MURDER, SHE WROTE: THE DARK SIDE OF THE DOOR (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, a woman named Nora blackmails a writer, Dirk Mathison, demanding $250,000 to keep quiet, but is then shot by an unseen figure. Elsewhere, Erin Garman edits Jessica's latest book and mentions "new wonder boy" Mathison, who meets with his agents and desperately attempts to get an advance on his unfinished book. Laura gives Erin Mathison's book to look over, and when she reads it, she is shocked to discover in the plot many similarities to her own childhood kidnapping. At the same time, Erin's mother and stepfather, who run a health spa, discuss the money they have secretly embezzled from Erin's trust fund, also telling trainer Sonny that he will not be running their new facility after all. Lieutenant Corelli finds Nora's body and receives a phone call from Erin about the book, though he seems dismissive, as she has "cried wolf" many times about her kidnappers. Erin then tells Jessica, who goes with her to visit Corelli, and while at the police station, they realize that the lab photos of Nora's body match Erin's original descriptions of her kidnapper.
Erin's mother Terri arrives and encourages her to drop the matter, but Erin steals a gun and heads off to find Mathison. She confronts him, believing him to be Nora's partner in the kidnapping, but Corelli and the other police arrive and stop her, then questioning Mathison, who explains that he secretly paid Nora for her story rather than inventing one, and that she arrived demanding part of the book's advance money. He claims that he did not kill her, however, and does not know the identity of her partner. Jessica hunts for more clues and learns that Mathison has tapes of his interviews with Nora, believing that he is indeed innocent, as he would not commit a crime and then write about it, though Erin continues digging into his background. Jessica then questions Mathison about the details in his book, but he refuses to allow her to hear Nora's tapes. Jessica begins to suspect that Nora was only "hired help" and was not the brains behind the kidnapping, also discovering that Mathison suddenly came into money around the time of the crime. Mathison is then found dead, however, and the police find a suicide note confessing to the kidnapping and Nora's murder, as well as gunpowder on his hands. Jessica has her doubts, however, still wondering about the location of the Nora tapes and thinking that the real kidnapper may have killed both Nora and Mathison.
Jessica asks Erin again about the place where she was held during her abduction, and they soon find and explore the West Village loft. At the health club, Sonny attempts to blackmail Erin's stepfather Mike for the management job, knowing that he embezzled her money. Jessica and Corelli discover that Mathison's suicide was in fact murder, also confirming that neither Erin nor Drew committed the crime, and that Mathison won money betting on horses, rather than from collecting the ransom from Erin's parents, meaning that he is innocent. When Erin is released from police custody, Jessica catches Mike attempting to destroy evidence, and reveals that Terri and Mike faked Erin's kidnapping in order to gain money from her rich grandfather for their health club, then killing Nora and Mathison when they found out too much. Though the statute of limitations has run out on the kidnapping, the two are arrested for the murders, and the crime is solved. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: February 1, 1996 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:46:53
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:46299
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1984-1996
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Angela Lansbury … Executive Producer
- David Shaw … Co-Executive Producer
- Al Kraus … Coordinating Producer
- Bruce Lansbury … Supervising Producer
- Mark A. Burley … Supervising Producer
- Tom Sawyer … Producer
- Laurence Heath … Co-Producer
- Todd London … Co-Producer
- Jerry Ludwig … Co-Producer
- Peter S. Fischer … Created by
- Richard Levinson … Created by
- William Link … Created by
- Anthony Shaw … Director
- James L. Novack … Writer
- Allyn Ferguson … Music by
- John Addison … Theme Music by
- Angela Lansbury … Cast, Jessica Fletcher
- Richard Beymer … Cast, Dirk Mathison
- Dennis Creaghan … Cast, Charles, Literary Agent
- Meg Foster … Cast, Laura Kerwin
- Richard Libertini … Cast, Lt. Phil Corelli
- Tracy Middendorf … Cast, Erin Garman
- Taylor Nichols … Cast, Drew Finley
- John Oliver … Cast, Mike Holbert
- Marcia Strassman … Cast, Terri Garman Holbert
- Michael Tylo … Cast, Sonny
- Mary-Pat Green … Cast, Nora Delano
- Rodney Frazier … Cast, Detective Rogers
- Brittny Trouville … Cast, Little Erin