Jessica's week-long getaway to work on her latest novel hits a snag when she sees one of her fellow guests at the inn apparently push his wife into the lake. However, as Jessica delves deeper into the case, she comes to doubt her initial assumptions and becomes determined to prove the man's innocence.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Absence of Evidence: Inverted. When Carolyn is examined by Doc Hazlitt, he finds sediment from the soil in the pond in her lungs, which doesn't make sense since she was supposedly drowned in the middle of the lake.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Hollis says that Howard's side of the family stole all the money from a considerable sale and decries it as unfair. Jessica asks if what he did to Carolyn was fair. It ends up subverted as he protests that killing Carolyn wasn't personal and refuses to admit any wrongdoing.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Burton Hollis seems like a kind and gentle man, whose first impulse upon meeting an old acquaintance from a teacher's convention is to invite her to go birdwatching the next morning. Joanna Benson even mentions that she knew she "didn't have to worry" about him seeing her running naked through the woods. In truth, he murdered Carolyn Crane and tried to send his claustrophobic cousin to jail for her death for deeply selfish reasons - Howard had gotten rich off the sale of a family business Burton's father had been cheated out of, and it "wasn't fair" that he hadn't gotten his share. When Jessica asks him how "fair" it was for him to seduce Carolyn and then murder her when she expected an embrace and plans for their future, he even protests that he'd been fond of Carolyn, but she had to die so he could inherit.
- Blackmail: Jack Turney, a worker at the inn, has a number of aliases due to being a serial blackmailer of married women. He even nearly killed one of them.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Jessica notices a hook on the rowboat's bottom which the boathouse keeper can't explain. Carol apparently used it to hide some scuba gear, enabling her to swim underwater across the lake.
- Dr. Hazlitt says that Carolyn's scalp has glass fragments embedded in it, but that the glass wasn't from a bottle. It turns out to be from Mr. Hollis' binoculars.
- Mr. Hollis casually mentions that Mr. Crane can't stand being cooped up. Jessica only figures out that he's claustrophobic when he freaks out in the police car, which makes her suspicious about how a supposed complete stranger would know something so personal.
- Chekhov's Gunman: During the ride to the jail, Howard Crane mentions his cousin Arthur, who he didn't like and whose whereabouts he doesn't know. Burton Hollis turns out to be this same cousin.
- Claustrophobia: Mr. Crane immediately begins complaining of discomfort while sitting in the back of the police car, and asks someone to open a window before he suffocates. According to his rant afterwards, this affliction started when he got locked in a cabinet as a six-year-old boy.
- Covers Always Lie: Howard mentions that he bought one of Jessica's books at an airport because there was a sexy lady in a nightgown on the cover, but never got to "the good part". Jessica laughs and says she has a hard time living up to her covers.
- A Deadly Affair: Mr. Jordan pulls a gun on the man his wife's cheating on him with, but Amos talks him down.
- Eager Rookie: Deputy Noah eagerly uses his name each time he uses the radio and waves his rifle around way too much for Seth and Amos's taste. Noah even ignores an order from Sheriff Tupper to stay at the car and charges into a dangerous situation, nearly making it worse.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Downplayed; Howard Crane is rude, treats Carolyn critically, and cheated on her with his secretary, but when she goes overboard, he jumps in after her despite being unable to swim. When she dies, it devastates him.
- Faking the Dead: Hollis and Carol cooked up a scheme to frame Howard for attempted murder via drowning so they could use his money to start a new life together. What Carol didn't know was that Hollis had plans of his own.
- A Family Affair: Carolyn Crane became involved with her husband's cousin Arthur and got his help with a plot to pressure her husband into giving her a healthy divorce settlement. It's unlikely that she actually knew that her lover was her husband's cousin, however.
- Frame-Up: Carolyn and Hollis planned to fake her death and make it look like Howard had murdered her.
- George Washington Slept Here: Harry Pierce boasts that Edgar Allan Poe stayed at Stone Lake Inn. When Jessica objects that the inn can't have stood for that long, he admits that the current structure is new, but asserts that the old inn, parts of which were incorporated into the new one, did have that history.
- Granola Girl: Joanna Benson likes to run naked through the woods and speaks about being free from social expectations. However, Jessica presses out of her that she's actually Howard Crane's ex-secretary and lover, who followed him and his wife to keep an eye on them. She came early and set up the façade to avoid the suspicion that might follow a young lady traveling alone.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: "Burton Hollis" sets himself up as an avid birdwatcher, but Jessica realizes something wrong — he talked about looking for a specific species' nest in a tree, but the species nests on the ground.
- Improbable Weapon User: Hollis liked to share his birdwatching hobby with others. He ended up sharing with Carolyn by slamming her in the head with his binoculars when she swam to shore.
- Inheritance Murder: Cousin Arthur, aka Burton Hollis, seduces and murders Carolyn Crane after they have framed her husband for attempting to kill her. He accused Howard's side of the family of stealing all the proceeds from a factory that sold for a lot of money and wanted it all to himself.
- Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Grace's brother Jack showed up one night saying he'd gotten into trouble with a woman who'd tried to extort him. This is absolutely 100% true... if you replace everything after "into" with "four serial affairs with married woman, blackmailed each of them, and hit one of them hard enough to put her in the ICU". Grace is shocked and disbelieving at first when she hears the truth.
- No Accounting for Taste: Crane may have more redeeming qualities, but from what we see he's a rude man who mistreated and neglected his wife. What did his wife see in him to begin with? Why is Joanna so in love with him that she's trying to get him back?
- Nothing Personal: Cousin Arthur offers this as his last defense of the episode. He had nothing against Carolyn Crane, and was even fond of her, but both she and her husband had to be eliminated in order for him to inherit.
- Revealing Cover Up: Rather than make the frame-up more convincing, Hollis's actual murder of Mrs. Crane just reveals that she couldn't have been killed in the manner everyone thought.
- Rewatch Bonus: Joanna sobbing about never having even known Mrs. Crane takes on a more poignant light after it turns out she's Howard Crane's mistress.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Carolyn Crane was badly neglected and emotionally abused by her husband, so when she met a seemingly gentle and compassionate man, she was more than willing to fake her death and jump into his arms.
- Would Hit a Girl:
- Jack Turney had history of blackmailing married women and hit one of them hard enough to nearly kill her.
- Once Carol once had served her purpose, Burton Hollis broke a pair of binoculars on her head and drowned her.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Jessica comes up with the theory that Carolyn faked her murder because Howard didn't want a divorce lest he have to pay her a settlement. When Sheriff Tupper asks what the point would be, she further theorizes that Carolyn intended to swim away, reappear after a few days, and claim she'd been in hiding for fear of her husband. The combined bad publicity would force his hand.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: As stated above, Carolyn faked her death to frame Howard for her murder. Unfortunately for her, when Hollis said that Howard would be accused of her murder, he really meant murder.
