Villainess Review: Shauna Teague (Diagnosis Murder)

The classic CBS series, Diagnosis Murder, has pleased this avid fan of villainesses immensely. The show delivered a pretty impressive collection of female baddies, as I noticed when I watched some of the reruns on TV, but one of the best ones was featured in the episode, "Murder by the Book." The episode kicked off with a book signing attended by Mark Sloan, Jesse Travis, and Amanda Bentley, with the featured book being titled, Munchies, Snacks, and Spreads. Because of the title, Mark believes it's a cookbook co-written by a friend of his, Melissa Farnes, but he learns from Amanda that it is definitely not that.

The book is actually a racy tell-all written by call girls Shauna Teague, Carrie, and the aforementioned Melissa, much to the immense surprise of Mark. Regarding Jesse, he's fanboying towards Shauna, who tells about some of the details of the book before entering a limousine. We later see Melissa and Carrie at a radio interview, which is interrupted by a caller revealing that he had Shauna held captive, and it is shockingly followed by Shauna being shot and killed! This comes after Melissa discovered a death threat written to her inside a copy of the book, and as for Carrie, she ends up killed as well.

The investigation leads to a suspect: Thomas Pitt, an ex-con, but he's found deceased inside a cab. Despite this, that doesn't end the danger, as the climax saw Melissa being pursued by a driver attempting to run her down, but she is saved by Steve Sloan, who shoots at the car. The car stops, as Steve had successfully killed the driver, but once he opens the driver's side door, the body that emerges is revealed to be the believed-to-be-abducted-and-murdered Shauna.

Everything was uncovered afterwards; despite all three women coming together in their tell-all book, Shauna turned heel against her co-authors by masterminding a murderous and monetary scheme, which included faking her own death. Her plan was to cash in on an all-rights clause under a different name, and regarding Pitt, he was Shauna's accomplice, as she ordered him to abduct Carrie so Shauna could kill her. Prior to Shauna's murder, Pitt actually planned to tell Carrie everything, as he was nervous about their plans, but after Shauna killed Carrie, the villainess also eliminated Pitt, and she made her attempt on Melissa before she was stopped (for good) by Steve.

"Murder by the Book" was the antepenultimate episode of Diagnosis Murder's third season, and it aired on April 19, 1996. Musetta Vander portrayed the episode's hidden main villainess, Shauna Teague, and she was quite a fiendish mastermind. Shauna was your typical greedy and ruthless villainess; she had no problems killing those who were close to her to get what she wanted. Unfortunately, we don't really see Shauna's villainous persona on screen, as Vander's little time on-screen only sees her act out Shauna's racy and salacious demeanor. It doesn't take away from the fact that Shauna Teague is one of the series' best villainesses, and it was only fitting that such a diabolical murderess would meet such a fatal end.

Musetta Vander has done a lot of evil on TV and film; her appearance as Shauna Teague is one of (at least) ten villainous roles she's played--which include appearances on Xena: Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The South African-born Vander has also appeared in episodes of Stargate SG-1 and NCIS, and also appeared in the 2005 comedy, Kicking and Screaming, which starred Will Ferrell and Robert Duvall.

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Check out Shauna Teague's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!