Episode 35: A Shrine to Man's Hubris (As It Were)

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, this MURDER DIGS DEEP!Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is doing research for an upcoming novel set during an archaeological dig, and her bud, Dr. Seth Hazlitt (William Windom), is an amateur dig enthusiast, so she joins him in The Land of Enchantment.  As it happens, this whole affair is a sham, full of opportunistic gold hunters, Indigenous identity fraudsters, possible ghosts, and horny grad students.Wealthy douchebag Gideon Armstrong (Robert Vaughn) is joined by shifty professor Dr. Stan Garfield (David Groh) and grandiose blowhard Dr. Aubrey Benton (George Grizzard) to uncover the lost city of gold in a secluded area of New Mexico.  In tow are archaeology's answer to Moonlighting, Karen Parks (Cecile Callan) and Steve Gamble (Stephen Shortridge), who spend more time will-they-won't-they flirt-fighting than actually picking up a shovel.  We also have Armstrong's wife, Cynthia (Connie Stevens), who would rather be anywhere else, and Raymond Two Crows (Randolph Mantooth), the stone-faced First Nations guide who seems more annoyed that white people are trying to ransack the earth of his homeland than actually sharing accurate information with them.  When one of the party ends up dead in the desert by means of drowning, the adventure only gets that much deeper for our heroes, struggling to figure out just how the hell that happened.  Will Jessica and Seth discover unexpected connections certain figures have with each other, unmask what secrets lie in the real estate contracts of a lifetime, and demystify a supernatural dancing vision just in time to save the day? Yes! But it may require you to scrape your shoes off afterward.