The characters of "Helmsley Post" -an aggressively macho writer of war stories - and "Adrian Winslow" - a waspish, perhaps homosexual author of historical novels - may be intended as outrageous caricatures of the real-life writers Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal, whose long-standing literary feud had been very much in the news shortly before this was filmed. The name "Post" for the Mailer character is another clue.
Future series regular as Cabot Cove Sheriff Mort Metzger, Ron Masak appears as Lt. Meyer in this episode.
After the cancellation of Murder, She Wrote (1984), creators Peter S. Fischer and William Link rehire Ron Masak for a brief appearance in their famous made for television Columbo (1971) movies. Masak can be seen in Ashes to Ashes (1998).