A new sheriff in town, two sweet old sisters, and a flower bed full of dead bodies.
Season 5, Episode 3: Mr. Penroy’s Vacation (November 6, 1988)
Jessica Fletcher is finally back in Cabot Cove, but things aren’t exactly peaceful. Amos Tupper has officially retired to Kentucky to live with his family (a storyline move forced by Tom Bosley leaving to star in The Father Dowling Mysteries), and former NYC lawman Mort Metzger has taken over as sheriff. Mort moved to Maine expecting quiet nights and zero crime, only to immediately step right into a double murder investigation involving two spinsters, a train robbery and a couple of secret graves in a flower garden.
Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury and William Windom?
oney.
Don Calfa (Clifford Coleson): Ultimate cult character actor famous as Paulie the hitman in Weekend at Bernie’s, Ernie Kaltenbrunner in The Return of the Living Dead and appearances in Necronomicon: Book of Dead, Chopper Chicks in Zombietown and 1941.
Tim Choate (Daryl Croft): Cult sci-fi favorite who played Zathras on Babylon 5, plus roles in Def-Con 4, Ghost Story and Blow Out.
Henry Jones (Morris Penroy): Horror and thriller royalty who starred as Leroy in The Bad Seed, played the coroner in Hitchcock’s Vertigo and starred in every single episode of the Columbo spin-off Mrs. Columbo.
Joan Leslie (Lillian Appletree): Hollywood Golden Age icon who starred in Sergeant York, High Sierra with Humphrey Bogart and Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Ron Masak (Sheriff Mort Metzger): Cult genre favorite from Laserblast, The Benchwarmers and classic voice work on The Transformers animated series.
Richard Paul (Mayor Sam Booth): Cult comedy icon who played Mayor Sam Booth on MSW, Rev. Pappy Knox in Eating Raoul and appeared in The People vs. Larry Flynt and Exterminator 2.
Teresa Wright (Helen Appletree): Oscar-winning Hollywood actress from The Best Years of Our Lives, Shadow of a Doubt and The Pride of the Yankees.
Will Nye (Deputy Floyd): Character actor who appeared in The Golden Child, Hard to Kill and Late for Dinner.
Al Pugliese (Ole Korshack): Genre presence from RoboCop 2, Tango & Cash and The Runestone.
Robert Moberly (Clyde): Character actor seen in The Stunt Man and Fletch Lives.
Deborah Rose (Bank Teller): She was in Critters 2: The Main Course (1988) and Twilight Zone: The Movie.
What happens?
Elderly boarder Morris Penroy dies suddenly of a heart attack right after proposing to Lillian Appletree. Terrified they’ll lose his pension checks—and get kicked out of their home—the Appletree sisters bury Mr. Penroy in their yard. When Mayor Sam Booth’s bulldog Winston starts digging in the garden, they discover not one, but two bodies buried in the soil.
The second body belongs to Clifford Coleson, one of Penroy’s former associates from a massive train heist. Penroy’s old criminal gang has descended on Cabot Cove looking for their hidden loot. Sheriff Metzger thinks the sweet Appletree sisters are ruthless serial killers, but JB Fletcher knows her neighbors couldn’t pitchfork a guy to save their lives.
Who did it?
Marilee Coleson (Candice Azzara) stabbed her husband Cliff with a pitchfork in the Appletrees’ garden. Cliff had tried to double-cross her and run off with the heist money alone. Right before dying, Cliff gasped out his wife’s name (“Oh, Lee!”), which the Appletree sisters misheard as a dying exclamation of “Holy—!”
Who made it?
Directed by Anthony Pullen Shaw (Angela Lansbury’s son!) and written by Robert E. Swanson.
Does Jessica dress up and act stupid? Does she get some?
No and no. Jessica stays strictly in local detective mode, keeping her cool while keeping Sheriff Metzger from locking up two sweet elderly spinsters for murder.
Was it any good?
It’s a top-tier Cabot Cove classic! The episode plays like a delightful homage to Arsenic and Old Lace, driven by wonderful performances from golden age Hollywood legends Teresa Wright and Joan Leslie. Ron Masak makes an immediate splash in his official debut as Sheriff Mort Metzger, establishing a dynamic with Jessica and Seth that carries the rest of the series.
Any trivia?
This marks Ron Masak’s debut as Sheriff Mort Metzger, though he previously guest-starred as two different characters in earlier seasons (including “No Accounting for Murder“).
This episode introduces Deputy Floyd (Will Nye) and Mort’s unseen, highly talkative wife Adele, who functions much like Mrs. Columbo.
Production heavily recycled sets for this episode: the exterior of the Cabot Cove Bus Depot is the repurposed Benny’s Antiques set from “Benedict Arnold Slipped Here,” and the interior of the Appletree home reuses the interior set from that same episode.
Give me a reasonable quote:
Dr. Seth Hazlitt: Just a case of saving the taxpayer money. Any smart lawyer would have gotten ’em off easy due to diminished mental capacity.
Jessica Fletcher: You know, I suspect that there’s not much wrong with Lillian and Helen’s mental capacity, Seth.
Dr. Seth Hazlitt: I was talkin’ about Metzger.
What’s next?
While stuck in a mountain ski lodge during a snowstorm, Jessica investigates multiple murders of professional skiers by a mysterious assailant who uses a crossbow to murder his victims.
