Murder, She Wrote 10.15 “Murder on the Thirtieth Floor”

This episode finds Jessica Fletcher back in New York City to meet with her editor, who is behaving in an erratic way and keeps changing his mind about he feels about her book–which leads her to suspect that he’s a manic-depressive who is having trouble coping after his wife had died.

But when the editor dies by apparent suicide, Jessica is not so sure and suspects that he was actually murdered.

Episode facts:

Click on the text below to reveal spoilers.

Click to reveal the victim

The first victim was Ed Graham, Jessica’s editor! The second murder was Dr. Santana, Ed’s therapist!

Click to reveal the killer

It was Ambler, the company comptroller (and he conspired with Lori, Ed’s supposed niece)!

Click to reveal the weapon

The first victim was pushed and fell from a great height! The second victim was bludgeoned to death.

Click to reveal the location

The first victim was attached on the roof of the Hartley Publishing office building late in the evening (possibly around 9pm)! The second victim was killed in his apartment, and made to look like the result of a robbery in progress.

Click to reveal the motive

It was money–the killer wanted to get money from the first victim’s life insurance! The second victim was killed because he had information that could implicate the killer in the first death.

Click to reveal the major clue

It was the conflicting statements regarding how the victim’s half-brother died; and the fact that Ambler’s name was also on the therapist’s patient list!

Cast of characters (in order of appearance):

Robert Desiderio as Edward ‘Ed’ Graham, Jessica’s editor. Ed worked on three of Jessica’s books, and he also worked for her former publisher before they both made the move to Hartley Publishing at the same time. This is Desiderio’s fourth and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “Murder by Appointment Only”, “Doom With a View” and “Murder in Milan“.
June Christopher as Donna Kendricks, Ed’s secretary.
Lisa Darr as Carrie Benton, Ed’s girlfriend who was recently promoted to children’s book editor. This is Darr’s first of three appearances on MSW.
Robert Curtis-Brown as Steve DiNapoli, another employee at Hartley Publishing and Carrie’s ex-boyfriend. This is Curtis Brown’s first of three appearances on MSW.
Dennis Boutsikaris as Dr. Jerry Santana, Ed’s therapist.
Michael Zelniker as Leonard Ambler, the company comptroller for Hartley Publishing. This is Zelniker’s second of three appearances on MSW; he previously appeared in “Threshold of Fear“.
Lisa Wilcox as Lori Graham, daughter of Ed’s half-brother Charles and Steve DiNapoli’s assistant.
An uncredited actor with a small speaking role as the softball referee.
Bruce Gray as Ted Hartley, Jessica’s publisher. This is Gray’s fifth and final appearance on MSW and his third appearance as the same character; he previously appeared in “Hit, Run and Homicide”, “Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble“, “A Killing in Vegas“, and “Murder at a Discount“.
Stewart Rose as the Security Guard at the Hartley Publishing office building.
Jay Acovone as Lieutenant Nick Acosta, who is investigating the deaths. This is Acovone’s third and final appearance on MSW and his second appearance as the same character; he previously appeared in “O’Malley’s Luck” and “Bite the Big Apple“. The episode references the events in his previous appearance as Nick Acosta by mentioning that he and Jessica “nailed Lieutenant Boyle” “a few years ago”. He also went on to appear in the MSW movie “A Story to Die For”.
Ray Reinhardt as Henry Filbert, Ed’s attorney who notifies Jessica that she’s the executor to Ed’s will. This is Reinhardt’s second and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “Angel of Death“.
Ken Magee as the Painter in Dr. Santana’s office building.
An uncredited actor as Ron Bayliss, the representative from the insurance company’s claims division who is there to notify the beneficiary of Ed’s insurance policy.

Final thoughts and other trivia:

The timeline of events mentioned in this episode is quite interesting. First, we hear that Ed talked Lori into coming to NYC three months ago. Later, we clearly see on the letter stamp that Lori had first written to him in March 1994 and that this was also the time at which Ed’s insurance policy was signed. Therefore, the events of this episode must have taken place in June 1994 at the earliest (i.e. 3 months after March 1994). However, the episode first aired on February 6th 1994 — which means that those watching it when it first aired were given a glimpse into the future!

There are also other details in this episode that have a slight contradiction with previous episodes. For instance, Jessica states that she is unclear about the duties of a will executor; however, she had already served as the executor of a will in “Benedict Arnold Slipped Here“.

Aside from that, the episode reaffirm certain details of Jessica’s publishing history, as the covers for several of Jessica’s books adorn Ed’s office walls.