MURDER, SHE WROTE: A VERY GOOD YEAR FOR MURDER (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, Jessica tours the Gambini vineyards, where the family patriarch, Salvatore, will soon celebrate his 75th birthday. She greets two of his grandsons, football star Paul and gambling black sheep Tony, and then meets up with Salvatore, who shares a special bottle of wine with her. He explains that his descendants will soon inherit the "legacy" of the vineyards, though he is facing great pressure to sell to a large Eastern company. Granddaughter Michele arrives with her latest boyfriend, Ben, in tow, and her father Marco seems displeased at her frivolous love life, though his wife points out that they are all just "machinery" in the family business. At dinner, things turn awkward when Tony implies that Paul's football team has been cheating in some way, causing him to lose bets, but Marco smoothes things over with a toast. Early the next morning, Tony tells his grandfather that he must fly to Tahoe on business but will return in time for the party, and Salvatore sends him to fetch a bottle from the wine cellar. When he does so, he falls through a broken step and bashes his head, though not seriously, insisting that he must get to Tahoe. Suspicious, Jessica inspects the step and finds that it was deliberately sawed through.

The birthday party gets underway and Ben chats with Jessica, saying that he is a writer too, though he fails to recognize a famous author's name. As Salvatore dances with his family, Jessica meets Thaddeus Kyle, the police chief, who asks her about Tony's "accident," suggesting that the trap was set by someone anxious to get Salvatore out of the way in order to buy the vineyards. The next day, Salvatore gets up early and invites Jessica down to the cellar, where they find Ben dead. Kyle speculates that he looks to have been poisoned, and Michele admits that she did not know him well, saying she met him two months previously at work. Kyle enlists Jessica's help, saying that Salvatore had the only key to the cellar and theorizing that it was an inside job. They search his belongings, and find a credit card receipt revealing that he was in New York when he had claimed to be in California. When Salvatore catches Jessica "playing detective," she explains that she thinks Ben was lying about his identity. Tony returns, having missed the party, and Marco lectures him for his lack of respect. Kyle then confirms that Ben was poisoned and reveals that he was in fact a hit man named Soriano, and he and Jessica question Michele again. Jessica suggests that Soriano was after Salvatore, having been hired by the mob-affiliated eastern conglomerate looking to buy the vineyard, but Kyle suspects Tony.

A man named Stephen Ridgely arrives to see Paul, claiming to be an "investment advisor," and Marco and Salvatore lecture Tony when they learn that he has written a $50,000 check to get out of his gambling debts. Salvatore helps him with the money, but tells him that he is "the smart one" and orders him to shape up and represent the family. Salvatore tells Jessica that the hit man had nothing to do with the eastern company and dismisses her claims that the "New York bum" was after him, and he asks her to leave. Ridgely then admits that he is a "special investigator" and came to see if the hit man was really after Paul because of his football team's illegal dealings. Paul notes that he and Tony are both "sitting ducks" and would be easy to kill, saying that a hit man would be too much trouble, and Jessica approaches Salvatore again, reaffirming that Soriano was in fact after him. She calls him out on knowing the man's true identity because of his "New York bum" comment, and Salvatore admits that he was aware that a killer was after him and decided to allow "Ben" to come anyway, as he is terminally ill and believed that his death would unite his squabbling family. He describes how he killed the man and then reveals that he has drunk the poisoned wine too, and Jessica rushes him to the hospital. In the lobby, the family tells her that they will work together to fight against the sale of the vineyard to respect Salvatore's wishes, and the doctor informs them that he has survived. Jessica talks to Kyle and points out that there is no solid evidence proving that Salvatore killed Soriano, and they both agree to drop the matter. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: February 28, 1988 8:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:33893
• GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
• SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1984-1996
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Peter S. Fischer … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
• Robert F. O'Neill … Supervising Producer
• Robert E. Swanson … Producer
• Anthony J. Magro … Associate Producer
• Walter Grauman … Director
• Richard Levinson … Created by
• William Link … Created by
• Richard Markowitz … Music by
• John Addison … Theme Music by
• Angela Lansbury … Cast, Jessica Fletcher
• Kristian Alfonso … Cast, Michele Gambini
• Ina Balin … Cast, Stella Gambini
• Bibi Besch … Cast, Fiona Gambini
• Tom Roberts Byrd … Cast, Paul Gambini
• Grant Goodeve … Cast, Ben Skyler
• John Saxon … Cast, Marco Gambini
• Arlen Dean Snyder … Cast, Pol. Chief Thaddius Kyle
• Eli Wallach … Cast, Salvatore Gambini
• Billy Zane … Cast, Tony Gambini
• Robert O'Reilly … Cast, Stephen Ridgely
• John C. Mooney … Cast, Doctor
• Paul Lyell … Cast, Guest #1
• Jeff Albert … Cast, Guest #2
• Rob Zapple … Cast, Deputy