furious, and it's not long before Carl finds himself dead as dead can be, hanged in a barn. And also hit on the head - yet another "misdirection by double murder method." Jessica starts digging around and comes to a very unique, if rather underwhelming, conclusion.
Jerk Carl is played by longtime TV character actor Clu Gulager, known for his turn as General Sheridan in the North and South mini-series, and his long role of Emmett Ryker on The Virginian. The other actor I recognized rightaway was Donald Moffat, whose face you'll recognize instantly, and here plays Tim Carver. Moffet is known for many movies roles (including the president in Clear and Present Danger, and another president (LBJ) in The Right Stuff), and many turns on TV.
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