Fresh off another draft of her latest book, Jessica goes to catch up with old friend Peggy Shannon in sunny California. But trouble is brewing in paradise. Peggy's ex-husband, Johnny, may have taken the show business world by storm, but his way with people leaves many in his wake seething. When Johnny turns up dead in his home, Jessica finds no shortage of suspects, but any explanation will have to figure out how — or if — the killer bypassed the security system.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
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Cast the Expert: The murder victim, Johnny Shannon, was a lounge singer. He's played by Ed Ames, who had a successful singing career before going into acting (as one of the Ames Brothers), and during his acting career as a solo performer. - Conviction by Counterfactual Clue: Jessica solves the murder by realizing that the police sergeant who has been investigating the murder dismissed a spot where a framed item had been removed as having been nothing more than a family picture could only have known that if he had been inside the home prior to being summoned, as the victim's daughter had removed the picture as soon as she found her father dead. Except that he could have potentially learned that from the various people who were in the house when the body was discovered. This is a bit downplayed, though, as Barnes does not think to offer this excuse and instead pulls his gun — the murder weapon — on Jessica, who (after he is disarmed) acknowledges that this is the only real piece of evidence.
- Detective Mole: Jessica realizes that the killer was Sgt. Barnes, the policeman with whom she has been investigating. He was a hitman who got himself transferred into a small community police force to get at his target.
- Delayed Reaction: Sgt. Barnes says he'd welcome Jessica's insight on the murder, even if her books are a little inaccurate. Jessica assures him that they're very well-researched, and—wait, what do you mean "inaccurate"?
- Dirty Cop: Sgt. Barnes is secretly a hit man for the mafia.
- Hypocritical Humor: Johnny criticizes a piece his son Mickey wrote for a tennis tournament and calls in someone to listen to it. When the guy says he thinks it's nicely bouncy, Johnny dismisses him as having a tin ear.
- If I Wanted You Dead...: A variation; when Buster says he wanted to ask if the mob had put a hit on him, Jessica points out that if the hitman had wanted to kill him, he would have done so the same night he killed Johnny.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Jessica realizes that Sgt. Barnes killed Johnny Shannon when she recalls him dismissing a missing picture of Johnny and his children as unimportant. However, Terry took the photo from the wall before the police arrived. If he had never been inside the room before, he couldn't have known what photo it was.
- Red Herring:
- Vic LaRosa, the tennis player who Terry dated, falls under suspicion. He's the only person known to have gotten in from the outside without needing to go through security (Terry turned the system off to let him sneak in) and he runs after the murder is committed. He had nothing to do with it.
- Buster Bailey, the comedy relief, ended up with a broken heart courtesy of Johnny's womanizing, and Terry catches him on the telephone trying to contact mob boss Milo Valentine. He didn't kill Johnny, and only wanted to ask the gangster if he had a hit out on his own head.
- Shock Value Relationship: Terry started dating Vic because she knew Johnny would hate him. After the murder, she gives him some money and a warning to flee before the police start looking for him but tells him not to call her, saying the whole relationship was about irritating her father.
- Undying Loyalty: Lou Ross, Johnny's Dumb Muscle bodyguard.
- Worthy Opponent: Detective Sgt. Barnes seems to respect Jessica and isn't pleased that he has to kill her.
