Double Exposure

Jessica's delight at running into an old friend in Boston is short-lived when he claims he has never met her before. Stranger still, his wife says he died a few weeks earlier. This episode is interesting and the mystery is intriguing enough in hooking you in. Plus you got Jerry Orbach return as PI Harry, though he's now got no PI license, but that doesn't stop him from working for Jessica.

Jessica is in Boston and recognizes an old neighbor. Oddly, however, when she approaches him, he insists he doesn't know her and he's not the man she thinks he is. When Jessica calls the man's wife, she insists he recently died!! Unless they are lying, Jessica is seeing ghosts or zombies! Obviously something is going on....so Jessica decides to pay a visit with her ne'er do well friend, Harry McGraw (Jerry Orbach)...though he recently lost his private detective license! Can these two manage to piece together what REALLY is going on here?

This is an unusual story with some odd twists...and I appreciate this since by now the show's in its fifth season. Well worth seeing...and it's always nice to see Orbach as Harry.

I have to confess, the kind of encounter that Jessica Fletcher has on a Boston street with someone she knows well, but who pretends he doesn't know her would make me want some answers. What's more strange is that John Furlong is someone she knows from Chicago.

She hires her old friend Harry McGraw as always played by Jerry Orbach to check out the man of her encounter in Boston while she goes to Chicago to confront the wife Christine Belford who says her husband had passed away.

Orbach is operating under a cloud himself, his license as a PI has been yanked due to the enmity of Boston PD detective William Lucking. When Furlong turns up really dead with Orbach at the scene Lucking wants to hang it on McGraw.

There is an explanation for all the shenanigans, but I can't help thinking that Furlong had he confided in Angela Lansbury he would not have been killed. She might have brought him to Cabot Cove for safe keeping.

Always love the stories with Harry McGraw,

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.

"Double Exposure" is an interesting if a little odd episode. Jerry Orbach's Harry McGraw is always worth watching, he and Angela Lansbury's Jessica work so wonderfully together and it was interesting to see Jessica's actions have consequences (with the victim being killed as a consequence of her seeking the truth).

Not everything works but most of the episode works very well. My biggest issue was Jessica being forgiven too quickly and easily, no matter how unintentional her behaviour was it was hard to swallow the hastiness of the rest of the characters' forgiving nature.

Regardless of her want to find out the truth, she would realistically most likely have been considered harmful and too much of a busybody to be of assistance to the police, but 'Murder She Wrote' wouldn't be the same without her solving the mystery and putting things right so it was not as hard to swallow considering the show's formula.

Everything else is fine. The cast are particularly good, with the terrific performances of Lansbury and Orbach (not all Harry's episodes are great, not a fan of "Death Takes a Dive" for example, but generally he is one of the better recurring characters) and their immensely charming chemistry being the biggest attractions.

Christine Belford, Andrew Stevens and Robert Hogan are standouts in the guest supporting turns.

The mystery, while strange at times, is still intriguing and engaging with an ending that is not easy to figure out and is easy to get your head round.

Production values as always are slick and stylish. 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.

Writing is thoughtful, humorous and easy to like.

In summary, somewhat of an odd one but still pretty good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Jerry Orbach makes his fourth of six "MSW" appearance as Private Investigator Harry McGraw in this episode. Since his third appearance here, he has starred in the only "MSW" spin-off series, "The Law and Harry McGraw," this lasting one season (16 episodes).

During an afternoon outing in Boston, Massachusetts, Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) encounters former Cabot Cove neighbor John Winslow "Wilson" (John Furlong), who emerges from Boston Integrity Bank, makes believe not to recognize her, and maintains that she has him mistaken for someone else.

Jessica briefly returns to Cabot Cove to search through a scrapbook to locate a newspaper clipping and photograph of John Winslow. She then telephones his wife, who resides in Chicago, Maude Paulson Winslow (Christine Belford), who informs Jessica that John has suddenly passed, two weeks prior.

But Jessica has recognized a glimmer of recognition in John's eyes, and hastily returns to Boston to enlist her hapless Private Investigator friend Harry McGraw (Jerry Orbach) for assistance in tracking down John Winslow.

While Harry delivers a sob story to Integrity Bank employee Gladys (Karen Morrow), Jessica flies to Chicago, to visit with Maude, who presents her brother Doctor Adam Paulson (Andrew Stevens) to collaborate the account of John's demise.

En route from the Winslows' apartment building, Taxi Driver (Jack Jozefson) informs Jessica that they're being followed, by Sloane (E. Danny Murphy), and so it is up to Jessica to outsmart him, and to discover for whom he's working.

Her investigation takes her to the office of Nathan Swarthmore (Jon Cypher), whose receptionist, Receptionist (Melanie Noble) receives her on the basis of her Mystery author fame.

Meanwhile, Harry McGraw convinces Sergeant Howard Sternhagen (Earl Boen) to trace any connection between John Winslow and John Wilson, nearly getting caught by the brutish Lieutenant Roy Quinlan (William Lucking), who harbors a grudge with Harry.

While Jessica is busy making a connection between Danford Industries, the former employer of John Winslow, and the syndicate, Harry stumbles across a body in the shady side of town, with Lieutenant Quinlan and Officer Frank Coyle (Robert Alan Browne) emerging from the shadows to arrest him.

FBI Agt. Guilfoyle (Robert Hogan) questions Jessica upon her return to Boston, while Cookie Gilhooly (Marty Davis) prepares a meal for Harry and Gladys, whom he promised to treat, with her four rambunctious sons (Joshua Peevyhouse, Justin Darby, Scotty Williams, Barry O'Neill), but Harry is missing, and Jessica must act quickly lest another murder of "Double Exposure" occur.

Louis Herthum marks his first guest appearance in this series, as Wilber, a billiards player, before beginning his roles as deputies, including his Cabot Cove run as Andy Broom.

This is the episode which erroneously claims a two-hour time difference between Boston and Chicago.