Mark attends a rehearsal dinner for Becky Garfield and her fiancé Phil at the home of the bride's father, Martin. Things are fine until tensions boil over from Martin's personal and business life, with him wanting to talk to Steve in the morning. That does not come to pass, as later that night, a large earthquake hits Los Angeles, with Martin being the only person in his mansion who does not survive.
Mark, however, soon realizes that Martin was not crushed to death as he appears, but rather bludgeoned to death, aka, murdered.
"Shaker" displays symptoms of the following tropes:
- All There in the Manual: Only the credits would ever give you the hint that Ilene's name is spelled as it is.
- Blatant Lies: When Mark sees her with her lover at the hotel she's staying at, Ruth tries to claim that the man, Henry, is a jeweler come to fix her necklace. Considering she just came out of the hotel bathroom in a robe and Henry is in his underwear and was expecting room service, she gives up on the lie pretty quick and comes clean that he's her lover. To be fair, he is a jeweler, so it wasn't a complete lie.
- Bludgeoned to Death: Martin was actually killed by a blow to the head with the golden falcon statue Stuart was going to give as a wedding present.
- Embezzlement: Martin found out his business partner Stuart Westlake had cooked the books of their business, and would have had him arrested on Monday had he not croaked.
- Fanservice: Ilene taking off her robe to pose for Rick's sculpture.
- Foreshadowing: As Mark leaves the party, a bit of glassware on a shelf starts to shake. This is such a level of foreshadowing that the title and credits don't appear until this point, about four minutes and 45 seconds in.
- Gold Digger: Rick only married Ilene for her family's money. The fact that Martin was going to cut that money off didn't sit horribly well with him.
- Improvised Weapon: The golden falcon is both very expensive, and made a good weapon for Rick to hit Martin with when he discovered him stealing it.
- Intimate Artistry: Ilene tends to pose nude for Rick's art.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Once the killer has killed Martin, they put his body under an armoire that fell over in the quake.
- Starving Artist: Rick Bennett is an artist and Ilene's husband, but his art hasn't been selling much lately. He's so deep in the hole that he's gone to loan sharks that have broken his pinky finger. Martin had no intentions of helping the guy, even telling Rick to get a real job.
