I have always enjoyed this one! The ending is excellent.

Carol Teitel stole the show with her street smarts. It took me a long time to warm up to this actress, but I did. She died too young.

This was a typical Mystery Theater episode. Written by Samm Dann, the script was superbly written to keep the listeners' attention and wrap up by episode's end. 4 stars.

This is a really good one and the ending is a real surprise! Well acted, but the recording sounds like people are talking while the show is being taped (perhaps the taper was using a mic in front of the speaker).

A great twist at the end! Even though they were actually innocent, being found guilty goes to show what goes atound, comes around.Guilty in thought if not in deed was the greatest irony of all!

SPOILERS! I know I'm going to ruffle some feathers here, but I found this well-acted... and utterly unsatisfying. For one thing, I can understand why our 'old spinster' *was* a spinster -- she's a bit of an uptight, smarmy old bitty. She may have a good heart but the way she speaks to her oldest friend is chock full of sarcastic questioning and left-handed condescension. Then we have the most ridiculously pompous and just plain stupid 'sheriff' in the entire series -- the way he dismisses her initial plea for help is stunning in its patronizing ignorance and complete disregard for his job and his friends' well-being, and ultimately chooses an easy way out instead of investigating the actual crime. And our old spinster? She's spent a whole episode doing what she can, even by her own admission doing things she'd despised in other people, to save her oldest friend... but she just seems to stop really caring once he's dead. She races to his home in a panic and then sees the mess and sees him dead, and by the time our wonderful sheriff (who dismissed her gunshot story as well, but then came anyway?) shows up and in his classic way of dismissing actual truth and logic, her demeanor becomes one giant shrug of the shoulders. As well, after spending a whole episode with the 'old fool' but big-hearted Cartwright's dreams and sadly misplaced loyalty to his wife, we get a violent ending for him without the slightest explanation, no connection to the preceding story, and not an ounce of investigation or answers. Really? Let's wrap up the entire story lead up to this moment to dismiss it so we can have an ironic twist/punishment for our antagonists. It's one of the dumbest things Dann wrote for this series, and he has some of the best ones in the whole run, so it baffles me. The actors are all excellent, fit their written parts perfectly, but none of that matters in the last few minutes because the climax to the entire conflict happens offstage by an unknown, unexplained and unquestioned murderer. Deus Ex Machina? It's just plain bad.

Commercials included, which I love. Some sound issues, but they're infrequent and don't detract from the story or one's ability to listen to it.

I’m really enjoying 1982 and this is another good episode. I’m a sucker for good endings and I wanted the spinster and her friend to end up together. Having said that, it was well worth the listen.

I was going to leave a comment explaining why this was such an unsatisfying episode, but Mike C already said it all. The acting was good, unfortunately the script had too many problems for me to truly enjoy this one .

Like Mike C, I also found the end unsatisfying. I thought, perhaps, the friend was going to have killed him to stop the wife and boyfriend from doing it. But, to have an unknown perpetrator come out of nowhere and do it, seems to be cheating. The wife and boyfriend would have done it, so I don't have a problem with them getting the punishment as if they had, but really - No, I don't like the end. (But I do enjoy the 1982 commercials)

Like Mike C, I also found the end unsatisfying. I thought, perhaps, the friend was going to have killed him to stop the wife and boyfriend from doing it. But, to have an unknown perpetrator come out of nowhere and do it, seems to be cheating. The wife and boyfriend would have done it, so I don't have a problem with them getting the punishment as if they had, but really - No, I don't like the end. (But I do enjoy the 1982 commercials)

Enjoyable episode, good sound quality, fun script, good acting. The ending surprised me and I had pictured this going more of a happily ever after direction.

I totally agree with Mike C. Awful flat ending.