Episode 84: Nordic Gigolo Is Dead

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, JB Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) enters SPACE... well, at least exploration via optical instruments on Earth. It's HARBINGER OF DEATH, and the stars are aligned for the murder of sexy male secretary Drake Eaton (Steve Ford), potentially tangled up in observatory politics as per his employer: the lamé enthusiast and financially sought-after Madeline DeHaven (Marcia Rodd). JB's niece Carrie and her comet-obsessed husband (Kate McNeil and Dean Jones) are implicated when a carelessly discarded scarf places at least one of them at the scene, and a bedroom dalliance may have been at the root of it. Throw in a lovelorn assistant behind the eyepiece (Karen Grassle), a cranky boss (Jeffrey Tambor), and yet another skeptical but up-for-it cop (George DiCenzo), and JB has her hands full and her eye on the telescope as things start to shift into focus.