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"Murder by the Book," also known as "Alter Ego," is a 1987 TV movie starring Robert Hays and Catherine Mary Stewart. The film also features Fred Gwynne and Celeste Holm.

Hays plays a mystery writer, D.H. "Hank" Mercer who writes stories about a hard-boiled detective, Biff Deegan. He's grown tired of Biff, and he tells his agent he has a new idea for a character. While in a restaurant with his agent, he sees a pretty young woman (and you know it's the '80s because her hair goes out about three feet) being forced into a car. The perpetrator is an extremely wealthy man (Gwynne).

Mercer is determined to find out what is going on. While doing so, his fictional detective starts showing up and giving him advice.

Cute. Hays is such a likable and attractive actor, one wonders why the success of "Airport" didn't translate into some better vehicles for him.

This is really light as air, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Robert hayes (airplane) is mercer, who writes murder mysteries. And is trying to figure out how to make his characters more exciting and realistic. He's so bored with his current lead, that he wants to move on to another character. But his publisher won't let him out of his contract. So he'd better hurry up and solve this mystery, with or without his character deegan so he can start the new book. The awesome celeste holm (all about eve) is mercer's mother. Character actor fred gwynne is in here as the bad guy. And one of the cops is clearly channeling columbo, which had started airing years before, in the early 1970s. It's all pretty dated at this point. Moves quite slowly, but it's okay. Directed by mel damski. He had been nominated for an oscar on his documentary about the palm springs follies. Novel by mel arrighi. Lots of films with this same name... even another one released in 1987. Although this one was filmed in 1985, but not aired (straight to television ?) until march 1987. That's goofy.

What a waste of time! Why did I watch it to the end? I guess I'm dumber than the movie. This is no Agatha Christie, for sure.

This was a fun movie with good performances all around. There weren't any real surprises for me and I doubt there would be for anyone over 12. But that's what genre fiction is for; it's comfort food for the mind. Full disclosure: I'm a writer, so I may have identified a bit more with our protagonist than most would.

Murder by the Book is by far the best movie I've ever seen. Funny, Romantic, Mysterious, and you'll never guess the ending. Robert Hays plays a writer with an alter ego, Biff Deagan, the main character of his novels. The Movie gets funnier and funnier as time goes on. This movie will either have you rolling on the floor laughing one minute or have glued to the edge of your seat the next. Other must see movies of Robert Hays are Trenchcoat, 50-50, and For Better or for Worse (Honeymoon Academy) (1990). If only movies nowadays could be as could as these I'd watch more movies. Robert Hays is at his best in all of these movies. Nothing would please me more than to see him make a comeback.

Where can you buy the dvd you can't find it anywhere I was really looking forward watching it too

Hard-boiled crime author, D. H. Mercer (Robert Hays) longs to part company with his best-known character, Biff Deegan. It's not long before Mercer gets involved in a mystery of his own, after witnessing an abduction.

While sleuthing around, Mercer is joined by none other than Deegan (Hays), who offers his own brand of more aggressive detective work. Complications arise when people start turning up dead!

MURDER BY THE BOOK is a decent made-for-TV movie. Watching it, you might find yourself questioning Mercer's mental state, since he's constantly talking to his alter-ego, whom no one else can see. In spite of / because of this, it's humorous and entertaining.

It's always good to see Catherine Mary Stewart in anything, and she's excellent here! Also, Fred Gwynne plays a criminal mastermind!...