A business tyrant’s sudden death puts Jessica on the trail of several of his suspicious company executives.

Season 4, Episode 4: The Way to Dusty Death (October 25, 1987)

When Jessica and the rest of the corporate bigwigs get the invite to a chairman’s secluded country estate, they think they’re there to fight for the throne. Instead, they find their host stone-cold dead. Turns out, he didn’t just invite them over for cocktails; he brought them all together to reveal he was playing them against each other and just as the knives were coming out, someone decided to stop talking and start killing.

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?

• Joanna Barnes (Lydia Barnett): A classic face of the 60s and 70s who was in everything from Spartacus to The War Wagon.

• Richard Beymer (Morgan McCormack): Tony from West Side Story, but genre fans know him from his chilling turn in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.

• Lynn Carlin (Nicole): Best known for John Cassavetes’ Faces.
• Nancy Dussault (Kate Dutton): A sitcom staple who brought a lot of charm to the screen during the golden age of TV guest spots. Muriel from Too Close for Comfort!
• Jenilee Harrison (Serena): She was on Three’s Company and Dallas, but she’s logged enough appearances in TV mysteries to be considered part of the “we’ve seen you die in everything” club.

• Richard Jaeckel (Dr. Leon Chatsworth): Now here’s a guy. A true character actor who showed up in everything from The Dirty Dozen to the horror-inflected Mako: The Jaws of Death and Grizzly. He fought nature throughout the drive-in era.

• Andrea Marcovicci (Anne Hathaway): She’s got a resume that spans from high-brow drama to the Larry Cohen classic The Stuff.
• Sandy McPeak (Spruce Osborne): A reliable heavy in countless 70s and 80s procedurals.

• Joanna Pettet (Virginia McCormack): Total cult royalty. She was in the Bond spoof Casino Royale, but we know her for her roles in the horror flicks Welcome to Arrow Beach and the killer-house movie The Evil.

• Lawrence Pressman (Tom Dutton): A veteran of the screen who turned up in The Hellstrom Chronicle and The Man in the Glass Booth.

• Ray Walston (Q. L. Frubson): A legend. From the alien My Favorite Martian to the ultimate cool-but-mean teacher, Mr. Hand, in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

• Cornel Wilde (Duncan Barnett): A swashbuckling star of the 40s and 50s who turned into a real master of exploitation and survival horror later in his career. He directed and starred in the gritty, intense The Naked Prey.

• Jay Robinson (Paddock): He was Caligula in The Robe, but he’s also in The Sword and the Sorcerer, Transylvania Twist and the mutant-mosquito disaster flick Skeeter.

• Smaller roles are played by Hank Brandt, Bob Snead, E.R. Davies, Larry Carr, Dotty Ertel, Ben Pollock, Walter Smith and Flo Di Re.

What happens?

Jessica finds herself in the concrete jungle of New York City, trading her quiet life in Cabot Cove for the cold, hard world of high finance. She’s been roped into the board of directors for Barnett Industries, mostly because the chairman, Duncan Barnett, thinks having her name on the letterhead adds some class.

She just wants to make sure her local paper-mill stays open.

Duncan calls for a special weekend retreat at his townhouse on 63rd Street, and the air is thick with ambition. Everyone in the room is sweating, waiting for the news that he’s finally stepping down and handing over the keys to the kingdom.

When Duncan stands up and drops the bombshell—that he’s not going anywhere—the room turns toxic. It’s full-on Macbeth. We’ve got Morgan McCormack and his wife Virginia playing the power-couple, fueled by a cryptic reading from a psychic named Paddock that promises them the crown.

Then, someone decides that waiting for the natural order of succession is for suckers.

The next morning, the board realizes their beloved boss is dead. At first, it looks like a botched poisoning attempt. Morgan and Ginny had already spiked his brandy with digitalis and they scramble to cover their tracks when they realize he didn’t drink it. But J.B. isn’t buying the easy answer. She starts digging, realizing that in a house full of vipers, the person who actually pulled the trigger (or in this case, pushed the appliance) was the one nobody suspected.

Who did it?

The killer is Kate Dutton (was she tired of Cosmic Cow?). While the McCormacks were busy plotting and planting fake evidence, Kate went to Duncan to plead her husband’s case. When Duncan laughed in her face, she didn’t walk away. She pushed the television set right into his bathtub, killing him with a high-voltage jolt.

At the risk of being on a government watch list, this is my favorite way people get murdered in movies.

Kate was caught because she claimed to have heard a noise from another room that, given the layout of the townhouse, would have been physically impossible to hear.

Who made it?

It was directed by Nick Havinga, who directed episodes of Cliffhangers! and the TV movie made from one of the unfinished stories, The Girl Who Saved the World. This was written by Philip Gerson.

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

No. Come on! Jessica doesn’t even have a groove yet, much less is ready to get it back.

Was it any good?

It’s a nice change of pace from small town to big city.

Any trivia?

This was Cornel Wilde’s last role.

The title of this episode is quote from Macbeth:

The victims’ names are the same as the play and the character of Anne Hathaway is possibly named for Shakespeare’s wife.

Mrs. McCormack threatens Jessica with libel for something she said. Maybe she means slander.

Give me a reasonable quote:

Paddock: There are times when the forces of life combine to create a power where all things are possible, where a strong man can act with speed and decisiveness. For the timid, a moment never realized. For the bold, a moment that can catapult him to undreamed-of plateaus of personal wealth and power. Your will is extremely powerful, Mr. McCormack. It shall overpower those with whom you compete. And I can tell you, that will be soon, very soon.

What’s next?

Jessica’s British cousin, Emma MacGill is charged with an old flame’s murder. Get ready. This is where the show has her dressing up and acting like an idiot! This is also a British actor from American TV episode, with Christopher Hewett (Mr. Belvedere) and Jane Leeves (tossed salad and scrambled eggs) showing upo. Will Lynn Belvedere get killed or — even better — show Jessica a bit of the business? Or dare I dream of a sapphic tryst with Niles Crane’s love? Hurry back next week!