Martin Kahn was an author who wrote a biography about musician Billy Lipps. He went to Harvard, and is very obnoxious about this fact. In the Biographer Did It scenario of "100 Clues", he murdered Melinda Lane because he loved her, but she only had eyes for Billy Lipps and the band, and he inserts evidence into Billy's biography putting the blame on him. He also killed Rip, and shot Curt Smith. He is portrayed by Christopher Lloyd.
Character Biography[]
100 Clues[]
In "100 Clues", Martin Kahn comes to a party without knowing who the host is. While there, Shawn deduces that the host is Billy Lipps, the man Kahn wrote a biography about. Lipps has gathered everyone there to thank them, as his time in jail has changed him for the better. Everyone there had contributed to him being put behind bars. Just then the lights go out and when they come back on Billy's manager, Highway Harry, is dead. When everyone splits up to find the number one suspect, Rip the guitarist of Billy's band, Kahn and groupie Leslie Ann are paired together. Just then, Lassiter and Juliet arrive and find Rip's body dead in the freezer.
While everyone is interviewed, Shawn suspects Billy gathered them all there to kill them, but when they look for him he's gone. He's found singing in his favorite spot, before a chandelier falls and almost crushes him, but Shawn saves him. Then Curt Smith staggers in, but has a bullet wound and passes out on Billy's couch.
Biographer Did It Scenario[]
In the Biographer Did It ending, it is revealed Kahn was in love with groupie Melinda Lane, but she only had eyes for the band, so he killed her. He then put hints in Billy's biography that it was he who killed Lane, getting him put in jail. Rip figured this out and confronted Kahn, so Kahn stabbed him with an ice pick and killed him. Curt Smith saw him getting rid of the murder weapon, so he shot Smith. Lassiter and Juliet then arrest Kahn and take him away.
Trivia[]
Martin Kahn is presumably named for Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd's co-star in the 1985 film Clue on which the episode is based, and the comedienne to whose memory (she died in 1999) the episode is dedicated.