- Jessica discovers a letter from George Washington that leads to a hero's disgrace and a director's murder.
- In London, blackmailer Alexander Sandsby demands his half but gets a blow on the head and perishes in fire that was set. Cabot Cove is preparing for its annual Joshua Peabody day, this time with a TV documentary production. Jessica is reading the text, written by Bostonian hot-shot director Richard Hawkes, who won an Emmy 8 years ago, with a few historical corrections by her own hand. Jessica brings an ideal period prop, a music box, for repairs to Thomas Godfrey, owner of an antique store, who finds the mechanism is jammed by a letter from George Washington dated September 12, 1780, calling the local hero a traitor who accepted enemy payment to cowardly surrender and threatening him with court-martial. Peabody's descendant Edith fails to convince Jessica and Seth to destroy it, raging it ruins everything for her family and the whole town. Experts authenticate it's from the time of the Revolution, but if it's real why did Joshua keep it, and if not, who made such a fine forgery and why? Hawkes refuses to take it on board until the university makes its final determination, so producer Bob Kendall worries as they run heavily over budget. Edith is shocked to find someone gave the Peabody statue a noose and a sign 'traitor'. The annual re-enactment of the Battle of Cabot Cove goes on, despite a bolting horse, but Hawkes refuses to wait for such time-consuming things as reloading. Producer Bob Kendall tells Hawkes the studio has chosen another director. Local production assistant Louise Peabody quits with him. Jessica gets a lesson in recording and editing technique from Scott Patterson, notably synchronizing picture and sound. Edith apologizes to Jessica, but Mort reports the letter was on a paper type used by George Washington and she runs off. Then there's a fire at the movie company's office. New director Amelia Farnum's corpse lies there, probably killed by a blow on the head and an antique pistol is missing. Paul Tavener approaches Hawkes, who is reinstated to finish the film and now wants to focus on the letter, but Jessica reports her idea was right to prove it a clever forgery. It has traces of 20th century mercury pollution. Paul Tavener is arrested after Scotland Yard identifies him as Jeffrey Caldwell, a world class forger. But he denies any part in Sandsby's murder but admits being hired by him to forge the Washington letter. He claims to have seen Farnum's killer and Identifies Edith Peabody, under whose car seat the murder weapon is found, without finger prints. Jessica doubts her guilt and finds a very suspicious bit of sound track is missing.—KGF Vissers
- It's a busy time in Cabot Cove and time for the re-enactment of a famous Revolutionary War battle led by Joshua Peabody, the town's most revered citizen. The re-enactment is always a very popular tourist attraction but this year there is the added attraction that a film crew is there to make a documentary about Peabody. The director, Richard Hawkes, had won an Emmy some years before but has obviously been living on those laurels for many years. He's in constant conflict with the producer Bob Kendall and the cinematographer Amelia Farnum, leading Kendall to fire him and put Farnum in charge. Meanwhile, everyone in Cabot Cove is aghast when an old letter addressed to Joshua Peabody and signed by George Washington is found in an old music box. It suggests that Peabody was anything but the revered hero he's been made out to be and the documentary film gets an interesting angle to pursue. It's all very upsetting, particularly for Edith Peabody, the keeper of the flame for her revered ancestor. When Farnum is found murdered in the movie office which is set ablaze, there is no shortage of suspects for Jessica Fletcher to consider.—garykmcd
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