Out on parole, Jessica Fletcher’s first publisher, Preston Giles, tries to woo her back into the fold. After another murder is committed, Giles ends up needing Jessica’s help when he becomes the prime suspect.
By season seven of Murder, She Wrote, the show was already far and away one of the best loved and watched films on television. The mysteries were still interesting, Jessica Fletcher was as charming as ever, and her location change to New York City enabled a host of new mysteries, one of which is today’s episode: The Return of Preston Giles.
This edition of Episode Spotlight, we’re going to be taking a closer look at the episode in question, analyzing it as both an episode of Murder, She Wrote, and as an episode of television in general. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the mystery of The Return of Preston Giles. Spoilers below!
Before we actually get into the episode itself, a little important background is necessary.
Preston Giles (Arthur Hill), was the first murderer in the history of Murder, She Wrote, making his first (and only other) appearance in the pilot, The Murder of Sherlock Holmes. Besides being Jessica Fletcher’s first publisher, Giles also possessed an affection for Jessica that was reciprocated, making it doubly hard for Jessica to confront him and send him to prison for murder.
That was seven years ago.
Now, Jessica has a new publisher, and Preston Giles has been in jail for his crimes, until one day, the new head of the publishing company Giles had worked for, a man named Ross McKay (Michael McKean), pulls some strings to get him out of prison on parole.
As it turns out, Sutton Place Publishing, once successful while headed by Giles, has become somewhat less than successful in recent years. Ross McKay, together with his business partner, Kendall Stafford, have hatched a plan to restore the company to its former glory: bringing Preston Giles, convicted murderer and former company owner, released from prison and back working with the company.
Ross takes Giles out to dinner to explain the situation to him, most notably, the first and most essential part of his Grand Plan: get Jessica Fletcher back with the company.
The way Ross is thinking, if famed writer JB Fletcher rejoins Sutton Place Publishing, the rest of the A-list writers will follow suit. Giles isn’t sure about the plan, but reluctantly agrees after Ross reminds him that, after all, Jessica Fletcher was Preston’s discovery, and she owes him. Back at the office, Ross receives a phone call from his wife, Linette (Brynn Thayer), who tells him that she plans to be away, working over the weekend.
As it turns out, that’s not exactly true.
Linette McKay is actually having an affair with Ross’s business partner, Kendall Stafford (Gordon Thomson), who informs her during a tryst that their weekend plans are off, since his wife has signed him up for some work without telling him. Linette understand, and explains that Ross needs her help too, preparing for an audit.
Meanwhile, Preston Giles begins settling into his new office at Sutton Place Publishing, meeting his nervous secretary Gloria, before meeting another face: Martin Bergman (George Coe), an old enemy of his.
Preston accuses Bergman of being the cause of the financial mess that Sutton Place is currently in. During the altercation, Ross shows up to meet Bergman about something, dismissing Preston’s irritation that Preston hasn’t been able to reach Ross. Ross assures Preston that he’ll meet with him soon, and Bergman gives Preston a royalty check for Jessica Fletcher in preparation for their meeting.
Jessica Fletcher herself returns to her hotel, ready to rest after a round of interviews and shopping, when Preston Giles shows up to meet her, much to her surprise.
Preston explains the situation, including his parole and desire to meet with her. He also explains that he was supposed to invite Jessica to a dinner party thrown by Ross and Linette, where he was supposed to sweet-talk her into accepting a check to rejoin Sutton Place Publishing. Preston hands Jessica the royalty check, and tells her that he’s going to quit the whole thing.
Jessica hesitantly agrees to meet with him later and returns to her hotel room, where she finds it torn apart, as though someone was looking for something. As she inspects the damage, someone grabs her from behind, and she is shoved to the floor. In the struggle, Jessica manages to scratch the hand of the perpetrator and recovers, too late to stop the burglar, who grabs her purse and takes off.
Unbeknownst to Jessica, the burglar is Martin Bergman, confirming Preston Giles’ suspicions.
The following day, Preston goes into Ross’s office to resign. Ross reminds him that his parole is conditional on his employment at the publishing house and manages to convince Preston to stay for a month, to see if he changes his mind.
Directly after, Preston’s nervous secretary, Gloria, tells him that Jessica called about the theft. Worried, Preston rushes to her hotel room to check on her, but she explains that she only called to tell him to put a stop on the check, since it was in her stolen purse. Preston offers to replace it at breakfast tomorrow, but Jessica explains that she doesn’t think they should see each other anymore.
Meanwhile, at Kendall Stafford’s office, Kendall’s wife Millie tries to convince him to come to dinner and the opera with her. Kendall tells her that he has to work late, and sends her on her way. As Millie is leaving, Linette comes in. Millie asks her pointedly if she’s working late too.
At Sutton Place Publishing, Preston is working late as well, preparing a presentation for Ross. Martin drops by to tell him that a new check will be sent to Jessica Fletcher. After a brief discussion about the state of violence in today’s times, he goes on his way. A moment later, Gloria, Preston’s secretary, starts screaming hysterically down the hall from Preston’s office.
Leaving his office to find the source of the commotion, Preston passes Gloria, running down the hallway, and comes across Martin, slumped over his desk with a letter opener in his back and a bandage on his hand, the hand that Jessica scratched.
Naturally, given Preston’s history and the situation, Preston is arrested for the murder of Martin Bergman.
Later, Jessica Fletcher visits Preston in a holding cell to listen to his story. Preston swears that he’s innocent, but admits that he has no abili, telling Jessica to go home and forget the whole thing.
Jessica, for her part, doesn’t know what to think.
She goes to see the lead detective on the case, Slocum (Todd Susman), thanking him for allowing her to see Preston. Slocum asks her what Preston told her, and Jessica tells him that she’ll be happy to tell him all about it: after he gets a subpoena. She also finds out about the fact that Martin was found with the bandage on his hand. Spotting a connection, Jessica tells Slocum about the burglar in her apartment, but the detective isn’t terribly concerned with it, stating that he has 62 other murders to solve, and with Gloria preparing to testify that Preston and Martin had a tense altercation the previous day, Slocum thinks he’s about to have one less case to deal with.
Jessica decides to go to the publishing company’s party after all, and meets Millie Stafford, who is full of complaints about her husband and Linette, who appears with Kendall in tow, to greet Jessica.
Later, Ross corners Jessica and asks her if she’s decided to accept his offer to join Sutton Place Publishing. Jessica admits that it’s a generous offer and says she’ll have to consult with her attorneys, asking him to keep quiet until she has a decision. Ross feels responsible for everything that’s happened with Preston and Martin, but Jessica feels like this is a bit more complicated than it seems.
On her way home after the party, Jessica heads to the police station, where it turns out Slocum was expecting her, having left a message informing her that her bag has been found (minus her check and cash). He’s in a worse mood than usual, as new information about the case has just come to light: someone has broken into Martin’s apartment and torn it apart.
Jessica has an idea.
She explains to Detective Slocum that she believes that this whole thing can be boiled down to one word: blackmail.
Jessica’s theory is that Martin was blackmailing someone. Whoever it was that he was blackmailing got fed up and killed him, but unable to find what he was blackmailing them with on his person, they broke into his apartment to search it. The theory is enough to half-convince Slocum who agrees to go to Martin’s office to find evidence of blackmail. Instead, they discover Ross, rifling through the drawers.
The next day, Preston is released, but Jessica remains unsatisfied. Ross swears that he isn’t the murderer, or even a blackmailee. He explains that he found evidence that Martin had been embezzling, which is why he was searching the office. Jessica goes to see Linette, who is rather upset about the fact that her husband is in prison, but has nothing to say about anything Martin may have been blackmailing him with. It takes Jessica reminding her of the financial affects of Ross’s imprisonment before she finally spills.
It turns out that Ross and Kendall were involved in a fraud many years ago that Martin found out about and blackmailed both of them with. Linette says that Ross was with her at the time of the murder, clearing him, but putting the suspicion on Kendall instead. Before Jessica can call the police, Preston stops her, explaining that he has a thought that he needs to be sure of before they can act. He tells her that he’ll call her later, and heads to work.
Later that night, Jessica gets Detective Slocum to drive her to Preston’s office to make sure everything’s okay, as she hasn’t been able to get ahold of him. Unfortunately, the killer gets there first: Millie Stafford.
Millie, as it turns out, was getting sick of paying for her husband’s blackmail, and killed Martin. When she saw the note that Preston left for her husband saying that he had the papers, she decided to off Preston, too. She demands the papers from him, and after Preston declares that they are hidden so securely that no one will ever find them, she takes him at his word, and shoots him in the chest.
Jessica and Slocum show up just as Millie attempts to escape. Slocum grabs her, preventing her from leaving while Jessica rushes upstairs to check on Preston, finding him nearly dead. Preston tells Jessica that they caught her, managing the word: “tape” before he dies.
Behind him, Jessica finds the tape recorder, and listens to Millie’s confession.
End of episode.
The last episode of Murder, She Wrote that we looked at on here, Night of the Coyote, was a fairly formulaic one, a standard mystery with plenty of red herrings, clues, and a relatively simple ending. This one, on the other hand, is a bit more complex than Murder, She Wrote typically got.
Starting with the very premise.
Murder, She Wrote was a very episodic show, without too much of an emphasis on continuitity. There were recurring characters and events that absolutely happened in the canon of the show, but rarely did you need to see an episode previously to understand what was happening in another. In the case of The Return of Preston Giles, however, there was a little bit of a continuity lock-out, due to the fact that the titular character was directly connected to the story he first appeared in: Jessica’s first case.
Not only does this add a layer to the story, with that added first installment that influences the second, but it also adds a layer of emotional storytelling not always present in your average Murder, She Wrote episode. Jessica has a personal stake in this story. She helped put Preston Giles behind bars in the first place, and feels conflicted now, torn between her personal feelings for him and the memory of what he’s done. She doesn’t quite trust him, but she wants to think better of him.
It’s a welcome change from the traditional formula.
In another departure, it is Preston, not Jessica, who uncovers the villain at the end, and he pays for it with his life. In Murder, She Wrote’s most depressing ending, Preston is shot by the murderer, and dies in front of Jessica. On one hand, the criminal is being brought to justice, thanks to his recording, but at the cost of his own life.
And that’s where the episode ends. No freeze-frame on Jessica’s smiling face, no joking outro to calm the audience down: the credits roll and the audience contends with the death of a main character who had a few more layers of complexity than was usually depicted on the show.
As great as those elements are, the fact is, this is also just a good episode.
Like I mentioned in my previous Murder, She Wrote episode spotlight, Murder, She Wrote had a solid consistency, with most episodes making good murder stories, with plenty of suspects and twists to make it interesting, but not to the degree where it’s unsolvable. This episode, functioning with a pretty small cast, manages to weave the story of Preston Giles and Jessica Fletcher among the other stories, giving a tight-knit band of suspects and set of clues that the viewers can put together in a way that makes sense to guess the killer. The motives are good and make sense, the characters believable, and Jessica is as sharp as ever, as well as struggling with personal feelings towards the accused party. Even the law enforcement of the episode is depicted as exasperated, but not entirely unfair.
The characters within this episode feel fleshed out, partially thanks to the pilot episode establishing continuity, and both the personal side and the mystery itself are well-balanced, equally interesting, and well-written, providing another perfectly in-character exploration of Jessica and her relationships, and a sobering end of a sharp, interesting murder mystery, with more emotional stakes than usual.
The Return of Preston Giles is an example of Murder, She Wrote at an unusual best, surpassing several well-written episodes by a depth not usually explored, and delivering spectacularly in every area. It’s an engaging episode full of memorable characters and moments that are as thoughtful as they are entertaining, containing the traditional ‘mystery’ intrigue as well as character moments that make this episode a standout, a great showing for Jessica Fletcher and a direct throwback to her early days on the show, a must-see for avid watchers of Murder, She Wrote, and television fans in general.
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