Cabot Cove is the home of a travelling carnival and Jessica Fletcher is the chairwoman of the charity committee that has helped organize it! However, it turns out that the carnival owner has been mis-reporting the revenues and taking more money for himself rather than passing it on to the local charities.
On top of it all, there has been a slew of home burglaries in town, and Sheriff Mort Metzger is trying to deal with that on top of dealing with the fact that his old flame from college is in town travelling with the carnival.
When a body is found murdered on the carnival grounds, Jessica and Mort team up to investigate!
Episode facts:
Click on the text below to reveal spoilers.
Click to reveal the victim
It was Carl Dorner, the carnival owner!Click to reveal the killer
It was Richard Binyon, the young grocery store manager!Click to reveal the weapon
It was a knife, which turned out to be an Elizabethan dagger from a house that was burgled!Click to reveal the location
It happened at the carnival grounds after hours, and the victim was then strapped to the whirligig ride!Click to reveal the motive
It was because the killer had a lock picking set he was using to burgle houses, and the victim found out about it!Click to reveal the major clue
It was the fact that the killer apparently had both a money clip and a wallet, and after the victim picked the killer’s pocket during the magic act the “wallet” was not returned!Cast of characters (in order of appearance):
- Jimi Defilippis as Nicodemas Nicky Newton, a juggler and knife thrower at the carnival.
- Maria Canals as Carmen, Nicky’s assistant and fiancee.
- Bradford Dillman as Carl Dorner, a magician and owner of the travelling carnival. This is Dillman’s seventh of eight total appearances on MSW; he previously appeared in “Final Curtain“, “Unauthorized Obituary“, “Hannigan’s Wake“, “Steal Me a Story“, etc.
- Cindy Pickett as Joanna Simms, a magician’s assistant who is also a co-owner of the carnival and was also Mort Metzger’s old girlfriend.
- William Windom as Dr. Seth Hazlitt.
- Ron Masak as Sheriff Mort Metzger.
- Madlyn Rhue as Jean O’Neill, Cabot Cove librarian who reports a burglary at the sheriff’s office. This is Rhue’s third of five appearances on MSW and her second time playing the same character; she previously appeared in “Seal of the Confessional” and “The Legacy of Borbey House“.
- Louis Herthum as Deputy Andy.
- Charles Siebert as Don Simms, Joanna Simm’s husband and a carnival employee. This is Siebert’s third and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “Night of the Headless Horseman” and “Indian Giver“.
- Richardson Morse as the Man In Gray Suit, who is revealed to be Sherman Hastings of the Internal Revenue Service. This is Morse’s fourth of six appearances on MSW; he previously appeared in “No Laughing Murder“, “Ever After“, and “The Big Kill“.
- Lisa Lawrence as Lisa Farrel, a volunteer at the ticket booth.
- Jennifer Manasseri as another volunteer at the ticket booth. (She isn’t actually named in the episode, but the credits list her as “Gwen“.)
- Judson Mills as Toby Grant, a young roustabout who helps set up and takedown rides at the carnival. This is Mill’s first of two appearances on MSW.
- Thom Bierdz as Richard Binyon, a grocery manager who is supplying catering for the carnival, and who has a romantic interest in the ticket selling volunteer Lisa. This is Bierdz’s first of two appearances on MSW.
Final thoughts and other trivia:
Overall, it was nice to see this season end on a Cabot Cove episode, and it was nice to see them bring back the character of Jean O’Neill for another episode this season.
One thing I was interested to learn was that Jimi Defillipis (who played the juggler/knife thrower) is actually Ron Masak’s son-in-law — he married Masak’s daughter Deborah in May 1994, less than one week after this episode aired.
Additionally, while looking up the background on some of the actors, I was also interested to learn that Thom Bierdz (who played the killer in this episode) has recently turned to painting and supporting the art community. He also published a memoir in 2009 titled “Forgiving Troy: A True Story of Murder, Mental Illness, and Recovery“.
Aside from that, it’s notable that most of the scenes here were filmed on Colonial Street at Universal Studios rather than the more familiar Jaws Lake set.
And finally, I wanted to point out that a fellow Murder, She Wrote fan had recreated the T-shirt design (currently available on RedBubble) seen being worn by the carnival volunteers in this episode:
Murder, She Watched 
Thomas Bierdz was also featured on a segment of ‘Evil Lives Here’, where he talks about the events leading up to his brother, Troy, killing their mother. That’s what his book is mainly about.
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