1.77. A woman buys a new pair of shoes, goes to work,
and dies. (DM)

1.77 answer: The woman is the assistant to a (circus or sideshow)
knife-thrower. The new shoes have higher heels than she normally wears, so
that the thrower misjudges his aim and one of his knives kills her during
the show.

1.77a. Variant: A woman sees her husband entering a certain place of
business and insists on dissolving their partnership. (originally from
How Come — Again?)

1.77a answer: The husband is a knife-thrower; the woman is his assistant
as well as his wife. She sees him going into an optometrist’s office and
decides that if he’s having trouble with his eyes she doesn’t want him
throwing knives at her.