Mr. Penroy's Vacation

In many ways, the plot to "Mr. Penroy's Vacation" seems to have been inspired by the old film, "Arsenic and Old Lace". This is because both have a pair of sweet old ladies who MIGHT be murderers!

A man rooming with the Appletree sisters has been found dead...buried in their yard. Soon after, another guy is found buried in their yard. While the Appletrees (Teresa Wright and Joan Leslie) are clearly up to something....what they exactly did and didn't do is to be determined. However, unlike previous Cabot Cove episodes, Sheriff Tupper has resigned and a new sheriff is there to work with Miss Fletcher.

This is generally an enjoyable episode, but like some of the weaker episodes, the baddies just keep admitting to their crimes to Miss Fletcher when there wasn't enough evidence to force such a confession.

Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.

"Mr Penroy's Vacation" to me is one of the best episodes of one of the best and most consistent seasons of 'Murder She Wrote'. Your enjoyment of it may be dependent on whether the concept intrigues you, if it sounds dull to you it won't be your cup of tea. The concept was an intriguing and unique one to me, so it was my cup of tea.

The cast are very fine here. Angela Lansbury is spot on in one of her justifiably best remembered roles as always, and Ron Masak makes a note-worthy debut as Cabot Cove's new sheriff Mort Metzger. Have a preference over him than Amos Tupper, the character is a fish out of water understandably in Season 5 but even in his first episode and season he is much more than your bumbling sheriff cliché and is never an idiot or gullible. The episode belongs to Teresa Wright and Joan Leslie as the two spinsters, who are splendidly dotty and provide so much of the charm, despite how it all seems initially one does root for his innocence.

In terms of mystery, "Mr Penroy's Vacation" is a very strong one, with nothing being what it seems with a fair share of twists. The ending is a surprise.

Production values as ever are slick and stylish with Cabot Cove being a typically lovely setting and providing a sense of community. The music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune.

The writing is thought-provoking, light-hearted and amiable.

Overall, terrific. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This episode marks the debut on Ron Masak as Cabot Cove's new sheriff Mort Metzger who little realizes that he's going to the per capita murder capital of New England. And he also learns that he's got a great resource in Jessica Fletcher living right there for help in these cases.

Clearly somebody had in mind the Brewster sisters of Arsenic And Old Lace when writing this episode. Two slightly daft old spinster sisters are played by Teresa Wright and Joan Leslie have Henry Jones boarding with them. He goes and dies on them and the two instead of telling the law decide to bury them in their garden.

But even they're surprised when a second unexpected body turns up in the same garden.

It all has to do with a payroll robbery that both the deceaseds were part of. Though he's not sure why Ron Masak goes with the flow and gets official credit for solving another Brink's type robbery and two murders. Though the murders and the robbery have only a most tenuous connection.

Truth be told for concealing Jones both these yankee spinsters could have been prosecuted. But Masak has a heart and you would too after seeing Wright and Leslie in these roles.

Classic film stars Teresa Wright and Joan Leslie grace this episode as eccentric spinster sisters Helen and Lillian Appletree, who finish each other's sentences, but cannot seem to explain reasons for bodies' turning up in their flower gardens.

"Mr. Penroy's Vacation" also introduces the recurring characters of Sheriff Mort Metzger (Ron Masak) and Deputy Floyd McCallum (Will Nye) into the Cabot Cove community, as they meet its leading citizens, Mayor Sam Booth (Richard Paul), Doctor Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) and Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury).

When guests arrive in the back yard of the residence of Helen (Teresa Wright) and Lillian Appletree (Joan Leslie) to celebrate the occasion of the birthday of their tenant, Morris Penroy (Henry Jones), the sisters' versions of Mister Penroy's absence vary, other than to explain that he has suddenly left town to visit a sick friend across the country.

During the course of events, a few others descend upon Cabot Cove in uninvited fashion, to search for Mister Penroy, including Clifford Coleson (Don Calfa), who poses as a minister friend of Morris; Ole Korshack (Al Pugliese), who stalks Morris upon his walks; Daryl Croft (Tim Choate), who threatens Morris; Marilee Coleson (Candice Azzara), who claims to be the wife of Morris; and Bart Klapper (Norman Alden), who claims to be an examiner for the Boston-Central Railroad, investigating a $million payroll heist, from which its spoils have never been recovered.

But when Winston, the pet bulldog of Mayor Sam Booth, veers from the course of his hiking with Sam and Jessica, his digging inside the garden of the sisters Appletree leads to the discovery of bodies.

The short-fused Sheriff Metzger suspects that Helen and Lillian know more about murder than they let on, but because Jessica has known the pair since arriving in Cabot Cove during her young adulthood, she maintains their innocence with a grain of doubt.

Jessica subsequently follows a trail littered with embezzlement, forged checks, missing baggage claim checks, and murder graced with a four-pronged tine pitchfork and another hoisted fireplace poker to search for the itinerary of "Mr. Penroy's Vacation."

To be honest, I'm quite surprised I didn't like this episode like everyone else. It's a good concept. The episode has Arsenic and Old Lace vibes all over the place, but it's not to the point where you can call it a copycat. Joan Leslie and Teresa Wright are very committed to their respective roles as the sisters. The problem lies in the fact that there's little else to the episode, besides that and the introduction of Sheriff Metzger. I have mixed feelings on Metzger. I sometimes don't care for him, but he gets some nice development in much later episodes.

The mystery winds up being quite simple, which isn't a bad thing, and the revelation of what happened to Mr. Penroy is very unconvincing. It's as if the writers forgot they had to include a solution and just added it in at the last minute. The solution is also a cheat in a way. Mr. Penroy is not someone you get to know really well, and there's few genuine suspects. Mr. Penroy's Vacation is entertaining enough, but we'll be treated to an even better episode that follows it: Snow White, Blood Red.