Classic film stars Teresa Wright and Joan Leslie grace this episode as eccentric spinster sisters Helen and Lillian Appletree, who finish each other's sentences, but cannot seem to explain reasons for bodies' turning up in their flower gardens.
"Mr. Penroy's Vacation" also introduces the recurring characters of Sheriff Mort Metzger (Ron Masak) and Deputy Floyd McCallum (Will Nye) into the Cabot Cove community, as they meet its leading citizens, Mayor Sam Booth (Richard Paul), Doctor Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) and Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury).
When guests arrive in the back yard of the residence of Helen (Teresa Wright) and Lillian Appletree (Joan Leslie) to celebrate the occasion of the birthday of their tenant, Morris Penroy (Henry Jones), the sisters' versions of Mister Penroy's absence vary, other than to explain that he has suddenly left town to visit a sick friend across the country.
During the course of events, a few others descend upon Cabot Cove in uninvited fashion, to search for Mister Penroy, including Clifford Coleson (Don Calfa), who poses as a minister friend of Morris; Ole Korshack (Al Pugliese), who stalks Morris upon his walks; Daryl Croft (Tim Choate), who threatens Morris; Marilee Coleson (Candice Azzara), who claims to be the wife of Morris; and Bart Klapper (Norman Alden), who claims to be an examiner for the Boston-Central Railroad, investigating a $million payroll heist, from which its spoils have never been recovered.
But when Winston, the pet bulldog of Mayor Sam Booth, veers from the course of his hiking with Sam and Jessica, his digging inside the garden of the sisters Appletree leads to the discovery of bodies.
The short-fused Sheriff Metzger suspects that Helen and Lillian know more about murder than they let on, but because Jessica has known the pair since arriving in Cabot Cove during her young adulthood, she maintains their innocence with a grain of doubt.
Jessica subsequently follows a trail littered with embezzlement, forged checks, missing baggage claim checks, and murder graced with a four-pronged tine pitchfork and another hoisted fireplace poker to search for the itinerary of "Mr. Penroy's Vacation."
"Mr. Penroy's Vacation" also introduces the recurring characters of Sheriff Mort Metzger (Ron Masak) and Deputy Floyd McCallum (Will Nye) into the Cabot Cove community, as they meet its leading citizens, Mayor Sam Booth (Richard Paul), Doctor Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) and Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury).
When guests arrive in the back yard of the residence of Helen (Teresa Wright) and Lillian Appletree (Joan Leslie) to celebrate the occasion of the birthday of their tenant, Morris Penroy (Henry Jones), the sisters' versions of Mister Penroy's absence vary, other than to explain that he has suddenly left town to visit a sick friend across the country.
During the course of events, a few others descend upon Cabot Cove in uninvited fashion, to search for Mister Penroy, including Clifford Coleson (Don Calfa), who poses as a minister friend of Morris; Ole Korshack (Al Pugliese), who stalks Morris upon his walks; Daryl Croft (Tim Choate), who threatens Morris; Marilee Coleson (Candice Azzara), who claims to be the wife of Morris; and Bart Klapper (Norman Alden), who claims to be an examiner for the Boston-Central Railroad, investigating a $million payroll heist, from which its spoils have never been recovered.
But when Winston, the pet bulldog of Mayor Sam Booth, veers from the course of his hiking with Sam and Jessica, his digging inside the garden of the sisters Appletree leads to the discovery of bodies.
The short-fused Sheriff Metzger suspects that Helen and Lillian know more about murder than they let on, but because Jessica has known the pair since arriving in Cabot Cove during her young adulthood, she maintains their innocence with a grain of doubt.
Jessica subsequently follows a trail littered with embezzlement, forged checks, missing baggage claim checks, and murder graced with a four-pronged tine pitchfork and another hoisted fireplace poker to search for the itinerary of "Mr. Penroy's Vacation."