A private detective, hired by Jessica to research an old case, is suddenly murdered.

Season 1, Episode 15: Tough Guys Don’t Die (February 24, 1985)

Tonight on Murder, She Wrote…

Jessica meets Detective Harry McGraw (Jerry Orbach) and they solve the case of a murdered detective.

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury, and were they in any exploitation movies?

Orbach wouldn’t just come back numerous times — six appearances — he even got his own spin-off, The Law and Harry McGraw. He and Lansbury would also be the voices of Lumiere and Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast.

Priscilla Daniels, one of  Archie Miles’ clients, is played by Barbara Babcock.

Larry King is John Furey (Friday the 13th Part II).

Erin Carey is Nancy Lee Grahn, Alexis Davis from General Hospital.

Gavin Daniels is John McMartin (Blow Out).

Ray Kravitz is played by Gerald S. O’Loughlin.

Ernie Santini is Alex Rocco, who has been in many good movies, including Motorpsycho.

Judge Lambert is Fritz Weaver (Creepshow).

The law in this episode, Detective Starkey, is Paul Winfield (The Horror at 37,000 Feet).

In the smaller roles, Floyd Levine plays Archie Miles, Alma Leonard plays actress Margery Nelson, Rosanna Huffman plays Connie Miles, Conrad Bachmann is an office manager, Tina Lifford plays Leora Cargill, Jana Brown is a receptionist, and Steven Ameche is a musician.

What happens?

A detective named Archie Miles is killed while investigating a case for Jessica. She wants to solve it, as does his partner Harry McGraw, who wants revenge. He’s not the nice Harry from later episodes.

The cops want Harry to kill the murderer as well, as many of them were trained by Archie. Meanwhile, all of the cases Archie had are still out there, like Mr. Santini, who isn’t cheating on his wife. He’s planning a surprise party. There’s also a Scalpel Murderer who is still free decades after their crimes.

The case that cost Archie his life? Priscilla Daniels. She had an abortion after getting pregnant as a grad student. She’s a politician now, and when Archie discovers the truth about her, his client, Mr. Kravitz, wants to use it against her. Archie refuses.

Who did it?

Mr. Kravitz, who killed Archie for getting in his way.

Who made it?

Another episode for director Seymour Robbie and writer/series creator Peter S. Fischer.

Does Jessica get some?

Harry tells her at the end that he’s only 124 miles from Cabot Cove. Maybe soon?

Does Jessica dress up and act stupid?

No.

Was it any good?

This is a hard-boiled detective story for this show.

Any trivia?

Barbara Babcock would appear on The Law and Harry McGraw as his secretary, Ellie McGinnis.

The Concorde footage is from Airport ’79.

Give me a reasonable quote:

Harry McGraw: Look, Mrs. Fletcher, why don’t you take some advice? Why don’t you devote that boundless energy of yours to needlepoint or a bridge club?

Jessica Fletcher: Eh, I tried that. It’s precisely the reason why I wrote my first book: I was bored out of my mind.

What’s next?

Jessica inherits a football team.