Favorite/best written and least favorite/worst written soap murder mystery of all time.

[NothinButAttitude]

The experience at Capitol or EON?

That sucks that someone left a bad taste in his mouth b/c he could've done wonders with a show like DAYS. I'd imagine he'd've had a field day with characters like Abe, Roman, Hope, Bo, Patch, Shane, and Mickey. Or Stefano and Victor.

[saynotoursoap]

I agree with the other poster who cited the Wade Meecham murder on Edge of Night as a favorite. Slesar's plotting pulled the rug out from under Edge's formula, as well as every other soap opera on the air. Incorporating the supense element into it -having Nicole locked in the TV studio and pursued by a murderer she considered a close friend- was icing on the cake. I also loved the Marco Dane murder on One Life to Live. Gordon Russell utilizing Viki's psychiatric history was a stroke of genius, giving us two enagaging mysteries in one: Who killed Marco? and Did Niki Smith return? I recall watching it in real time in 1979 and being flooerd by the twists and turns: Marco suddenly appearing at Viki's trial in a dramatic cliffhanger, only to have him turn out to be Mario, and later again tricked when it was revealed that Marco was impersonating Mario. And the trial itself... the most legendary of any ever aired on a daytime drama.

Personally, I would not cite the Carolyn Crawford mystery as the worst. It would not even rate an honorable mention with me because even though it was too long and poorly executed, there were many elements of it that did work very well.

The worst mysteries for me?

A couple from Somerset immediately spring to mind. Heather Kane was terrorized by a mysterious stalker who knew every move she made. The assailant fired shots at her and sent notes vowing to kill her. The plot went on for months, and in the end, the culprit was not her new husband, as some suspected, but his ex-wife, a character hardly ever mentioned and previously not even seen on the show. A few months later the same year, a serial killer struck Somerset. The chief suspect was blond hunk Dale, played by Jamison Parker. Only, he was not guilty. The guilty party was actually the blond hunk son of a somewhat minor character, and once again, the son did not appear on the show until after the murders had been committed, a real cheat to the audience.

Another lousy mystery I can never dislodge from my memory was the murder of Paul Valere on Guiding Light. First of all, nobody cared about Valere or his slutty wife Christine. Viewers were delighted to see him dead and probably wanted to award the culprit a medal. The set-up was bad. Christine fell against a door and accidentally fired a shot at him. She awoke with him dead. Johnny Bauer tripped over the body. It was leading to his arrest. I cannot remember the details because it was not even remotely interesting. The killer turned out to be Jackson Freemont, which was almost as preposterous as him becoming a truck driver. It was sloppy, lazy, stupefyingly bad storytelling.

I also remember that I did not like the mysteries of many soaps in the late 60s and early 70s in which a major character would be unmasked as a murderer, but always with the explanation that it was really an accident temoprarily forgotten by the perpetrator. Hence, when Jason Maxwell was killed on AMC, Mona Kane was the killer, but she had accidentally shot him in a struggle and then blocked out the event because it was too horrific. The same thing happened with Cathy Craig who accidentally killed Artie Duncan, but the crime slipped her memory because she was stoned at the time. To me, this type of storytelling does not play fair with the audience.

[saynotoursoap]

Capitol.

I imagine Conboy has left a bad taste in the mouths of many men.

[SOAPSFOREVER]

Slesar's stint as co-headwriter at OLTL with Sam Hall was also an unpleasant experience for him. Too many hands on the creative wheel for Slesar. Instead of letting the headwriter write, ABC micro-managed. It drove him away from that serial. CAPITOL was equally unpleasant. Slesar was in New York, Conboy and company were in LA. Basically, Slesar wrote the long term story and some of the outlines, but had little say over the scripts. He felt shut out, especially with Conboy micro-managing. Slesar was also the headwriter for SEARCH FOR TOMORROW briefly, and headed SOMERSET for several years, turning it more into a mystery melodrama like EDGE. The man was a brilliant mystery writer and his resume speaks to it.

[soapfan770]

Actually if I recall right the Paul Valere's real murderer was Warren and he tried to frame Alan for the crime. But I can't remember all the strange details. The story of Alan smuggling and selling stolen art sounded mundane to begin with. Queen Warren being a murderer on GL was like learning the mousy Vicki Harper had ordered Carolyn's execution on ATWT though.

Anyways the best murder mysteries? If I had to go with a top three, I'd go with the Doug Cummings caper on ATWT, the Salem Strangler on Days, and though not entirely a murder mystery(at first it was) but Who Shot Roger on GL. If there has to be an actual murder involved though, I'd go with either the Salem Slasher, Riverfront Knifer, or James Stenbeck's death at Ruxton Hills. I will always have a soft spot for the Cristy Carson caper on AW even though we knew all along it Cristy from the get go.

The worst? Any murder mystery Ellen Weston attempted to write during her tenure at GL.

[Paul Raven]

I enjoyed the Salem Strangler but Jake and Joshua were the only suspects so we knew it was going to be one of them.I think Days missed a beat by not having Evan Whyland as the Strangler.Lane Davies could have totally pulled that off and it could have been revealed that he had murdered his wife, previous to arriving in Salem and made it look like an accident.

[Soaplovers]

And wasn't this Evan character involved heavily in the Mickey/Maggie sphere? Imagine all the angst that could have been played with Maggie coming to terms with the fact she was dating a serial killer,etc.

Shame sleaser didn't like capital. During his stint, the show was at its strongest story wise...lots of political intrigue plus great love triangles galore. Didn't he write the dual role for Catherine hickland as well?

[Bright Eyes]

Maggie never dated Evan Whyland. He was engaged to Sandy Horton and was the original biological father of Sarah Horton, before the horrible retcon in 1990 that made Neil Curtis the father.

[saynotoursoap]

Slesar LOVED Capitol. I believe my post was misinterpreted. What upset him was his unceremonious departure from the series because he would not kow-tow to Conboy's demands. He said that he absolutely loved the characters and felt the cast was superb. He enjoying being back at CBS in the same time slot as Edge. It was almost like going home again. As the other poster stated, the problems were with management.

[saynotoursoap]

You are right. Warren was Paul's killer, not Jackson. I believe I now recall the denouement in The Blue Orchid. The story still sucked, though.

[NothinButAttitude]

That's nice to hear that he felt back at home with Capitol. Again, I am just upset that everything at Capitol jaded his opinion towards soaps. He could've been a great consultant for soaps when it came to mystery and intrigue.

Do you think that Slesar's writing could've fit any of the other soaps on at that time? If so, which?

[quartermainefan]

He gets my vote for best soap writer of all time. He had intelligent ideas that were structurally miles more sophisticated than everyone else. His mastery of the mystery is a great example. If the producers were willing to smarten up the soap then he would have been a good fit on any of them.

[Khan]

Slesar might have been fabulous for DAYS, GH or even SANTA BARBARA.

[DRW50]

Wasn't India also framed at one point for the Valere thing?

Should we also include the murder Floyd committed as one of the worst mysteries?

[Khan]

Ah, yes, the Andy Ferris murder mystery.