Tough Guys Don't Die

Archie Miles's widow was played by Rosanna Huffman, aka Mrs. Richard Levinson (one of at least seven MSW appearances)?

And in this same episode: Harry's motherly secretary was Margery Nelson, aka Mrs. William Link?

Stuff like this used to happen quite a bit on series like Murder, She Wrote; it was part of the fun back in the day.

Just for fun, while you're here, you might like to check out the bosses's wives credits here; both Rosanna Huffman and Margery Nelson were talented actresses, who worked whenever they wanted to, and commanded respect within the industry (as did their writer-producer husbands, come to that ...) Happy Hunting!

While highly respected P. I. Archie Miles, who taught at the police academy, is working on the old Danbury scalpel murder case for Jessica's research, he is shot in his office. His rather shady, clumsier partner, Harry McGraw, contacts Jessica as Archie was working on only two other cases, about allegedly adulterous contractor Ernie Santini and editor Priscilla Daniels of Femininity Magazine. Detective Lieutenant Starkey confides to Jessica the police wouldn't object to Harry getting rid of Archie's killer. She snoops herself, then teams up with Harry.

A fun and amiable episode which introduces PI Harry McGraw, who is excellent portrayed by Jerry Orbach, and this is what makes this one enjoyable. It has some light moments, the chemistry between Lansbury and Orbach is engaging, and the mystery is decent, even if the killer was a little too obvious.

I have to say, right off, that I really enjoy Jerry Orbach's character (Harry McGraw) througout his run on "Murder, She Wrote," but I do feel that this is the best of those. Part of it is the origin aspect of it - the meeting with Jessica, before we really know what to think of Harry. Is he a suspect? It's hard to remember if I ever even thought that since I've seen this episode so many times, but certainly he comes off as a rather shady character - the cops have even stated that they will look the other way if he finds, and executes, his partner's killer! Now that shadiness gets smoothed over a bit by the end of the episode (and certainly in subsequent appearances) because he's a really likable character and he has good chemistry with Jessica.

I always enjoy the Jerry Orbach (Harry McGraw) episodes. I'm not sure why his spin-off series ("The Law and Harry McGraw") didn't fly. I confess I never saw it so I can't speak to its quality. Maybe that character doesn't work as well without a counter-weight like Jessica to keep him grounded. But he works really well here.

Apart from Jerry Orbach, the episode has several other great guest stars, most notable (for me, anyway) being Barbara Babcock, who is always wonderful. I've been a fan since (as an adolescent) I first saw her appearances on Star Trek TOS and Cheers.

Good solid story. I liked how they had three potential story lines (corresponding to the three cases Archie was working on when he was killed) going at once. It kept things moving along at a quick pace. One of the best!

I appreciated all of "The Maltese Falcon" references, from McGraw's partner's name Archie Miles (Spade's partner was Miles Archer), the similar secretary, and the partner's names on the window, to Spade's/McGraw's quote "When a man's partner is killed, he's supposed to do something about it." Made it fun to watch, to catch any similarities! Otherwise, it was the standard "Murder She Wrote" episode, which isn't a bad thing. As I've been going back and watching all of the MSW episodes (for the third time), I've selectively been watching those with Harry McGraw, Michael Hagerty, and Dennis Stanton. This episode is one of my favorites!

Jerry Orbach appeared as Harry McGraw in quite a few episodes of "Murder, She Wrote" and his character was so popular that he received a spin-off series, "The Law and Harry McGraw". Alas, while he was reasonably popular on "Murder, She Wrote", he wasn't popular enough for his spinoff series to last more than 16 episodes.

Soon after the story begins, Jessica learns that a private investigator working for her was murdered. She naturally wonders if the case she had him working on had anything to do with it, so she contacts his partner, Harry McGraw, to find out more. As for McGraw, he's kind of a jerk and treats Jessica poorly...and in many ways he seem like an old film noir protagonist....hard boiled, cynical and in search of the man who killed his partner (much like Humphrey Bogart in "The Maltese Falcon"). Eventually, McGraw relents in his nastiness enough for him and Jessica to investigate the murder together.

While the mystery might not be one of the best ones on the show so far, it did have very interesting characters and never was dull. Well worth seeing and it makes you want to see more of old Harry.