Edited from two dress rehearsals and a live stage performance, Encore for Murder is a Golden Age Radio-style production of the Spillane/Collins script produced in Owensboro, Kentucky, and Clearwater, Florida, starring Gary Sandy (WKRP In Cincinatti) as Mike Hammer.

During the dress rehearsal for a festive Christmas play in small-town Serenity, Iowa, star Louise Lamont topples over after a bite of prop pastry. Since the frosty actress had earned plenty of enemies through her offstage dramatics, the cast of suspects is longer than Santa's "Naughty or Nice" list. Prop mistress Brandy Borne and her diva-turned-director mother, Vivian-assisted by their savvy shih tzu, Sushi-must solve this fruitcake fatality before it's curtains for anyone else.