Jessica Fletcher hops a cab to the Big Apple to check on her restaurant investment and see her perpetually flustered nephew, Grady, take the plunge into engagement territory. But Manhattan’s culinary scene proves to be more lethal than a bad health inspection.
Season 4, Episode 19: Just Another Fish Story (March 27, 1988)
What happens?
Jessica is delighted to return to New York City with the announcement of her nephew’s impending engagement. But when a restaurant employee is killed, the engagement is threatened.
Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?
Here is a breakdown of the cast members from your list, highlighting their most recognizable mainstream work alongside any notable cult, horror, or genre film appearances:
Main Cast & Guest Stars
Sonny Bono (Valentino Reggiore): Known as one-half of the legendary pop-rock duo Sonny & Cher, hosting The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, and his later career as a U.S. Congressman. He played a role in the cult TV film Murder Can Hurt You! and appeared in horror-comedy/genre TV appearances such as The Six Million Dollar Man and Fantasy Island.
Jack Carter (Harry Finlay): A legendary 1950s/60s stand-up comedian, frequent host of The Ed Sullivan Show, a prolific television character actor and so much more.
Norman Fell (Lt. Ralph Rupp): His iconic television role as landlord Mr. Roper on Three’s Company and its spin-off The Ropers, alongside memorable film turns in Bullitt and The Graduate.
Dick Gautier (Chaz Crewe): He was the hip robot Hymie the Robot on the hit 1960s spy-spoof series Get Smart and originating the role of Conrad Birdie in the original Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie.
Michael Horton (Grady Fletcher): I hate Grady so much. I forever will hate him.
James Carroll Jordan (Doug Brooke): Appeared in cult genre and action-adventure television throughout the 1980s and 90s, including multiple guest appearances across popular mystery and procedural dramas.
Valerie Landsburg (Alice Brooke): She played the fiery and talented Doris Schwartz in both the hit 1980 film Fame and the subsequent television series. She was also in Unhinged.
Brenda Vaccaro (Mimi Harcourt): She earned an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for her breakout role as Shirley in Midnight Cowboy. Her extensive mainstream credits also include Once Is Not Enough, Airport ’77, Capricon One, Supergirl and The Masque of the Red Death.
Debbie Zipp (Donna Mayberry): The wife of William Windom.
Smaller roles are played by Richard Molinare, Jack Tate, Zale Kessler, Vachik Mangassarian, Elkanah Burns, Clint Carmichael, Duane Edwards, Dallas Cole, Layne Beamer, Conrad Hurtt and John Bear Staible.
What happens?
Jessica arrives in New York only to find that the restaurant she invested in, Alice’s Farm Restaurant, is a chaotic novelty joint where the maître d’, Chaz Crewe, is thoroughly corrupt, selling off tables, pocketing bribes, and stealing high-end inventory like lobster and caviar behind the owners’ backs. After a night of high-stress restaurant antics and awkward family bonding over Grady’s upcoming nuptials to accountant Donna Mayberry, Chaz turns up dead in the walk-in freezer—fatally frozen and bludgeoned.
Lt. Rupp immediately leans on the restaurant staff and family, hunting through falsified ledgers and missing stock. While investigating, Jessica discovers that a frozen yellowtail fish missing from the kitchen supplies bears the jagged-edged marks of the murder weapon. When Grady inadvertently mentions that Donna discovered missing caviar she shouldn’t have known about, the truth clicks into place.
Who did it?
Donna Mayberry killed Chaz in self-defense. When she confronted him about his theft and missing shipments, he flew into a rage and attacked her. Desperate to protect herself, she grabbed the nearest heavy object to hand in the freezer—a frozen yellowtail fish—and struck him, inadvertently killing him before fleeing in panic.
Who made it?
Directed by Walter Grauman and Philip Gerson.
Does Jessica dress up and act stupid? Does she get some?
Negative on both fronts! Jessica keeps her sharp tweed-and-pearls dignity intact, breezes through Manhattan traffic without losing her cool and spends her time dodging gossip columnists rather than chasing romance.
Was it any good?
It’s a wildly eccentric installment that leans heavily into comedy and novelty, anchored entirely around the sheer absurdity of using a frozen fish as a murder weapon. While self-defense homicide reveals always take a bit of the traditional whodunit punch out of the climax, watching the crew navigate Manhattan’s cutthroat restaurant world makes for an entertaining, lighthearted ride.
Any trivia?
This episode marks the first appearance of Donna Mayberry, who would go on to become Grady’s wife. Actors Michael Horton and Debbie Zipp were married in real life during the time of filming.
Give me a reasonable quote:
Grady Fletcher: But there’s somethin’ I gotta confess to you, too. I already met your father and he fired me.
Donna Mayberry: Oh! That’s okay. I mean, he fires everybody. He- He probably won’t even remember it.
Grady Fletcher: Really? You think?
Donna Mayberry: Oh, he fired me once, too.
Grady Fletcher: You’re kidding. That’s great. No, I mean that’s not great…
What’s next?
Jessica’s niece is smitten with a rodeo rider and refuses to believe he could have committed a murder.
