Jessica Fletcher is home in Cabot Cove and she has just hired local kid, Kevin Bryce, to help with with her garden. Kevin is trying to make some extra money to help out his single mom who works at the local shoe factory.
Just the facts:
Click on the text below to reveal spoilers.
Click to reveal the victim
It was Jack Franzen, a local landlord!Click to reveal the killer
It was Danny Snow, a factory worker and Jack’s old friend!Click to reveal the weapon
The victim was hit over the head with a shovel!Click to reveal the location
His body was found in his car, which appeared to have crashed down into a ravine!Click to reveal the motive
Jack was such an uncaring person and had been bullying Danny all his life—so Danny eventually snapped!Cast of characters:
As this is a Cabot Cove episode, we get some regulars:
- William Windom plays Dr. Seth Hazlitt
- Ron Masak plays Sheriff Mort Metzger
- Will Nye plays Deputy Floyd. This is Nye’s 8th of 14 total appearances on MSW episodes.
The story revolves around workers at the local shoe factory (and their friends/family):
- Season Hubley plays Marla Bryce, a factory employee.
- Jonathan Brandis plays Kevin Bryce, Marla’s son and Jessica Fletcher’s garden helper. Brandis is famous for his role on Seaquest DSV.
- John Harkins plays Owen Brownwell, Marla’s boss and owner of the shoe factory.
- Bruce Glover plays Jack Franzen, a local landlord who owns the property being rented by the shoe factory, as well as the home being rented by Marla.
- Bridget Hanley plays Gloria Franzen, Jack’s wife.
- Kiel Martin plays Danny Snow, a delivery man for the factory. This is Kiel Martin’s last ever on-screen appearance. He passed away later that same year. Martin is known for his co-starring role on Hill Street Blues.
- Lorna Luft plays Patsy Dumont, an order-taker for the factory. This is Luft’s second and final role on MSW.
Additional characters include:
- Teri Ralston as Lydia Johansen, Kevin Bryce’s teacher.
- Lee McAdam, a social worker who used to be Jessica’s student.
- Edwina Moore as a nurse.
- Dane Winters as a post office clerk.
Final thoughts and other trivia:
Aside from the series regulars like Doc Hazlitt, Sheriff Metzger, and Deputy Floyd, most of the other actors have never made any other appearances on the show. Only Lorna Luft had appeared in one other episode as a different character. Personally, I find this surprising because usually there are several actors in each episode that have played various characters on the show.
This is also the second time that Jessica hires a local boy to help her out. The same situation arose in “Simon Says, Color Me Dead“. In both cases, the boy had a single mother and is awarded Jessica’s spare bicycle as payment.
Murder, She Watched 