MURDER, SHE WROTE: WE'RE OFF TO KILL THE WIZARD (TV)
Summary
One in this murder mystery series about an unassuming Maine mystery writer turned sleuth named Jessica B. Fletcher who uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases. In this episode, as Jessica spends time with her niece Carol and her family, she is approached by a Michael Gardner, who summons her to meet "Horrible" Horatio Baldwin, creator of several horror-themed amusement parks. She brings the family along to his new medieval-style park and Baldwin plays a trick in which he appears to be accidentally hanged for real, which Jessica finds "appalling." He gives her a tour and they run into the engineer, Nils, who confronts Baldwin about safety measures, and Jessica signs a book for Baldwin's timid aspiring-writer secretary, Laurie. Baldwin then proposes a ghoulish theme park aimed at children based on Jessica's books, and when she refuses, he attempts to lock her in his office, but she threatens to call the police and he allows her to leave. Elsewhere, two employees, Megrim and Carlson, discuss Jessica's presence, and Megrim worries that another park will mean more "falsified accounts." Later that night, two security guards hear a gunshot from Baldwin's locked office and call Carlson, who tells them to break down the door as he runs over. Inside, they find Baldwin dead of an apparent suicide.
At home, Jessica's nephew-in-law Bert is stunned to hear of the death, and Captain Davis summons Jessica along with him for questioning. She learns that Laurie is missing and assures them that Baldwin did not seem likely to kill himself. Davis explains that a blow to the head killed Baldwin, not the gunshot, but the room was locked from within and there were no windows, and Jessica admits she has no answer. She decides to take a later flight home and goes back to the theme park, where she finds Nils and Carlson working on a broken-down ride. Carlson agrees that Baldwin must have killed himself, though notes that many would have wanted him dead. When Jessica goes to the airport, she is held at gunpoint and taken to Erica Baldwin, the widow, aboard her private plane. She reveals that she had been having an affair with Gardner and offers to pay Jessica to prove that it was murder so she can have her husband's life insurance money. At home, Jessica is surprised to find Laurie, who explains that she fought with Baldwin before his death, adding that he had secret blackmail files on all of his employees, and Jessica guesses that they are hidden in his secure office. Jessica searches the office with Bert's help and finds a secret compartment, though it is empty and she guesses that the murderer stole the files, though still cannot explain how they escaped the room.
Elsewhere, Megrim is captured at the airport with a suitcase full of money and the files in question, which he swears he did not steal, saying that he fled when he received a phone call saying that the police were after him. Jessica peruses the files and notes that Gardner's name is missing, but at his home, Gardner is lured onto his balcony and then thrown to his death by a mysterious figure. Bert later learns that he was really a private investigator and Baldwin's "bloodhound," and Jessica returns to Baldwin's office to continue searching. While there, she talks with one of the security guards and discovers an inconsistency with the phones, and states that she has solved the case. She contacts Carlson and informs him that Baldwin hid microfilm somewhere in the Tunnel of Horrors, then surprising him in the act of collecting it, stating that he is the killer and planted the files on Megrim after replacing his own file with less damning information, then also killing Gardner to keep the truth hidden. He fires his gun at her, but only shatters a mirror illusion created by Nils, and he is captured. Jessica then explains that Carlson fought with Baldwin, who then died from a head injury. To cover it up, he faked the gunshot wound and redirected his own telephone to ring silently in Baldwin's office, so when the security guards called him, he answered from within and then sneaked out behind them when they entered. Jessica then says farewell to her family and prepares to depart, and she encourages Laurie to finally write her book, presenting her with Erica's rather large check to get her started. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: December 9, 1984 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:33883
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1984-1996
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Promos - "All-Star Party for Lucille Ball"
CREDITS
- Peter S. Fischer … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Robert F. O'Neill … Producer
- Mike Stevens … Associate Producer
- Richard Levinson … Created by
- William Link … Created by
- Walter Grauman … Director
- Gerald K. Siegel … Writer
- David Bell … Music by
- John Addison … Theme Music by
- Angela Lansbury … Cast, Jessica Fletcher
- Christine Belford … Cast, Erica Baldwin
- James Coco … Cast, Horatio Baldwin
- Kim Darby … Cast, Laurie Bascomb
- George DiCenzo … Cast, Michael Gardner
- Gene Evans … Cast, Nils Highlander
- Richard Sanders … Cast, Arnold Megrim
- John Schuck … Cast, Capt. Davis
- James Stephens … Cast, Police Det. Lt. Bert Donovan
- Kristoffer Tabori … Cast, Phillip Carlson
- Anne Kerry … Cast, Carol Donovan
- Eric Server … Cast, Ned O'Brien
- Leaf Phoenix (see also: Joaquin Phoenix) … Cast, Billy Donovan
- Summer Phoenix … Cast, Cindy Donovan
- Henry G. Sanders … Cast, Skycap
- Vincent Howard … Cast, Second Guard
- Ivan Saric … Cast, Security Guard
- Laura Leyva … Cast, Clerk