While on a visit to her niece's family, Jessica takes a trip to an amusement park created by Horatio Baldwin. Afterwards, Baldwin cuts to his real reason for the invitation — he wants to create a park based off her murder mystery books. Jessica declines, to Horatio's irritation. However, later that day, Horatio turns up murdered in his locked office.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Murder: Carlson confronted Horatio in his office about not getting a promised promotion, and the two got into a physical altercation which ended with Horatio's accidental death. He covered it up by making it look like a suicide. Michael Gardner's murder, on the other hand, was so very much not an accident.
- Amusement Park: Horatio's apparent claim to fame is horror-based amusement parks.
- Asshole Victim: Horatio is an abrasive jerk, and when Jessica asks Carlson who who might have wanted him dead, he's got a long list of people—including himself.
- Behind the Black: Wearing Stealth Clothes, the guards (and the audience) didn't see Philip Carson hiding in the dark area of the room when the guards entered after Baldwin's supposed suicide. We also didn't see him exit the door, change clothes, and then pretend to come in. Note that the room was not wide enough for Carson to "slip" past the guards without them noticing, particularly from where he was supposedly hiding and where the guards were standing. His supposed movement should also have disturbed the plants behind him.
- Blackmail: Horatio Baldwin seems to have dirt on everyone so they do what he wants, even his sweet young secretary Laurie. Philip even kills Michael Gardner to make sure he doesn't pick up where Horatio left off.
- Black Widow: Mrs. Baldwin has a history of husband who died untimely deaths and left her both money and a bad reputation—but she didn't bump off Horatio.
- Book Safe: Well, not an actual book case, but Baldwin's table has a secret compartment that opens when the table thermostat reaches a certain temperature.
- Death by Falling Over: How Horatio really died. After Philip shoved him, his head hit the base of a statue in his office.
- Disney Villain Death: Michael Gardner is killed by being thrown off of his high balcony.
- Draft Dodging: Horatio's blackmail on Carlson includes that he dodged the Vietnam draft by running to Canada. Jessica notes that this isn't really bad enough to blackmail someone over. It turns out Carlson switched his file with something less incriminating when planting the blackmail files on Megrim and killed Gardener because he knew what Horatio really had on him.
- Expert Consultant: Captain Davis is the first in a long line of police officers who call upon Jessica (currently the houseguest of one of his subordinate officers) to look at the scene and offer advice because her books often feature similarly impossible mysteries.
- Hall of Mirrors: Jessica uses a mirror to decoy the killer, Baldwin's second-in-command, while confronting him. He takes the bait and fires at her reflection, leaving her unharmed and implicating himself.
- Harmful to Minors: Jessica objects to Horatio's amusement parks in general, and especially to his plan of creating a park based on her books, based on thinking that so much shock and murder isn't appropriate for children.
- He Knows Too Much: Carlson killed Gardener because he knew exactly what blackmail material Horatio held over Carlson's head. Gardener had gathered it, after all.
- It Gets Easier: Carlson's killing of Horatio is actually an accident. He then plots to throw Gardner to his death as part of the cover-up, and intends to murder Jessica in the climax (not realizing he's talking to her reflection.)
- It's All My Fault: Horatio's secretary Laurie blames herself for his death, because she'd gotten into an fight with him when she tried to quit and he was murdered after she left the office. Jessica assures her otherwise.
- Jerkass: Horatio overworks and mistreats his employees, apparently cuts corners on construction, and uses blackmail to get his way. Also, he and his wife have a henchman.
- Keep the Reward: Jessica does not want the $100,000 reward Baldwin's widow offers her for proving it was murder, not suicide. When Mrs. Baldwin pays her anyway, she gives the endorsed check to Baldwin's secretary and encourages her in her writing. As Jessica notes with the equivalent of $292,988 2023 simoleons, she won't have to worry about living expenses getting in the way of her writing for quite a while.
- Locked Room Mystery: Horatio is found dead with a bullet in his head and a gun in his hand in his locked office, but the coroner says that his injuries imply murder. It's revealed that the killer shot Horatio post-mortem, arranged for security to chop down Horatio's door (which he had locked after the murder), and slipped out from behind the guards while they were distracted looking at Horatio's corpse.
- Make It Look Like A Suicide: The killer puts a gun in Horatio's hand and fires it into his head to make it look like he shot himself. It doesn't work because the coroner finds evidence he actually died of severe head trauma.
- Misplaced Retribution: Horatio's blackmail files say that Arnold Megrim was embezzling from a former employer, though Megrim claims that it was actually his co-worker/lover who was responsible, and claims that he didn't embezzle from Horatio.
- Never Suicide: Carlson covers his Accidental Murder of Horatio by using paper towels to cover his own hands and manipulating Horatio's body into shooting itself in the head.
- Private Detective: Michael Gardener, Horatio Baldwin's "business manager" used to be one of these, and was hired on a permanent basis by Horatio to be his personal bloodhound, responsible for digging up blackmail and other dirty deeds.
- Red Baron: "Horrible Horatio".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Baldwin's accountant, Arnold Megrim, attempts to do this during the murder investigation, fearing the scrutiny that will fall upon him and taking his life savings and making a run for the airport.
- Sleeping with the Boss's Wife: Horatio's been celibate for the last two years, but Michael's helping her out with that little problem.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: Inverted by Jessica, who insists on leaving even though her niece tries to convince her to stay longer, stating that guests should be like Halley's Comet and not hang around for too long.
- We Need a Distraction: The crux of Philip's killing of Horatio is that once the guards break down Horatio's office door, they'd focus more on his dead body, allowing Philip to slip out behind them and pretend to just show up.
- What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: A lot about Horatio's operation is this In-Universe.
- Our first glimpse of Horatio's amusement park involves a show in which he's dragged to the gallows as he proclaims his innocence and seemingly hanged.
- Horatio approaches Jessica with a proposal to make an amusement park based upon her novels. You know, her murder mystery novels? Jessica is disgusted by the prospect.
