While browsing an art gallery in New York City, Jessica Fletcher runs into an old friend from Cabot Cove who had moved to NYC to become an artist after winning 10 million dollars in a lottery. Her friend is helping organize a charity auction at the gallery, with the proceeds going to the Willow Gardens School for Homeless Boys, and Jessica agrees to take part.
When her friend’s industrial art sculpture “The Relentless Warrior” winds up being used as a murder weapon, Jessica helps with the investigation.
Episode facts:
Click on the text below to reveal spoilers.
Click to reveal the victim
It was Philip Jovey, the gallery owner!Click to reveal the killer
It was Frances MacNean, Kim Mitchell’s housekeeper!Click to reveal the weapon
The victim was stabbed with “The Relentless Warrior” sculpture by Kim Mitchell!Click to reveal the location
It was in the Jovey gallery after hours!Click to reveal the motive
The victim recognized the killer as the subject of a painting, thereby revealing her identity as a fugitive!Click to reveal the major clue
It was the fact that the victim was trying to contact an FBI agent in the fugitive division; and also the fact that the killer left the gallery with a weighted down tote bag the day “The Roommate” painting went missing!Cast of characters (in order of appearance):
- Edward Hibbert as Philip Jovey, the owner of an art gallery.
- Diane Salinger as Sondra Arthur, a regular customer of the gallery who donated a painting titled “The Roommate” to the charity auction, which eventually goes missing.
- Loretta Swit as Kim Mitchell, an artist/sculptor who is originally from Cabot Cove but has been living in New York City for the past 11 months after winning the lottery.
- Taylor Nichols as Mark Mitchell, Kim’s brother who is hoping to find a job in NYC. This is Nichols’ second of four appearances on MSW; he previously appeared in “The Petrified Florist“.
- Denise Gentile as Teddy Grace, Mark’s girlfriend. This is Gentile’s first of two appearances on MSW.
- David Ackroyd at Bert Lown, Kim Mitchell’s boyfriend and stockbroker. This is Ackroyd’s third and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “The Witch’s Curse“.
- Kristoffer Tabori as Dr. Swope, the supposed headmaster of a boy’s school who is the recipient of the funds of the charity auction. This is Tabori’s fourth and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “Truck Stop“.
- Lee Purcell as Frances McNean, Kim Mitchell’s housekeeper. This is Purcell’s fifth (or fourth if you count a two-parter as a single episode) and final appearance on MSW; she previously appeared in “Town Father“.
- Bainbridge Scott as Mrs Dede Gorman, Philip Jovey’s assistant at the gallery. This is Scott’s second and final appearance on MSW; she previously appeared in “Final Curtain“.
- Jonathan Knopf as Art Dealer (perhaps the man referred to as Mr Martin Gross who participated in the auction).
- Herbert Edelman as NYPD Lieutenant Artie Gelber, whose most recent woes include being pickpocketed when his wallet had a potentially winning lottery ticket in it. This is Edelman’s ninth of ten total appearances; he previously appeared in “Murder at a Discount“.
- Leonard Lightfoot as Detective Henderson, Gelber’s investigating partner. This is Lightfoot’s fourth of five total appearances (four of which were in the same season); he previously appeared in “Murder at a Discount“.
- Vincent Howard as the Real Dr. Swope, whom Jessica calls to verify the identity of the man running the charity auction. This is Howard’s fourth of five appearances on MSW; he previously appeared in “Murder — According to Maggie“.
- Greg Lewis as the Maintenance Man who is taking the sign off Bert Lown’s office door. This is Lewis’s third and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “Jack and Bill” and “Smooth Operators“.
Final thoughts and other trivia:
In a rare bit of continuity on the show, Jessica confirms that she lives on West 60th Street when she runs into Kim Mitchell at the beginning of the episode. This matches what is said in “Murder at a Discount” earlier in Season 10.
Another notable thing about this episode are some of the character names. The writer of this episode is Donald Ross, whom I’ve mentioned in previous posts as being someone who likes to name his characters after jazz musicians. This includes the names Bert Lown and Teddy Grace used in this episode.
Additionally, in the case of this episode, some of the characters are also named after characters from fiction. For instance, the murderer’s real name is revealed to be Wanda Rae Skutnik from Kansas City — Wanda Skutnik was also the name of a witness in the 1948 film noir titled Call Northside 777 starring James Stewart. Also, the artist of the painting donated by Jessica is said to be Jabez Stone — this is also the name of one of the main characters in the 1936 short story “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Stephen Vincent Benet, which was later adapted into a 1941 film.
And finally, as I have been noticing quite a bit of art in the background this season, I wanted to take a moment to document the painting featured in this episode: “The Roommate” by Elizabeth MacKay. It’s possible that this one too was done by Jaroslav Gebr, who we know did one of the paintings seen in “Bloodlines” earlier in the season.
Murder, She Watched 