The Definitive Guide to Season 7

Season Seven

131. Trials and Tribulations
Jessica begins a seventh season with her reputation at stake: she’s being sued for the wrongful conviction and subsequent death of a prison escapee.

Ray Dandridge – Ben Masters
Geraldine Stone – Carrie Hamilton
Beatrice Vitello – Kim Hunter
Charlie Cosmo – George Maharis
Anne Stephenson – Molly Cheek
Justin Fields – Michael Beck
Elliot Von Steuben – George Hearn
Sgt. Paulsen – Stephen Furst


132. Deadly Misunderstanding
Jessica’s temporary typist finds her husband stabbed to death and persuades a lovesick cub reporter to place the corpse in the victim’s lumberyard.

Melissa Maddox – Lise Cutter
Jeff Ogden – David Oliver
Ben Devlin – Joe Dorsey
Hank Crenshaw – Geoffrey Lewis
Trudy Ludwig – Mary Ann Pascal
Drew Garrison – David McCallum
Rita Garrison – Janet Margolin
Ralph Maddox – Cliff Potts


133. See You in Court, Baby
Insurance investigator Dennis Stanton (Keith Mitchell) is dragged into the murder of a lawyer who had angered many exes – an ex-husband, his own ex-wife and even an ex-cop lawyer.

Ed Kriegler – Tom Isbell
Charmaine Calloway – Vera Miles
Joe Briscoe – Charles Haid
Amy Sue Kriegler – Heidi Bohay
Truman Calloway – Robert Reed
Karen Davies – Judith Chapman
Jason – Peter Kowanko
Marcia McPhee – Nana Visitor


134. Hannigan's Wake
Jessica is beseeched to finish the book of a deceased journalist who was trying to vindicate a man he felt was unjustly convicted of murdering his wife 16 years before.

Daniel Hannigan – Van Johnson
Richard Grant – Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Eric Grant – Anthony Geary
Phyllis Thurlow – Cynthia Harris
Stephen Thurlow – Raphael Sbarge
Commissioner Folkes – Bradford Dillman
Bert Kravitz – Guy Stockwell
Dorothy Folkes – Mala Powers


135. The Family Jewels
Might there be a connection between a society matron’s penchant for lifting jewelry and the murder of the chauffeur she was playing around with?

Sheila Kowalski Finley – Brenda Vaccaro
Porter Finley III – John Considine
Drew Borden – Mike Farrell
Margaret Gable – Jonna Lee
Charles Lockner – Howard McGillin
Lt. Stuyvesant – Charles Rocket
D. L. Beaumont – Richard Davalos


136. A Body to Die For
A gym owner has Cabot Cove’s ladies in a sweat, but he’s cold to an old partner in crime later found murdered in one of their bedrooms.

Deputy Floyd – Will Nye
Eve Simpson – Julie Adams
Fred Kappard – Hugh O’Brien
Wayne Bennett – Jason Beghe
Nancy LaRue – Sally Struthers
Clarence LaRue – James Olson
Joe Hardin – Ernie Lively
Lil Hardin – Alix Elias


137. The Return of Preston Giles
Jessica’s paroled first publisher, whom she helped nail for murder, is back at his desk – but soon charged with stabbing the company’s controller.

Preston Giles – Arthur Hill
Ross McKay – Michael McKean
Linette McKay – Brynn Thayer
Kendall Stafford – Gordon Thomson
Millie Stafford – Lois Chiles
Martin Bergman – George Coe
Sgt. Slocum – Todd Sussman
Gloria Winslow – Arlene Golonka
Dorothy – Regina Leeds


138. The Great Twain Robbery
Dennis Stanton relates to Jessica his latest adventure, which revolves around the authenticity of a supposed lost manuscript of Samuel Langhorn Clemens.

Sgt. Oliver – Stephen Prutting
Anna Louise Barlow – Diane Baker
Lawrence Erlich – David Birney
Prof. Chandler Fitzpatrick – Roy Dotrice
Lindsey Barlow – Holly Gagnier
Constantin Stavros – Nehemiah Persoff
Duke of Nonesuch – Lewis Dauber


139. Ballad for a Blue Lady
Jimmy Dean plays a county music luminary who’s sent to “the great hootenanny in the sky.”

Bobby Diamond – Jimmy Dean
Patti Sue Diamond – Florence Henderson
Alice Diamond – Daphne Ashbrook
Conrad Booker – Mickey Gilley
Billy Ray Parker – Sheb Wooley
Mark Berringer – Gary Grubbs
Brittany Brown – Jeri Gaile
Garth – Blake Gibbons
Lt. Jackson – Brandon Maggart
Preston Wardell – Tom Hallick


140. Murder in F Sharp
A famous concert pianist feels out of tune with the universe: first his hands are burned in a fire, and then his wife is murdered.

Dennis Stanton – Keith Mitchell
Vaclav Maryska – Ricardo Montalban
Milena Maryska – Patricia Neal
Alex Seletz – Stephen Caffrey
Nicole – Melinda Culea
Lt. Perry Catalano – Ken Swofford
Rhoda Markowitz – Hallie Todd
Robert Butler – James Sloyan


141. Family Doctor
Jessica and Seth are kidnapped by the vengeful son of a wounded mobster who died after Seth performed surgery.

Michael Abruzzi – Vincent Irizarry
Sal Abruzzi – David Ciminello
Andrew Grant – Monte Markham
Rosa Abruzzi – Rose Gregorio
Denise Abruzzi – Cynthia Bain
Phyllis Grant – Diane Franklin


142. Suspicion of Murder
After an evening with an old flame, Dennis becomes a front-burner suspect in the murder of her estranged husband.

Dennis Stanton – Keith Mitchell
Christina Hellinger – Susan Blakely
Ryan Donovan – Dennis Cole
Joey Hellinger – Sam Bottoms
Danny Hellinger – Robert Strand
Lt. Perry Catalano – Ken Swofford
Officer Ishumi – Ed Beechner
Rhoda Markowitz – Hallie Todd


143. Moving Violation
Sheriff Metzger stands up to the well-connected father of a drunken driver – and stands accused when the boy is found dead.

Brad Hellman – David Lansbury
Lt. Avery Powell – Robert Ginty
Haskell Drake – Harry Guardino
Dep. Floyd – Will Nye
Mayor Sam Booth – Richard Paul
Chandler Hellman – Jack Colvin
Meredith Hellman – Susan Clark
Morgan Phillips – Suzanne Snyder
Jason Farrell, Esq. – Stephen Macht
Janet Costner – Barbara C. Adside
Phyllis Costner – Lois de Banzie
Len Costner – Philip Baker Hall
Mabel – Phyllis Franklin
Billy – Jason Bo Sharon
Mickey – Daniel Ben Wilson


144. Who Killed JB Fletcher?
In Texas, a fan posing as Jessica dies in an improbable car accident after snooping into a suspected dog show scandal.

Kit Perkins – Betty Garrett
Lisa McCauley – Jamie Rose
State Trooper Boone Willoughby – Max Baer
Sheriff Tanner – Earl Holliman
Jane – Margaret O’Brien
Florence – Terry Moore
Rick – Tom Schanley
Mitchell Lawrence – Lyman Ward
Caroline – Marie Windsor
Marge Allen – Jane Withers


145. The Taxman Cometh
A pie-factory owner, under pressure to pay the dough the IRS claims she owes, is suspected of murdering the key witness against her – her ex-husband.

Lt. Phillips – Fred Willard
Edna Hayes – Phyllis Newman
Gail Manning – Robin Dearden
Richard Wellstood – Gregg Henry
Nolan Hayes – Macon McCalman
George Harris – Kent McCord
J.K. Davern – Roy Thinnes
George Yelverton – Max Wright
Mrs. Leeman – Annie O’Donnell


146. From the Horse's Mouth
The murder of a racehorse owner caps a feud over stud fees with a neighboring horseman.

Harry McGraw – Jerry Orbach
Sheriff Tyrone McKenna – Robert Donner
Mark Mason, Esq. – Michael Ayr
Justin King – James Bartz
Judge Harley – Melvin M. Belli
Martha Jane Stokes – Helena Carroll
Derek Padley – Maxwell Caulfield
Diana Sterling – Patricia Charboneau
Emmaline Bristow – Nanette Fabray
Randolf Sterling – Kevin McCarthy
Todd Sterling – John Allen Nelson
Althea Mayberry – Tricia O’Neil
Dr. Christie Morgan – Debra Sandland
Lamar Morgan – Gregory Walcott


147. The Prodigal Father
Anger and death await a bank robber thought dead for 20 years when he reappears to see his daughter.

Bonnie Jenks Hastings – Claudia Christian
Sally Hastings – Mindy Ann Martin
Herb Walsh – Robert Lansing
Elton Summers – Don Galloway
Maxine Walsh – Kathleen Nolan
Gil Blocker – Andrew Prine
Ned Jenks – Donnelly Rhodes
Dr. Lyle Rush – Mark Roberts
Dave Hastings – Larry Wilcox
George of the infamous Lighthouse Motel – Abe Vigoda


148. Where Have You Gone, Billy Boy?
A ventriloquist dummies up after the wooden buddy he reported kidnapped is found in a locked room with the corpse of a comedy club’s ruthless owner.

Lt. Perry Catalano – Ken Swofford
Robert Butler – James Sloyan
Rhoda Markowitz – Hallie Todd
Kate Kelley – Georgia Brown
Brenda McCoy – Teri Copley
Sally Templeton – Leslie Easterbrook
Gelardi – Marty Ingels
Tom Benzinger – Jim Metzler
Woody Perkins – Grant Shaud
Elmo – Mike Jolly
Vic DeMarco – Lyle Waggoner


149. Thursday's Child
Jessica is drawn into a case of construction fraud and murder by a woman who claims that her son was fathered by Jessica’s late husband.

Clint Phelps – Martin Milnerd
Lt. Barney Claymore – Paul Gleason
Nancy Landon – Vera Miles
Steve Landon – Richard Gilliland
Ben Olston – John Beck
Cynthia Olston – Jennifer Warren
Dawn Bickford – Lindsay Frost
Councilman Axelrod – Alan Fudge
Andrew Dixon, Esq. – John Anderson
Aaronson – Fredric Cook


150. Murder, Plain and Simple
Jessica travels to Amish country to buy a quilt, and is called upon to uncover a killer.

Sheriff Haines – John Ireland
Ethan Kaufmann – Todd Eric Andrews
Reuben Stoltz – Hunt Block
Sarah Lapp – Martha Bryne
Franz Kaufmann – Ed McCready
Bishop Burkhardt – Jay Robinson
Rebecca Beiler – Jennifer Runyon
Jacob Beiler – Michael Sarrazin
Samuel Kaufmann – Arlen Dean Snyder


151. Tainted Lady
A friend whom Jessica helped once before is accused of serving arsenic in her diner, and the locals say “she won’t get away with murder again.”

Ellen Wicker – Dee Wallace Stone
Katie Emhardt – Nina Foch
Laura Corman – Mary Crosby
Ross Corman – Marshall Colt
Herb Apple, Esq. – Sam Freed
Sheriff Deloy Hays – Gary Lockwood
Edge Potter – Don Swayze
Dr. John Logan – Jack Kruschen
Doris Geringer – Laurie Prange
Deputy Mary Jo Rush – Karen Hensel
Deputy Ray Gomez – Javi Mulero


152. The Skinny According to Nick Cullhane
Someone turns off the tap on a writer-turned-beer spokesman when word leaks out that he’s written an expose if a brewery family.

Harry McGraw – Jerry Orbach
Nick Cullhane – Pat Harrington
Ogden Schmesser – Alex Hyde-White
Phil Mannix – Tony LoBianco
Vikki Palumbo – Leslie Easterbrook
Gordon Forbes, Esq. – Jameson Parker
Mailman – Postmaster General Anthony Frank
Richard – Michael McGrady
Florence - Tricia Long

Sources: TV Guide and The Unofficial Guide to Murder She Wrote by James Robert Parish.