The Definitive Guide to Season 4

Season Four

66. A Fashionable Way to Die
Murder becomes fashionable in the world of haute couture when Jessica travels to Paris to attend the premier fashion collection of an old friend.

Valerie Bechet – Juliet Prowse
Kim Bechet – Danielle Brisebois
Eva Taylor – Barbara Rush
Claudia Soury – Taina Elg
Inspector Panassie – Firtz Weaver
Lu Watters – Randi Brooks
Maxim Soury – Lee Bergere
Peter Appleyard – Bill Beyers
Dede – Louise Dorsey
Margo – Julie Silliman
Yvette – Bonnie Ebsen
Marie – Karen Hensel


67. When Thieves Fall Out
A killing occurs after the return of a parolee who served twenty years for a murder he claims he didn’t commit – but intends to solve.

Andrew Durbin – John Glover
Kevin Cauldwell – Kenneth McMillan
Bill Hampton – Dack Rambo
Perry Sillman – John Bennett Perry
Arnie Wakeman – Michael Lembeck
Alison Hampton – Shelley Smith
Tara Sillman – Caitlin O’Hearney
Dan Pulling – Mark Voland
Doc Matthews – Charles Summers


68. Witness for the Defense
Jessica travels to Quebec to testify at the trial of a colleague accused of murdering his wife and then torching his house.

Jim Harlan – Christopher Allport
Judith Harlan – Claire Trevor
Patricia Harlan – Marilyn Hassett
Oliver Quayle – Patrick McGoohan
Barnaby Friar – Simon Jones
Monica Blaine – Dianne Kay
Annette Pirage – Juliet Mills
Mr. Fouchet – James Staley
Clay McCloud – Richard Cox
Rudy – Charlie Brill
Plansky – Stefan Gierasch
Klebber – Dean G. Griffin


69. Old Habits Die Hard
Despite the evidence, Jessica can’t believe that an elderly nun who was ill took her own life.

Rev. Mother Claire – Jane Powell
Bishop Patrick Shea – Robert Prosky
Marion Simpson – Eileen Brennan
Mayor Allen Simpson – Ed Nelson
Nancy Bates – Cindy Fisher
Mike Phelps – Mark Keyloun
Dr. Greg Marshall – Scott Paulin
Ray Carter – Clu Gulager
Sarah Martino – Sherri Stoner
Sister Emily – Evelyn Keyes
Sister Paul – Audrey Totter
Sister Mary Margaret – Fay DeWitt
Sister Margaret Mary – M’el Dowd
Sister Margaret Marie – Carol Swarbrick
Sister Anne – Caroline Gilshian


70. The Way to Dusty Death
The members of Barnett Industries’ board of directors, including Jessica, are summoned to the firm’s CEO’s suburban New York home, where it is expected he will name his successor.

Duncan Barnett – Cornel Wilde
Lydia Barnett – Joanna Barnes
Morgan McCormack – Richard Beymer
Q.L. Frubson – Ray Walston
Tom Dutton – Lawrence Pressman
Virginia McCormack – Joanna Pettet
Anne Hathaway – Andrea Marcovicci
Dr. Chatsworth – Richard Jaeckel
Kate Dutton – Nancy Dussault
Spruce Osborne – Sandy McPeak
Nicole – Lynn Carlin
Serena – Jenilee Harrison
Paddock – Jay Robinson
Lt. Grayson – Nat Brant
Josette – Flo DiRe
Board Member #1 – Bob Sneed
Board Member #2 – E.R. Davies


71. It Runs in the Family
Jessica’s English cousin Emma’s reunion with an old love, now a viscount, is terminated when someone laces his herring with the poison strychnine.

Inspector Frost – Anthony Newley
Geoffrey Constable – Richard Johnson
Sybil Constable – Rosemary Murphy
Pauline Constable – Carolyn Seymour
Arthur Constable – John Standing
Humphrey Defoe – Christopher Hewett
Johnny Constable – Mark Lindsay Chapman
Derek Constable – John David Bland
Gwen Petrie – Jane Leeves
Mrs. Dexter Hundley – Pamela Kosh
Reverend Twilley – Lester Fletcher
Dr. Ernest Blandings – Ian Abercrombie
Burt Hawkins – Peter Ashton


72. If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly
The murder of a sad and bitter housewife, made to look like a suicide, casts suspicion on her long-suffering husband, who has a pussycat demeanor and the heart of a tomcat.

Jonathan Martin – Rick Lenz
Amos Tupper – Tom Bosley
Loretta Spiegel – Ruth Roman
Eve Simpson – Julie Adams
Phyllis Grant – Gloria DeHaven
Ideal Malloy – Kathryn Grayson
Corinne – Sally Klein
Audrey Martin – Antoinette Bower
George Tibbits – Ray Girardin
Beverly Hills – Dody Goodman


73. Steal Me a Story
A television producer proves particularly adept at producing enemies, any one of whom has ample motive to produce a real bomb.

Avery Stone – Bradford Dillman
Kate Hollander – Gail Strickland
Gary Patterson – Doug McClure
Diane Crane – Gail Youngs
Bert Puzo – Vincent Baggetta
Brenda Blake – Lenore Kasdorf
Sid Sharkey – Ken Swofford
Gayle Yamada – Kim Miyori
Freida Schmidt – Fionnula Flanagan
Lt. Bradshaw – Yaphet Kotto


74. Trouble in Eden
Hostility and other surprises await Jessica in a town where she’s posing as her friend to investigate the rumored murder of the friend’s sister.

Mary Rose Welch – Joan Caulfield
Dr. Lynch – Macdonald Carey
Sheriff Landry – Roy Thinnes
C.J. Dobbs – Stuart Whitman
Rev. Willard Manchester – Thom Christopher
Dora Manchester – Rosanna Huffman
Martha Neilson – Betty Garrett
Snooks Sitwell – Mills Watson
Lewis Framm – Tom Fitzsimmons
Lila Benson – Tricia O’Neil


75. Indian Giver
A Native American who claims to own Cabot Cove is threatened by a town resident, who is later found dead with an Algonquin lance in his chest.

George Longbow – Bernie White
Professor Harold Crenshaw – Theodore Bikel
Donna Crenshaw – Heidi Bohay
Harris Atwater – Jack Colvin
Norm Edmonds – Charles Siebert
Mayor Sam Booth – Richard Paul
Tom Carpenter – Gary Lockwood
Addison Langley – Lonny Chapman
Helen Langley – Jennifer Salt
Amos Tupper – Tom Bosley


76. Doom, With a View
At a posh New York City hotel, Grady is found over the body of a woman he knew in college and who was seeing Grady’s frat brother – the spouse of the hotel’s considerably older owner.

Cornelia Montaigne Harper – Janet Leigh
Garrett Harper – John Callahan
Grady Fletcher – Michael Horton
Nettie Harper – Charlotte Rae
Mark Havlin – Robert Desiderio
Inspector Donald Matheney – Monte Markham
Det. Herman Rice – Macon McCalman
Sandra Clemens – Jennifer Holmes
Mrs. Townsend – Juli Reding Hutner


77. Who Threw the Barbitals in Mrs. Fletcher's Chowder?
Amos Tupper’s sister Winnie, who has fled her abusive husband in Kentucky, seeks refuge in Cabot Cove, but her relief is short-lived when her husband and in-laws follow her to Maine.

Amos Tupper – Tom Bosley
Seth Hazlitt – William Windom
Marigold Feeney – Colleen Camp
Winnie Banner – Anne Meara
Elmo Banner – Guy Stockwell
Harold Banner – Henry Gibson
Kenny Oakes – Geoffrey Lewis
Flo Oakes – Barbara Rhoades
Ed Bellamy – Donnelly Rhodes
Ralph – Joseph V. Perry
Deputy Grover – Dennis Bailey


78. Harbinger of Death
An astronomer who’s searching for an elusive comet spots something in a distant home that apparently moves him to murder.

Dr. Leonard Palmer – Dean Jones
Carrie Palmer – Kate McNeil
Fay Hewitt – Karen Grassie
Madeline DeHaven – Marsha Rodd
Russell Armstrong – Jeffrey Tambor
Dr. Thor Lundquist – Robin Gammell
Sgt. Kettler – George DiCenzo
Drake Eaton – Steven Ford


79. Curse of the Daanu
A ruby bearing an ancient curse figures in the attempted murder of its owner, and the successful murder of her wealthy husband, Seth’s long-estranged brother.

Alice Davies Hazlitt – Jane Windsor
Richard Hazlitt – Richard Bradford
Seth Hazlitt – William Windom
Mark Hazlitt – Doug Barr
Carolyn Hazlitt – Jane Badler
Bert Davies – Clive Revill
Lt. Steven Ames – Larry Linville
Vikram Akbar – Kabir Bedi


80. Mourning Among the Wisterias
Jessica is invited into a marriage of convenience by an ailing playwright, who is later found holding a gun over the body of the lawyer who’d been robbing him blind for years.

Eugene McLendon – Barry Nelson
Deidre French – Lois Nettleton
Arnold Goldman – Frank Gorshin
Todd Wendle – Matt McCoy
Crystal Wendle – Linda Purl
Grace Banfield – Penny Fuller
Capt. Walker Thorn – Rene Auberjonois
Ola Mae – Beah Richards
Jonathan Keller – Elliott Reid
Dr. Church – James L. Brown


81. Murder Through the Looking Glass
A dying hit man’s confession plunges Jessica into a murder case involving a priest and the top-secret guests of a U.S. government safe house.

Father Francis – Cliff De Young
Sgt. Milton Cooper – Laurence Luckinbill
Ellen Cosgrove – Karen Valentine
Van Buren – Mark Shera
Pierce – Dan Shor
Jackson – Robert Reed
Adams – Kirk Scott
Sanchez – Gregory Sierra
Delgado – Victor Mohica
Father Kelly – Hugh McPhillips
Admirer Chairperson – Kerry Leigh Michaels
Admirer #1 – Elizabeth Kent
Admirer #2 – Ken Zavayna


82. A Very Good Year for Murder
The Gambinis are a wine-growing family in a ferment over murder.

Salvatori Gambini – Eli Wallach
Marco Gambini – John Saxon
Paul Gambini – Tom Roberts Byrd
Tony Gambini – Billy Zane
Michele Gambini – Kristian Alfonso
Fiona Gambini – Bibi Besch
Stella Gambini – Ina Balin
Chief Thadius Kyle – Arlen Dean Snyder
Ben Scuyler – Grant Goodeve
Stephen Ridgely – Robert O’Reilly
Doctor – John C. Mooney


83. Benedict Arnold Slipped Here
Someone is willing to kill for a dilapidated old house reputedly visited by Benedict Arnold and rumored to contain hidden treasure.

Amos Tupper – Tom Bosley
Seth Hazlitt – William Windom
Eve Simpson – Julie Adams
Wilton Tibbles – David Clennon
Kevin Tibbles – Shea Farrell
Benny Tibbles – Dick O’Neil
Liza Adams – Lois Foraker
Emily Goshen – Barbara Cason
Alistair Andrews – Brian Bedford
Lauren Hastings – Katherine Moffat


84. Just Another Fish Story
Jessica attends Grady’s engagement celebration at a trendy New York restaurant where murder is apparently on the menu.

Grady Fletcher – Michael Horton
Donna Mayberry – Debbie Zipp
Lt. Rupp – Norman Fell
Valentino Reggiore – Sonny Bono
Harry Finlay – Jack Carter
Chaz Crewe – Dick Gautier
Doug Brooke – James Carroll Jordan
Alice Brooke – Valerie Landsbug
Mimi Harcourt – Brenda Vaccaro
Chef – Valchik Mangassarian


85. Shakedown in Saskatchewan
Jessica tracks down her niece, who is spending the summer on the Canadian rodeo circuit to be with her dubious new boyfriend.

Jill – Kristy McNichol
Marty Reed – Patrick Houser
Consuela Schaeffer – Rosana DeSoto
Doc Schaeffer – Joe Dorsey
Luke Purdue/Carl Mattson – Paul LeMat
Warden Burns – Thomas H. Middleton
Inspector Roger McCabe – Lance LeGault
Boone Talbot – Larry Wilcox
Mona – Devon Williams
Carla – Cassie Yates
Wally – Terry Kiser


86. Deadpan
One of Jessica’s former students adapts one of her novels into a Broadway play, the opening of which is marred by murder when the critic who lauds the production is found dead.

Elliot Easterbrook – Dean Stockwell
Danny O’Mara – John DiSanti
Shayne Grant – Carole Cook
Walter Knapf – Miles Chapin
Jason Richards – Lloyd Bochner
Barbara Blair – Marilyn Hassett
Ed Cullen – Philip Abbott
Barney Mapost – Rich Little
Denise Quinlan – Christopher Norris
Lt. Aloyius Jarvis – Eugene Roche
Mrs. Rizzo – Penny Santon


87. The Body Politic
A woman running for political office asks Jessica to pitch in as a speech writer for her campaign, which is being bankrolled by her wealthy husband.

Kathleen Lane – Shirley Jones
Jackson Lane – Eddie Albert
Arthur Drelinger – Robert Fuller
Bud Johnson – Peter Fox
Cass Malone – Marie Chambers
Edmund Hall – George Grizzard
Nan Wynn – Daphne Maxwell Reid
C.W. Butterfield – James Sloyan
Lt. Gowans – Harrison Page

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