Grady Fletcher is in big trouble again when his boss is found dead and he is the main suspect.

Season 3, Episode 19: No Accounting for Murder (March 22, 1987)

Jessica investigates when her nephew, a junior executive for a large accounting firm, is charged with tax fraud and the murder of his boss.

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?

Michael Horton is back as Grady. Every time he shows up, I hope this is the episode in which he dies. 

Dorothy Lamour, who was in the Hope/Crosby road movies as well as Creepshow 2, is Sophie Ellis.

Geoffrey Lewis, star of many westerns and father of Juliette, is I.R.S. Agent Lester Grimshaw.

Barney Martin, Morty Seinfeld, is Lieutenant Timothy Hanratty.

Ron Masak, the sheriff in Laserblast, is Marty Giles.

Patty McCormack is Lana Whitman. Yes, Rhoda, The Bad Seed!

In smaller roles, Thom McFadden is Harry Cauldwell, James Noble is Paul Carlisle, Michael Tolan plays Ralph Whitman, Kate Vernon is Connie Norton, Paul Comi is The Phantom, Peggy Doyle is Edna Weems, Charles Walker is a sergeant, Michael J. London is a seller and Lemuel Perry is a waiter.

What happens?

If there is one thing you can count on in this world, it’s that Grady Fletcher is going to find a body, look guilty as hell and then stand there vibrating with anxiety until his Aunt Jessica saves his hide. This time, our least favorite disaster-prone nephew is working a New York accountancy gig for a guy named Ralph Whitman. Jessica drops by for a visit, they go to dinner and they come back to find Whitman dead at his desk with a cryptic message scrawled on the wall in red.

Oh yeah — the office is also haunted by The Phantom.

What an office it is. You’ve got the sexy secretary, Connie, played with maximum eyeliner and a blouse holding on for dear life; a jerk named Carlisle who pretends to love Jessica’s stories and a cop so Irish he basically breathes shamrocks and corned beef. Even better, he and JB share some genuine moments over their shared widowhood.

But the real MVP is that aforementioned Phantom, who is really a homeless man living in the walls to survive the NYC winter.

Unlike so many episodes, Jessica finds herself in actual, physical danger. Usually, she delivers her summation with the police hidden behind a curtain like a high-stakes game of Scooby-Doo. Here? She’s alone with a killer who realizes she’s onto him. Watching JB drop her usual “I’m just a mystery writer” mask to show genuine, wide-eyed alarm is a reminder that Angela Lansbury could out-act anyone on the payroll.

The victim? Ralph Whitman is muscling in on the wrong blackmail scheme.

Who did it?

Carlisle. But of course.

Who made it?

This was directed by Peter Crane and Gerald K. Siegel, both of whom worked on 9 episodes of the show.

Does Jessica dress up and act stupid? Does she get some?

No! What is happening? That said, Jessica does go get some corned beef with cop, so maybe he made her kiss his Blarney Stone.

Was it any good?

I hate Grady.

Any trivia?

Ron Masak would go on to play Cabot Cove Sheriff Mort Meztger from season 5 on.

The closing credits originally contained a tribute to Richard Levinson, co-creator of the series, who had died of a heart attack a few days before the episode aired. This tribute was removed for rebroadcasts.

Give me a reasonable quote:

NYPD Lt. Timothy Hanratty: Now, now, there’s no such thing as ghosts. Banshees maybe, and of course there’s the little people, but no ghosts.

What’s next?

The reform mayor dies in a so-called accident, and the mayor’s father is murdered after he demands an investigation into it.