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Jessica is visiting Los Angeles on publishing business, when she gets whisked off on a private jet to visit with her dear old friends in Santa Barbara for their five year wedding anniversary. Her friend Ginny is a children’s book author who hasn’t published anything in a while, and the reason for that might be due to some serious marital problems.
Just the facts:
Click on the text below to reveal spoilers.
Click to reveal the victim
It was Clark Blanchard, Ginny’s abusive husband!Click to reveal the killer
It was Allison Franklin, who was having an affair with the victim!Click to reveal the weapon
It was a severe blow to the left side of his head (most likely with a fireplace poker)!Click to reveal the location
His body was found in Ginny’s car parked beside their beach house, but there were traces of blood inside the house!Click to reveal the motive
It was self defense; the victim got abusive and started choking the killer!Cast of characters:
Just like the previous episode, this is another one with a very intimate cast of characters.
At the heart of this episode is Jessica’s friend Ginny and her family:
- Lois Nettleton plays Ginny Blanchard, Jessica’s friend and children’s book author. This is Nettleton’s third and final appearance on MSW. She previously appeared in “Lovers and Other Killers” and “Mourning Among the Wisterias“.
- Hank Stratton plays Scott Blanchard, Ginny’s son.
- Chad Everett as Clark Blanchard, Ginny’s husband and Scott’s step-father. This is Everett’s third of four total appearances on MSW (each time playing different characters). He previously appeared in “Obituary for a Dead Anchor” and “The Fixer-Upper“.
Clark’s friends and business associates include:
- Douglas Barr as Greg Franklin, a senior employee at Clark’s company. This is Barr’s second and final appearance on MSW. He previously appeared in “Curse of the Daanav“. Barr also had a co-starring role in the 1980s crime series The Fall Guy.
- Lisa Pelikan as Allison Franklin, Greg’s wife. This is Pelikan’s second and final appearance on MSW. She previously appeared in “Prediction: Murder“.
- Jameson Parker as Dane Kenderson, a fellow business man who hopes to merging his company with Clark’s. This is Parker’s second and final appearance on MSW. He previously appeared in “The Skinny According to Nick Cullhane”. Parker is known to detective show fans for starring in Simon & Simon.
- Kerrie Keane as Margo Saunders, Ginny’s lawyer. This is Keane’s first of two total appearances on MSW (each time as different characters).
Local police enforcement includes:
- Steve Forrest as Lt. Paul Stratton. This is Forrest’s third of five total appearances on MSW (each time playing different characters). He previously appeared in “Murder in the Electric Cathedral” and “Trevor Hudson’s Legacy“.
Final thoughts and other trivia:
It’s been a while since Jessica has been flirted with on the show, so it was nice seeing the romantic attention he was getting from the detective in this episode and to see her get quite smitten by him. Although at the end of the episode we learn that the handsome detective has made it a point to drive her to the airport (and that he had also been talking about taking his vacation on the east coast) we don’t see the character in any future episodes. But to be honest, given that the theme of the episode is violence against women, it’s unsurprising that Jess maintained her singlehood.
Murder, She Watched 