Plot

Jessica searches for a link between the town bully's death and the death of the woman he was having an affair with.

In Cabot Cove, Seth treats Jessica and her New York re-migrant friend Imogene Shaughnessy to a dinner at the bowling alley, where bad loser Sam Bryce openly trips Harvey's foot. The girls decide to take a look the next morning at Terry Deauville's fine, grand home. Terry considers moving to New York. She tells Sam it's over now that he stood her up. Unpopular wino Sam's daughter Gloria Bryce and her lover Ollie Rudman are happier. Jessica praises Seth's poem 'Ode to Literature'. They hear Sam yell to his bowling teammate to return his saber-saw and deny they'll both be at the game. The sheriff got a report on a break in at that place but nothing was stolen. Sam complains to Ron about the state of the saw while he's at poker with the sheriff. The saw electrocutes Sam to death, while standing in water. Miss Medora Finney reports another break-in during Sam's funeral, only her journal was stolen, according to her the key to Sam's murder she blames on Terry Deauville. Forensics confirm Sam's garage was rigged and finds Terry's fingerprints. Medora's diary is found in Terry's place. Ollie is the only one who seems offended by everyone considering Sam is no loss, not even his own family. Back at the mansion, Jessica finds the phone off the hook and Terry hanged, Seth presumes suicide, yet Imogene's bid was already signed, startling Jessica, just as her frock which seems better fitting to go out on a date. Seth is invited by Mort to take Sam's poker seat. Jessica urgently asks him along. Mort verifies Harvey Hoffman, another bowling team member, has Terry's order for the rope, but the signature is forged. Harvey says it's just his scribble to that he delivered it. Measurements mean Terry couldn't hang herself, the coroner concludes she died before the hanging. The journal, written in initials and grim Apocalypse-language, includes Sam's failed attempt to stop the fire in Al Wallace's pharmacy, but he didn't tell anyone, perhaps because he started it. The bartender recalls Ron Friendly used the pay phone to call Terry. He admits he was at her place, claims nobody was home and spills the beans on Al Wallace's plan to buy a condo together with Sam. Jessica suddenly realizes how both murders connect.—KGF Vissers

In Cabot Cove Jessica finds herself helping Sheriff Metzger solve a couple of mysterious deaths. The first is Sam Bryce who was electrocuted with his own skill saw. Bryce was a boozing womanizer who alienated everyone in the community including his wife Emily and daughter Gloria and most of the members of his bowling team who have just lost the regional finals. The second death is the suicide of Terry Deauville, a popular schoolteacher who the married Bryce was chasing. Jessica's friend Imogene Shaughnessy was about to buy Deauville's house so Jessica thinks it's highly unlikely that she she would take her own life. Blackmail is at the root of it all and Jessica manages to identify the killer responsible for both murders.—garykmcd