The Monte Carlo Murders

This Murder She Wrote story might be the first one I've ever seen set in Monte Carlo where the center of the plot wasn't gambling. Jessica Fletcher has come to the Riviera to visit another old classmate Dina Merrill who is a widow trying to keep control of the hotel she owns. The mortgage is held by a real lizard of a human being in David Birney. So you know right away that Birney is slated to be the victim in this story.

There are two victims however Birney and a waiter at the hotel Victor Touzie who doubled as a spy for hire. It's what Touzie did as an avocation that sends Angela Lansbury on the track of the real killer who the Monte Carlo cops think is Neill Barry, Merrill's son.

Nicely done story with Birney a real standout.

I enjoy the odd MSW and only watched this as I saw Ian Ogilvy was cast it. Sadly, we saw only about five minutes total of him.

Poor acting and overacting as per usual and stereotypical characters. The spoilt son who doesn't want to be involved with the hotel as he's a 'photographer'. Very strange photos he was developing. The ponytailed body guard, the flighty wife of the nasty man....the most annoying was the chef; French of course. The silly scenes with Jessica in the kitchen sniffing the pot to identify an ingredient. OTT and cringeworthy.

Where's Ian?

Annie, the hotel owner. . Armand! Ian was wasted in this.

Like most episodes of "Murder, She Wrote", the murder victim is very obvious. After all, for nearly half the episode, the guy took delight in being a giant jerk-face...and the only question was WHO was going to off this guy! But that's okay, as the show was still quite enjoyable and well worth seeing. But I should mention that the ending, well, it's weak. The two-time killer inexplicably, felt bad about the killings and quickly confessed to Jessica his misdeeds...and this was without the police being nearby to save her in case the killer decided to off her as well. Still, setting the show in Monte Carlo was a nice change of pace and even a weak episode of "Murder, She Wrote" is still very good.

Jessica travels to Monaco to stay with an old friend, a friend that's being coerced out of her hotel by an unscrupulous businessman.

I'm a little indifferent towards this episode, they've done a cracking job throughout this series of putting Jessica in new situations, we've had none of the nephews and neighbours and tonnes of friends, here we're back to Jessica having another friend, who happens to be a hotelier.... overdone.

Too easy to spot who was going to be killed, and bty whom.

It's a good looking episode, and though we know full well that it's as much Monte Carlo as it is Burkina Faso, it's still passable, visually it's pretty good.

Some really good actors and familiar faces here, I don't feel they made good use of any of them, especially Ian Ogilvy.

There are a few moments that didn't quite hang together, I didn't think you'd die by being stabbed in the shoulder? I may be wrong. Jessica popping in and out of the kitchen, well that's a health and safety nightmare right there.

6/10.

This episode is a rather slick affair with grandiose scenery but some good suspects. This time, Jessica probes a Monte Carlo murder for which her hotelier friend (Dina Merrill) is a suspect. There's a good performance by David Birney, who plays an oily character. He, of course, becomes a victim, and he has got plenty of enemies. One of them being Ian Oglivy, whose character amusingly has a surname of Templeton ( perhaps a nod to Simon Templar).