 Stuart Murphy, 26, is strangled in a car and dumped in an alley in Buffalo. On his firm Telesales  infomercial-film-set, Tom Powell is not amused to hear the troublesome, expensive star-host Wade Foster is in make-up for a rehearsal for the Hartley Murder of the Month book club. Jessica is one of the authors shown around by Larry Shields before the on-air panel talk, with former glory Matt Matthews and Joellen Waller. Tom s wife Gina first complains about his late hours and a $450 credit card hotel charge he blames on a client staying a day extra, then blocks off Foster s financial desires, while confirming security will be beefed up. NYPD Lieutenant Harry Fogel (who usually works alone) and temporarily reassigned Detective Henderson drop by inquiring about the Murphy case. After the rehearsal, the dining authors get a visit from Arnold Wynn, a fan of all three and former writing class pupil of Matt in Buffalo, who is also one of the extras hired as fake audience. a female extra asks an off-script question; Mathews refuses to honor his contract, saying he won t return the next day, even after a talk with Jessica. Gina threatens to fire Tom and his assistant Sara unless he subscribes new rules. Next day Matt is back, the lunches are mixed-up so it s unclear for whom the post-it is asking to meet a certain Jason Bayer Saxon. When Wade, who worried about his ex, is approached in his dressing room by Arnold about a dodgy coop he s involved in and his $200 is rejected as peanuts as $50,000 is involved, he throws him out by fist; at 10 PM that night, Larry and Sara trip over Arnold s corps. Henderson finds out Wynn was not in the actors union, and came from Buffalo like Murphy; Jessica notices he signed in just like mysterious Jason Bayer Saxon, and several items are missing from his effects, including a key and medical ID bracelet for quinine allergy she finds by a phone, yet he died of a quinine reaction, so they concludes murder. The police arrests Matthews as he and Arnold had rap sheets, including a bar fight in Buffalo, and glasses with quinine traces and both sets of fingerprints were found. Jessica gets an idea how to link everything...