This episode has Jessica Fletcher going out to the wide open spaces of Wyoming
to attend the funeral of an old war buddy of her late husband's. She gets to
comfort the daughter of the deceased Kathleen Beller. The deceased owned
quite a spread and Beller and her fiance foreman Jeff Osterhage look to be well
fixed for some time.
In however walks tycoon Clu Gulager and his bimbo of a wife Stella Stevens
who say that the place is their's now. If it is Gulager didn't get to enjoy it long
as he's found strung up western style in the barn.
Gulager was not the most likable sort and he had a passel of enemies with
plenty of motives to kill him.
Two performances stand out. One is Stevens who thinks she's going to be the
owner of a Ponderosa like spread. The other is Cliff Potts who's the sheriff and
takes his cues from the great western cowboys of the past. Not real good
however on modern crime solving. Angela Lansbury has to take him in hand.
William Windom makes his first apperance on Murder She Wrote as the family
lawyer. The following season he would be back for the rest of the series run
as familiar grouchy, but kindly Dr. Seth Hazlitt.
As for the murder part of this story is taken from Agatha Christie's Murder On
The Orient Express. But only part.