History Recap / MurderSheWroteS1E12MurderToAJazzBeat

* InstrumentOfMurder: A jazz clarinetist who was planning on firing his back-up band before signing a huge recording contract and killing his wife was murdered by a poisoned clarinet reed.
* {{Jerkass}}:

* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Ben Coleman is a talented up-and-coming jazz clarinetist who's doing heavy drugs and cheating on his wife with a number of women. His manager Aaron has tried to stop both of these things, but cynically thinks it'll less that it'll be less than a year before Ben burns himself out and that it was a shame he'd die before he really hits it big/develops his talent to perfection.

** Carl Turnbull and his station manager fired Jonathan over his refusal to allow them to put ''footage of a man's agonized death from curare poisoning'' on the 11:00 news.

* TheFaceOfTheBand: Ben Coleman was unsurprisingly the main draw of the Ben Coleman Quartet, whom he planned to dump after he made it big.

* CassandraTruth: The killer confesses that he knew Ben was plotting to kill Callie and the intended victim wouldn't believe him, so he killed Ben before he could follow through.

* ICallItVera: Ben called his clarinet "Miss Emma".
* IfItBleedsItLeads: Carl, Turnbull, Jonathan's boss at the station, shows up at the crime scene annoyed with him because he had to learn about Ben Caron's death through Jonathan's cameraman, which only gives them an hour to edit the footage in time for the 11:00 news. Disgusted, Jonathan refuses to hand over the tapes, and when Turnbull says he'll take it up with the station manager, he says they'll go together. The manager sides with Turnbull, the footage airs, and Jonathan quits in protest.

** Ben and his brother are implied to have been complicit in the murder of a liquor store clerk while robbing him, with only Callie's false testimony saving them from being arrested. He eventually married her, and rewarded her for fifteen years of faithful marriage by cheating on her and planning to poison her.
** Ben planned on dumping his fellow band members after sixteen years together, including one, Eubie, who had helped him develop his talent and written several arrangements for him, even helping him get by in lean financial times. Also, Ben was smuggling drugs out of South America, which would likely have meant jail time for the whole band if he'd gotten caught, even after Aaron warned him about the dangers.

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Ben had begun cheating on Callie and didn't want to take her to Las Vegas. However, he didn't want to run any risk that she would tell the truth about an incident for which she gave him an alibi, even ignoring Eddie's assurances that she wouldn't do such a thing. So he decided to kill her, which backfired.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Ben and his brother used to be young criminals who are implied to have kill at least one person. His brother died in a gang fight, and Ben made it big, albeit addicted to drugs.

* IfItBleedsItLeads: Carl, Turnbull, Jonathan's boss at the station, shows up at the crime scene annoyed with him because he had to learn about Ben Caron's death through Jonathan's cameraman, which only gives them an hour to edit it in time for the 11:00 news. Disgusted, Jonathan refuses to hand over the tapes, and when Turnbull says he'll take it up with the station manager, he says they'll go together. The manager sides with Turnbull, the footage airs, and Jonathan quits in protest.

* VenturousSmuggler: Aaron, the manager of the Ben Coleman Quintet and a number of other jazz acts, supported a number of starving musicians by smuggling all kind of things all over the world--except for drugs, which he wouldn't have anything to do with. It does a little to make up for his lack of management talent.

* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Ben Coleman is a talented up-and-coming jazz clarinetist who's doing heavy drugs and cheating on his wife with a number of women. His manager Aaron has tried to stop both of these things, but cynically thinks it'll be a year or maybe less before Ben burns himself out and that it was a shame he'd die before he really hits it big/develops his talent to perfection.

* VenturousSmuggler: Aaron, the manager of the Ben Coleman Quintet and a number of other jazz acts, supported a number of starving musicians by smuggling all kind of things all over the world--except for drugs, which he wouldn't have anything to do with.

* TheFaceOfTheBand: Ben Coleman was unsurprisingly the main draw of the Ben Coleman Quartet, whom the planned to dump after he made it big.

* IfItBleedsItLeads: Carl, Turnbull, Jonathan's boss at the station, shows up at the crime scene annoyed with him because he had to learn about Ben Caron's death through Jonathan's cameraman, which only gives them an hour to edit it in time for the 11:00 news. Disgusted, Jonathan refuses to hand over the tapes, and when Turnbull says he'll take it up with the station manager, he says they'll go together. The manager sides with Turnbull and Jonathan quits in protest.

** Ben and his brother are implied to have been complicit in the murder of a shop clerk while robbing him, with only Callie's false testimony saving them from being arrested. He eventually married her, and rewarded her for fifteen years of faithful marriage by cheating on her and planning to poison her.

* VenturousSmuggler: Aaron, Ben's manager, supported a number of starving musicians by smuggling all kind of things out of South America--except for drugs, which he wouldn't have anything to do with.

* IfItBleedsItLeads: Carl, Turnbull, Jonathan's boss at the station, shows up at the crime scene annoyed with him because he had to learn about Ben Caron's death through Jonathan's cameraman, which only gives them an hour to edit it in time for the 11:00 news. Disgusted, Jonathan refuses to hand over the tapes, and when Turnbull says he'll take it up with the station manager, he says they'll go together. This gets Jonathan temporarily fired.

** Ben planned on dumping his fellow band members after sixteen years together, including one, Eubie, who had helped him develop his talent and written several arrangements for him, even helping for him in lean times. Also, Ben was smuggling drugs out of South America, which would likely have meant jail time for the whole band if he'd gotten caught, even after Aaron warned him about the dangers.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: {{Subverted|Trope}}; initially Jessica and the others suspect the coffee that Ben drank from contained the poison, but Callie also drank from it on camera. The poison was elsewhere.

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Ben Coleman didn't want to take his wife Callie to Las Vegas with him and didn't want to run any risk that she would tell on him regarding an incident for which she gave him an alibi, even though Eddie told him he was sure she wouldn't. So he decided to kill her, which backfired.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: {{Subverted|Trope}}; initially Jessica and the others suspect the coffee that Ben drank from contained the poison, but Callie also drank from it on camera. The poison was elsewhere.
* YourCheatingHeart: Ben clearly had a relationship with another woman while still married to Callie.