Sally is pregnant! And just then, an old (and formerly-serious) girlfriend of Mac's calls to ask for help, because her abusive, cheating and embezzling husband wants a divorce. That's when the cops suddenly show up, having found evidence-- including a tape-recording-- that indicate she may have murdered her husband. The problem is, nobody can find a body. Both the D. A. and Sgt. Enright think she's guilty, but Mac believes she isn't, and goes far beyond the call of duty to find evidence that he's right.
McMillan & Wife often had some very unique mysteries in its run, and I'd say this was definitely another one... except for 2 things. One: just 3 WEEKS earlier, COLUMBO had an episode where no one could find the body, so most people didn't believe there even was a murder. Two: it seems writer Brad Ranitz actually REUSED his script for a 1968 episode of IRONSIDE and expanded it here. The nerve of some people!
I also suspect Radnitz may have been at least partially paying tribute to a bit of Chandler's "The Big Sleep", as we never see the murder victim, and, another murder victim's body is found in a lake.
Martin E. Brooks makes his first of 6 appearances as "District Attorney Chapman", who accuses Mac of being too personally involved, and warns him that if the press come looking for him, he'll eagerly point them right at Mac.
Michael Ansara (STAR TREK: "Day Of The Dove") is "Ben Matthews", a nightclub owner who may have had reasons to kill the missing husband.
Selma Diamond (NIGHT COURT) has a cameo as a gas station attendant questioned about 2 missing people.
Barbara McNair (THEY CALL ME MISTER TIBBS!, THE ORGANIZATION), a singer in real life as she was in this story, is Mac's old flame "Lee Richards". Reading her bio, it's shocking just how close to home this episode would prove to be, as her real-life husband was murdered by the mob in late 1976, and the following year her accountant was charged with embezzling.
When this episode was made, Susan St. James was pregnant. Rather than hide it or write her out of the episode, her pregnancy was made a big part of the story. Yet when the show returned the next season, it was never mentioned. We have to assume there was a miscarriage, but it really makes you question the integrity of either the producers or the network, who insisted this episode be made after production for the season had officially ended.
McMillan & Wife often had some very unique mysteries in its run, and I'd say this was definitely another one... except for 2 things. One: just 3 WEEKS earlier, COLUMBO had an episode where no one could find the body, so most people didn't believe there even was a murder. Two: it seems writer Brad Ranitz actually REUSED his script for a 1968 episode of IRONSIDE and expanded it here. The nerve of some people!
I also suspect Radnitz may have been at least partially paying tribute to a bit of Chandler's "The Big Sleep", as we never see the murder victim, and, another murder victim's body is found in a lake.
Martin E. Brooks makes his first of 6 appearances as "District Attorney Chapman", who accuses Mac of being too personally involved, and warns him that if the press come looking for him, he'll eagerly point them right at Mac.
Michael Ansara (STAR TREK: "Day Of The Dove") is "Ben Matthews", a nightclub owner who may have had reasons to kill the missing husband.
Selma Diamond (NIGHT COURT) has a cameo as a gas station attendant questioned about 2 missing people.
Barbara McNair (THEY CALL ME MISTER TIBBS!, THE ORGANIZATION), a singer in real life as she was in this story, is Mac's old flame "Lee Richards". Reading her bio, it's shocking just how close to home this episode would prove to be, as her real-life husband was murdered by the mob in late 1976, and the following year her accountant was charged with embezzling.
When this episode was made, Susan St. James was pregnant. Rather than hide it or write her out of the episode, her pregnancy was made a big part of the story. Yet when the show returned the next season, it was never mentioned. We have to assume there was a miscarriage, but it really makes you question the integrity of either the producers or the network, who insisted this episode be made after production for the season had officially ended.