The Murdoch Sting

"The Murdoch Sting"
Season	7
Episode	13
Airdate	January 27, 2014
Writer	Jackie May Michelle Ricci
Director	Sudz Sutherland
Guests	Wendy Crewson as Cassie Chadwick
Recurring	Daiva Johnston as Eva Pearce Giacomo Gianniotti as Leslie Garland Lachlan Murdoch as Henry Higgins
Previous	Unfinished Business
Next	Friday the 13th, 1901

"The Murdoch Sting" is the thirteenth episode of the seventh season of Murdoch Mysteries and the ninety-first episode of the series. It first aired on January 27, 2014.

Summary

A bank president goes missing at the start of his engagement party. Murdoch's investigation uncovers that his fiancee was living under an assumed alias which leads to a run-in with a familiar con artist and thus requires a sting operation to catch a murder.

While Murdoch and Crabtree investigates the disappearance of Ian Worthington and his fiancée, Cassie Chadwick, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie informs the Constabulary that Mr. Worthington had announced his intention to marry Carnegie's daughter. Mr. Carnegie states that he only has one daughter who is four years old.

Meanwhile, Julia investigates the photo that came with the blackmail note leading her back to the alley behind the theatre. Figuring out the angle the camera must had to shot the photo, she discovers the possible window, it’s emptied room, and then another note from James Gillies: Do you take me for a fool? If you continue, you will both die.

Crabtree's research reveals that Cassie Chadwick is an alias used by a woman from Ontario. Charges include bank fraud, cheque fraud, and forgery, she's run schemes in Ohio and New York. With conflicting descriptions of the woman, the investigation appears stall until Mrs. Cassie Chadwick, now married to a highly prominent man in Cleveland, enters the Station House quickly assuring the Constabulary that her criminal past is behind her, but complains that this impersonator chose her name to defraud others and that her new life, everything she has, is at risk.

Enter Mr. Worthington’s missing fiancée Cassie Chadwick aka Eva Pearce, the impersonator, who claims he broke off their engagement that morning, and she'd rather not discuss it. When Worthington’s body is pulled from a pond with little forensic evidence to be had and admitting that they lack evidence of her crimes, Murdoch, with the Inspector, asks Mrs. Chadwick to help them in an elaborate sting to get Eva Pearce to return to the scene of the crime. She tells them that they will need a grieving relation, a lawyer, and a floozie for the con. It "takes a con to catch one," but who is really being conned?

Character Revelations

• An unseen James Gillies continues his blackmail of Julia to break-off with William. 
• Dr. Grace is quite good at deception and chicanery. Grace introduces herself in a French accent as Mademoiselle Désirée DeNeuf.
• Henry Higgins introduces himself as Attorney Jacob Edward James.
• Crabtree is disguised as a groundskeeper in the stakeout.

Continuity

• Eva Pearce, the manipulating shopgirl from Murdoch in Ladies Wear, returns and, finally, is arrested for her crimes.
• Pendrick's headphones (ep.703) are used in the sting.
• Julia has a flashback to A Midnight Train to Kingston and Gillies telling her “I’m not done with you yet.”
• This is the third proposal William intended to make to Julia. The first one was a dream, in which she said yes. The second time she informed him she was engaged. This time, she said 'no'.
• Emily and Leslie Garland begin to date at the end of the episode, leaving a disappointed George holding his flowers.

Historical References

• This episode takes place in Toronto 1901 – the Edwardian Era (1901-1910) is the time when King Edward VII rules the British Empire.
• Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist who made millions as he led the expansion of the American steel industry.
• Cassie Chadwick is the assumed name of a Canadian woman who defrauded millions of dollars from US banks by pretending to be the illegitimate daughter and heiress of Andrew Carnegie.

Trivia

• This is the first time Emily Grace goes undercover.

Errors

• Cassie Chadwick uses the name "Miss Pearce" to greet Eva Pearce in their last meeting at the station house before Eva's arrest, rather than "Miss Chadwick".
• Andrew Carnegie tells Murdoch and Inspector Brackenreid that he was in Guelph (Ontario) for the groundbreaking of the library he donated to the town when he received the phone call from Worthington asking for permission to marry his daughter. Although the monetary grant for the library was approved on 17 October 1901 (which fits the time frame for this season), the architectural plans for the building were completed in 1902, meaning groundbreaking occurred in late 1902 or early 1903, as the laying of the chief cornerstone occurred on St. George's Day (23 April) 1903.

Cast

Main Cast

Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch
Hélène Joy as Julia Ogden
Thomas Craig as Thomas Brackenreid
Jonny Harris as George Crabtree
Georgina Reilly as Emily Grace

Recurring Cast

Lachlan Murdoch as Henry Higgins
Giacomo Gianniotti as Leslie Garland
Daiva Johnston as Eva Pearce
Michael Seater as James Gillies (Voice)

Guest Cast

Wendy Crewson as Cassie Chadwick
Philip Craig as Andrew Carnegie
J. Sean Elliot as Mr. Fleet
Thom Marriott as Butler
David Collins as Photographer

Gallery

Murdoch looks into the safe...

At the Worthington mansion

At the Blackboard

Cassie Chadwick

The sisters in confidence

The conspirators

The eavesdroppers

Attorney Jacob Edward James

The killer caught