This is one of several seventh-season Murder She Wrote episodes introduced by Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) but starring Dennis Stanton (Keith Michell), a jewel thief turned insurance investigator. On this occasion, Stanton is probing into the curious case of a neurotic ventriloquist named Woody Perkins (Grant Shaud) and Woody's prize dummy Billy Boy. Not longer after Woody reports that Billy Boy has been "kidnapped", the dummy turns up in a locked room--along with the corpse of Katie Kelly (Georgia Brown), a nasty comedy-club owner with whom Woody had previously had a violent argument. Stanton tries to unravel the attendant mystery with the help and hindrance of Rhoda Markowitz (Hallie Todd) and Lt. Perry Catalano (Ken Swofford). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi