Murder by S.O.P. begins with a fatigued Quincy (Jack Klugman) driving late at night to a convention in Sacramento and being pulled over by a small town Sheriff (John Ireland) who thinks he might be intoxicated. The Sheriff insists that Quincy get some sleep and puts him in protective custody so he can rest at the jail. Later in the evening, an intruder stabs a prisoner and then sets the jail on fire to cover up the crime. Quincy manages to escape unscathed, but four prisoners die and Quincy decides to stay and assist the local coroner with the autopsies. When he uncovers that one of the victims was stabbed he insists that a murder investigation be opened, but to further complicate matters, Quincy has a reluctant sheriff and an eccentric mayor to deal with making things that much more difficult.
This is a great murder mystery episode and probably the best of Season 5 up to this point. While I'm not always a fan of the plots where Quincy goes off somewhere and a crime conveniently falls into his lap, I thought this episode was very well done and maintained credibility while telling a compelling story. I also thought that the guest stars did an excellent job as well and didn't overplay their roles as the hostile townspeople suspicious of an outsider coming in and stirring things up. Kudos to John Ireland (Sheriff Evers), Duncan Gamble (Dr. Carl Jessup) and Edward Andrews (Mayor Joyner) for great portrayals of their respective characters. Another thing I liked is that even though the story takes place outside of LA, all of the regulars were still included as Quincy meets up with Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) and Sam (Robert Ito) at the conference and the rest of the gang at Danny's at the end.
Overall this is a very entertaining and enjoyable standout episode of Season 5 which I highly recommend viewing.