A young man is walking through the darkened back streets of Toronto. Around the next corner is an older man, who looks intent on doing him harm. Just before the first man reaches the corner, another unseen assailant slips a garrotte around the second mans neck and squeezes the life out of him. Constable Higgins is on hand to raise the alarm. Detective Murdoch discovers an envelope on the dead man, and as he looks inside, the thumb from someone's right falls out of it.
In the morgue, Inspector Brackenreid recognizes the man as Billy McCann, a heavy in the employ of Bernie King, a local bookmaker. Before he can tell Murdoch any more information, Constable Crabtree arrives with news of another murder. Dr Grace says the likely cause of death is a head injury suffered during a sustained beating. She also points out that this corpse is missing a thumb. The body is identified as Professor Gideon Galbraith, and when Murdoch and Inspector Brackenreid Visit the Professor's office, the signs are that he was a statistician, working on a system to beat the odds in horse racing. The two learn little from a visit to Mr King, other than Professor Galbraith's system wasn't winning overall. Matters take a turn for the worse when Dr Grace tells Inspector Brackenreid that the thumb she has does not belong to the thumbless Professor.
Constable Crabtree responds to reports of a domestic disturbance at Edna's address, and finds her sporting a black eye, inflicted by her husband, Archibald. There is news of another murder, this time of Ronald Richards, a vermin exterminator; he also is missing a thumb. Forensic examination determines that Mr Richards died from being strangled before the other two, and the severed thumb appears to be his.
Soon there is another body, that of Mildred Abernathy, who was a noted archer, from a wealthy family. She is also missing a thumb. There is no obvious connection between any of the victims, save for the severed thumbs.Constable Crabtree intercepts Simon Brooks, in the act of lifting a man's wallet, but Simon tells him that this is a problem thar he can't fix. By the time Crabtree returns to Police Station 4, another body has been found. This time it is an inventor, Horace Blackman, and he, too, is minus a thumb. Lillian Moss visits the Morgue with exciting news for Dr Grace: she has received news from London, where Mrs Pankhurst is forming an international suffragette union, and is seeking to garner support from all over the British Empire. Lillian believes it would be the adventure of a lifetime for them both to go to London to kick it all off.
Meanwhile, George Crabtree has noticed a pistol for sale in one of the shops on his beat. Investigating the inventor reveals some very impressive-sounding inventions that are also liable to prove very expensive to develop. Among the piles of begging letters are some racecourse form guides. Is this the decisive break Detective Murdoch has been looking for? Or is it a cul-de-sac, given that the form guide includes a 7th race at Woodbine, which doesn't exist? A visit to the racing paper printer is due.
Looking at the names of the runners in the fictitious 7th race from Woodbine, some of then seem to hint at the identities of the murder victims. Soon all five victims are accounted for among the runners, but then another runner, Artful Detective, appears on the race card. It looks as if Murdoch is now in danger, so Murdoch equips himself wit a so far untested invention, an electric capacitor gun, which can hopefully incapacitate attackers, if it doesn't kill them...
So, who is behind the race card? Will Dr Grace go to England with Lillian? What did George want a pistol for? Will Murdoch's gun work as intended? There is so much going on in this episode that it is easy to miss something if you blink. So don't blink! Enjoy yet another brilliant season finale.
In the morgue, Inspector Brackenreid recognizes the man as Billy McCann, a heavy in the employ of Bernie King, a local bookmaker. Before he can tell Murdoch any more information, Constable Crabtree arrives with news of another murder. Dr Grace says the likely cause of death is a head injury suffered during a sustained beating. She also points out that this corpse is missing a thumb. The body is identified as Professor Gideon Galbraith, and when Murdoch and Inspector Brackenreid Visit the Professor's office, the signs are that he was a statistician, working on a system to beat the odds in horse racing. The two learn little from a visit to Mr King, other than Professor Galbraith's system wasn't winning overall. Matters take a turn for the worse when Dr Grace tells Inspector Brackenreid that the thumb she has does not belong to the thumbless Professor.
Constable Crabtree responds to reports of a domestic disturbance at Edna's address, and finds her sporting a black eye, inflicted by her husband, Archibald. There is news of another murder, this time of Ronald Richards, a vermin exterminator; he also is missing a thumb. Forensic examination determines that Mr Richards died from being strangled before the other two, and the severed thumb appears to be his.
Soon there is another body, that of Mildred Abernathy, who was a noted archer, from a wealthy family. She is also missing a thumb. There is no obvious connection between any of the victims, save for the severed thumbs.Constable Crabtree intercepts Simon Brooks, in the act of lifting a man's wallet, but Simon tells him that this is a problem thar he can't fix. By the time Crabtree returns to Police Station 4, another body has been found. This time it is an inventor, Horace Blackman, and he, too, is minus a thumb. Lillian Moss visits the Morgue with exciting news for Dr Grace: she has received news from London, where Mrs Pankhurst is forming an international suffragette union, and is seeking to garner support from all over the British Empire. Lillian believes it would be the adventure of a lifetime for them both to go to London to kick it all off.
Meanwhile, George Crabtree has noticed a pistol for sale in one of the shops on his beat. Investigating the inventor reveals some very impressive-sounding inventions that are also liable to prove very expensive to develop. Among the piles of begging letters are some racecourse form guides. Is this the decisive break Detective Murdoch has been looking for? Or is it a cul-de-sac, given that the form guide includes a 7th race at Woodbine, which doesn't exist? A visit to the racing paper printer is due.
Looking at the names of the runners in the fictitious 7th race from Woodbine, some of then seem to hint at the identities of the murder victims. Soon all five victims are accounted for among the runners, but then another runner, Artful Detective, appears on the race card. It looks as if Murdoch is now in danger, so Murdoch equips himself wit a so far untested invention, an electric capacitor gun, which can hopefully incapacitate attackers, if it doesn't kill them...
So, who is behind the race card? Will Dr Grace go to England with Lillian? What did George want a pistol for? Will Murdoch's gun work as intended? There is so much going on in this episode that it is easy to miss something if you blink. So don't blink! Enjoy yet another brilliant season finale.
