Although the episode starts with a brief scene in London, England — in which a rare books dealer’s warehouse is set on fire — the main action in the episode quickly moves to Cabot Cove. This time, Cabot Cove is hosting a film making crew, who is making a documentary about Joshua Peabody and the battle of Cabot Cove.
When a letter purportedly written by George Washington, accusing Joshua Peabody of being a traitor, is discovered, the whole town is worried about what this means for their tourism industry. And when one of the members of the film-making crew is found dead, Jessica helps with the investigation.
Just the facts:
In the initial scene in London, we see the rare books dealer getting hit on the head and left to die in his warehouse fire after he attempts to blackmail the killer. Additional facts as revealed in the Cabot Cove portion of the episode are summarized below:
Click on the text below to reveal spoilers.
Click to reveal the victim
An additional Cabot Cove victim was Amelia Farnum, the camera operator for the documentary film crew!Click to reveal the killer
It was Nancy Godfrey, the antique dealer’s wife!Click to reveal the weapon
The Cabot Cove victim was hit on the head with an antique pistol!Click to reveal the location
It happened in the filming office/editing studio, and the body was discovered after a fire was reported there!Click to reveal the motive
The victim had discovered that the killer had colluded with the director of the documentary to set up the hoax regarding Joshua Peabody. The killer and the director were having an affair and the killer wanted to protect the director’s career and reputation!Click to reveal the major clue
It was the fact that Jessica’s antique chest of drawers had mismatched drawer pulls and a tag with a British phone number on it — indicating that the killer did not go to Vermont to purchase the chest of drawers personally!Cast of characters (in order of appearance):
- Jacob Witkin as Alexander Sandsby, a rare books dealer based in London.
- Greg Cruttwell as Paul Taverner, a forger who witnessed the warehouse fire in London.
- Todd Eric Andrews as Scott Patterson, the sound editor for the documentary. This is Andrews’ second and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “Murder, Plain and Simple“.
- Molly Hagan as Amelia Farnum, the camera operator for the documentary. This is Hagan’s second and final appearance on MSW; she previously appeared in “Dead to Rights“.
- Jeffrey Nordling as “Rick” Richard Hawkes, the documentary director. This is Nordling’s second and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “Dead to Rights“.
- Gail Strickland as Edith Peabody, descendant of Joshua Peabody who runs the Joshua Peabody Homestead and Museum. This is Strickland’s second and final appearance on MSW; she previously appeared in “Steal Me a Story“.
- Pierrette Grace as Louise Peabody, Edith’s daughter who works as as an assistant at the documentary shoot.
- Anthony Heald as Bob Kendall, the documentary producer.
- Alan Fudge as Thomas Godfrey, a local antique dealer and clock repairman. This is Fudge’s fourth of five total appearances on MSW; he previously appeared in “Northern Explosion“, “Lines of Excellence“, and “Thursday’s Child“.
- William Windom as Dr. Seth Hazlitt.
- Judith Hoag as Nancy Godfrey, Thomas’s wife who works as a purchaser and seamstress at the antique store. This is Hoag’s second and final appearance on MSW; she previously appeared in “Programmed for Murder“.
- Whitney Rydbeck as Dr. Roy Blakely, a university professor who specializes in historical document authentication. This is Rydbeck’s third and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “Threshold of Fear” and “Jack and Bill“.
- Ron Masak as Cabot Cove Sheriff Mort Metzger.
- Tiiu Leek as Newsperson reporting on the battle re-enactment. This is Leek’s second and final appearance on MSW; she previously appeared in “O’Malley’s Luck“. Leek actually worked as a TV news presenter, and most of her TV acting credits list her as a reporter or something similar.
- Louis Herthum as Deputy Andy Broom.
Final thoughts and other trivia:
As many have already pointed out: it is curious that this episode not only features the Joshua Peabody Homestead and Museum but also suggests that Joshua Peabody has always had descendants living in Cabot Cove. This in contrast to the fact that Joshua Peabody’s existence was up to debate in Season 2 (in “Joshua Peabody Died Here…Possibly” and “Keep the Home Fries Burning”). While it’s certainly possible that, in the intervening 9 years, new information may have come to light that would have dismissed the theory that he was simply a legend, this doesn’t explain where the modern-day Peabodys (his supposed descendants) were this whole time.
With that said, the house that was used to stand in for the Joshua Peabody Homestead and Museum is actually the “Crank House” located at 2186 E Crary St in Pasadena. Unlike many other houses that end up only being used for exterior shots, it appears that interior scenes meant to take place inside the Museum were also filmed inside Crank House.
One final thing to mention has to do with theories as to the real-world location of Cabot Cove. One of the more compelling theories that has been put forth suggests that Cabot Cove is actually a fictionalized version of Boothbay Harbor. However, in this episode, Sheriff Metzger notes that he got a phone call from the Boothbay Harbor Gazette — thus, suggesting that Boothbay Harbor is distinct from Cabot Cove.
Murder, She Watched 