Production Information[]
| Production Number: | |
| Aired: December 16th, 1990 | |
| Written By: William "Bill" Bigelow | |
| Directed By: Kevin G. Cremin | |
| INSERT EPISODE SCREENSHOT HERE | |
| Created By: Peter S. Fischer
and Richard Levinson & William Link |
|
| Executive Producers: Peter S. Fischer | |
| Producers: Anthony Magro
Robert F. O'Neill Robert E. Swanson Robert Van Scoyk |
|
Summary[]
Dennis Stanton investigates when a prominent pianist's wife is murdered shortly after the pianist's hands are badly burnt.
Trivia[]
Twelfth of 14 "bookend" episodes in which Jessica only appears at the beginning to introduce them; the others are Murder in a Minor Key (Episode), The Grand Old Lady, Jack & Bill, Class Act, Goodbye Charlie, Murder - According to Maggie, O'Malley's Luck, Always a Thief, The Sicilian Encounter, See You in Court, Baby, & The Great Twain Robbery. Also, the fifth of these episodes to feature a recurring character instead of a new one and the fourth with Dennis Stanton; the others are Always a Thief, The Sicilian Encounter (with Michael Haggerty), See You in Court, Baby, & The Great Twain Robbery.
This episode is similar to Murder in a Minor Key (Episode)- both are episodes without Jessica and involve a murder regarding a famous musician and their spouse, the main difference being the gender of the murderer.
Victim: Melina Maryska
Killer: Vaclav Maryska
Cause of death: Gunshot
Motive: To prevent her from collecting the insurance money on his injured hands, and running away with his trainee, Nicole Gregory.
Goofs[]
At 47:25, a stage light is visible in the upper right corner of the screen.
"Maryska" or "Mariska" is an eastern European diminutive, meaning "little Mary". (Hence e.g. Mariska Hargitay whose father was Hungarian.) It doesn't work as a family name.
Starring[]
Regular Cast[]
Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher
Recurring Cast[]
Keith Michell as Dennis Stanton
James Sloyan as Robert Butler
Ken Swofford as Lt. Perry Catalano
Hallie Todd as Rhoda Markowitz
Guest Stars[]
Stephen Caffrey as Alex Seletz
Melinda Culea as Nicole Gregory
Joe Dorsey as Ben Devlin
Ricardo Montalban as Vaclav Maryska
Patricia Neal as Melina Maryska
Co-Starring[]
Dean R. Miller as Charlie
Anne Gee Bird as Widow
Aaron Heyman as Mr. Morris
John Kerry as Security Guard