When a prisoner is released from jail after serving 20 years, he returns to Cabot Cove to prove he was wrongly convicted.

Season 4, Episode 2: When Thieves Fall Out (September 27, 1987)

Twenty years is a long time to stew in a cage. It’s long enough for a town like Cabot Cove to turn a pack of local jocks into pillars of the community and long enough for a man like Andrew Durbin to decide it’s time he got his life back.

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?

Tom Bosley (Sheriff Amos Tupper): Before he was dealing with Jessica’s meddling, he was America’s dad, Howard Cunningham, on Happy Days. Cult fans know him as the voice of The World of David the Gnome.

John Glover (Andrew Durbin): An absolute legend of the unsettling character actor pantheon. He’s best known as Lionel Luthor on Smallville and the billionaire Daniel Clamp in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. He’s also been in In the Mouth of Madness and was the voice of the Riddler in the 90s Batman: The Animated Series.

Michael Lembeck (Arnie Wakeman): Known for playing Max Horvath on One Day at a Time, Lembeck eventually moved behind the lens to direct The Santa Clause sequels.

Kenneth McMillan (Coach Kevin Cauldwell): You know him. You fear him. He’s the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from David Lynch’s Dune (the one with the boils and the floating). He also played the grumpy Captain in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and the neighbor in Cat’s Eye.

Caitlin O’Heaney (Tara Sillman): The ultimate Final Girl credential here: she was the lead, Amy, in the 1981 slasher classic He Knows You’re Alone (which featured a young Tom Hanks). She also starred in the short-lived but beloved adventure series Tales of the Gold Monkey.

John Bennett Perry (Judge Perry Sillman): Yes, he’s Matthew Perry’s dad. He’s been in everything from Independence Day to George of the Jungle.

Dack Rambo (Bill Hampton): Best known as Jack Ewing on Dallas. He had that perfectly coiffed 80s hair that seemed built for primetime soaps, but he also appeared in the cult horror-thriller Nightmare Honeymoon.

Shelley Smith (Alison Hampton): A former supermodel turned actress who was a staple of the game show circuit. She had a lead role in the series The Associates and appeared in the TV horror flick The Memory of Eva Ryker.

Mark Voland (Dan Pulling): A reliable TV face seen in The Love Boat and Matlock. He specializes in playing the “guy who might be the killer but is probably just a jerk.”

Charles Summers (Doc Mathews): A veteran of TV, popping up in Falcon Crest and various soaps.

Dick Durock (Man Stopping Fight): Keep your eyes peeled for the man breaking up the scuffle. Durock is the Swamp Thing. He played the mossy hero in both the 1982 Wes Craven film and the 1989 sequel, as well as the TV series. He’s a stunt legend who has been punched by every leading man in Hollywood.

What happens?

Durbin arrives in Maine with a chip on his shoulder the size of a lighthouse. Two decades ago, he was a hitchhiker who survived a car crash that killed a wealthy businessman. While Durbin ran for help, someone else showed up and finished the job, bashing the businessman’s head in with a rock and making off with $100,000 in bearer bonds. Durbin took the fall, largely because he was a long-haired anti-war protester in a town that didn’t like his kind.

He’s back because he finally recognized the face of the kid driving that other car: Bill Hampton, now a successful car dealer. Durbin starts a psychological war, hovering around Hampton like a ghost, eventually setting a trap by leaving his car at the dealership. Jessica, of course, gets pulled in when Hampton’s wife starts worrying about her husband’s fraying nerves. But before J.B. can mediate, Bill turns up dead with a bullet in his head and a suicide note blaming Durbin’s harassment.

Jessica notices the “suicide” was a right-handed shot to a left-handed man. The killer didn’t just want Bill dead; they wanted to frame Durbin again. But this isn’t your standard “Aunt Jess catches a greedy nephew” episode. It’s a deep dive into the rot beneath the surface of small-town nostalgia.

We get a classic subplot with Arnie Wakeman, a former athlete in a wheelchair, suing Hampton. In a moment of pure Jessica sleuthing, she notices scuff marks on a waxed floor and realizes Arnie is really unhurt. Speaking of athletes, this one centers on the state-champion football team of twenty years ago. These men are the town’s heroes, and their leader was Coach Cauldwell.

Who did it?

The reveal is a gut-punch. Coach Cauldwell wasn’t just a mentor; he was the one who saw the accident, saw the money and chose greed over the lives of his boys. When he realized the businessman was still alive, he used a rock to protect his future. Twenty years later, when Bill Hampton got cold feet about Durbin’s return, the Coach killed him, too. He viewed Bill like a son, but apparently, $100k and a reputation are worth more than family.

This is one of the rare downers on the show. Usually, when the handcuffs click, Jessica shares a laugh with Amos or Seth over a bowl of chowder. Not here. Jessica is genuinely wounded. She lost a friend in the Coach and discovered that her beloved neighbors were complicit in hiding a crime for two decades. When she confronts Durbin at the end, she displays that libertine scold energy—it almost feels like she’s actually annoyed at him for bringing the truth to light because of the collateral damage to her social circle.

Just look at this dialogue:

Jessica: I can’t help but think that justice could have been served in a better way.

Durbin: Oh? Well, you give it some thought, Mrs. Fletcher, and when you figure out what could have been, you let me know.

Who made it?

This was directed by Seymour Robbie and written by Arthur Weingarten. Speaking of Tales of the Golden Monkey, he wrote episodes of the other Indiana Jones cash-in TV series of the 1982-83 season, Bring ‘Em Back Alive.

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

No, this is a serious episode.

Was it any good?

Yes! I love learning that Cabot Cove isn’t always such a nice place to live.

Any trivia?

This episode’s title is from James William Emery Townsend, who said, “When thieves fall out, honest men get their dues. But when honest men fall out, lawyers get their fees.”

We learn in this episode that the population of Cabot Cove is 3,560. I expect it will be lower by the end of the series.

Give me a reasonable quote:

Andrew Durbin: I came to say good-bye and to thank you.

Jessica Fletcher: I’d rather you didn’t.

Andrew Durbin: But I was telling you the truth, and I did spend 20 years in prison unjustly.

Jessica Fletcher: Yes. And I’m sorry. But you knew when you came here what would happen.

Andrew Durbin: I wasn’t sure, but I did warn you I was after justice.

What’s next?

Jessica goes to Quebec to testify at the trial of a friend who is accused of killing his wife and burning his house.