The episode begins with the murder of a London criminal, and then cuts to Cabot Cove, where a Revolutionary War documentary is being filmed in Cabot Cove. Tensions are high between director Rick Hawkes (dating a descendant of Revolutionary War hero and documentary subject Joshua Peabody), who clashes with producer Bob Kendall and assistant director Amelia Farnum. Filming in the home of Peabody uncovers a letter accusing him of treason when antiques dealers Nancy and Thomas Godfrey check his music box. To the horror of the man's family, the letter seems to be authentic (or at least difficult to disprove). Then, Hawkes is fired, and his replacement Amelia murdered.
Tropes:
- Blackmail Backfire: The first victim was killed for trying to shake down his client for extra money for the materials he'd provided. Tavner who provided the forged letter that the man sold Nancy also tries to get in on the bigger action, but he doesn't end up killed because he only has theories and doesn't have anything to prove his claims.
- Bottomless Magazines: Averted, with Hawkes complaining about how long it takes the re-enactors to reload revolutionary war era rifles.
- Broken Pedestal: The claims about Joshua Peabody being a traitor evoke this feeling, especially with his descendant, Edith. His reputation is restored when it's revealed the letter accusing him of treason was a fake.
- Caught on Tape: The documentary's tape recorder being left on caught Rick and Nancy arguing about their plan.
- Famed In-Story: Jessica is established as this due to her investigations, at least in this episode as Hawkes angrily tells Nancy that he would have never agreed to their scheme if he'd known she was in town.
- Genre Savvy: Both Kendall the producer and Tavener accuse Hawkes of having faked the letter for publicity, especially considering that it was his insistence on using the music box which led to the letter discovery. Both are correct.
- He Knows Too Much: The reason for both murders.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: The Peabody letter forgery is immaculately well-prepared but is proven to be fake based due to the presence of chemicals in the whale oil used as ink which didn't exist in the 1700's.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Kendall and Amelia are fairly unpleasant in criticizing Hawkes and wanting to focus the documentary on the allegations about Joshua Peabody, but Hawkes is going over budget, and it is a legitimate subject for their documentary to cover.
- Master Forger: Paul Tavener, who made the fake letter accusing Peabody of treason.
- More Deadly Than the Male: Nancy commits both murders without the assistance or knowledge of Hawkes.
- Prima Donna Director: Both Rick and Amelia are kind of demanding and lead to things going over budget.
- Retcon: Earlier episodes had people arguing about whether or not Joshua Peabody even existed but here his existence is a matter of record and he has living descendants in the town. Most distressingly, Seth is taking part of the reenactment despite he was an ardent arguer about the fact there was no real proof Joshua Peabody was real.
- The Starscream: Amelia is eager to bad-talk Rick and take over his job.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Kendall, Amelia and Hawkes can barely cooperate on anything.
- Unwitting Pawn: Hawkes has been dating Peabody's descendant Louise just to hide the fake letter for his documentary.
