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Perry Mason Season 8 Episodes
Season 8 Episode Guide
30 Episodes 1964 - 1965
Episode 1
The Case of the Missing Button
Thu, Sep 24, 196452 mins
The button in this case is Button Blake, the young daughter of Janice and Dirk Blake who are going through a nasty divorce. After Janice refuses to let her soon-to-be ex-husband have Button for his two days of visitation, he takes her and puts her on his yacht, the Blue Nymph. It isn't a case of kidnapping per se and the judge in the case gives temporary custody to Roger and Lois Gray, friends of the family. Button is a young heiress having inherited $4 million from her grandfather and Perry Mason is the administrator of the trust. Keeping an eye on the girl aboard the yacht is Vince Rome who has been taking care of himself and hoping that Janice will marry him once the divorce goes through but she refuses. Vince has been asked by Dirk to find information he can use against Janice but Vince concocts a plan to blackmail either parent with the data he is fabricating. Dirk calls off Vince but in a fight Vince's gun goes off which is seen by a witness. When Vince Rome is killed, Dirk Blake is charged with murder and Perry defends him.
Episode 2
The Case of the Paper Bullets
Thu, Oct 1, 196460 mins
Perry Mason defends Margaret Foster, the wife of State Senatorial candidate Jason Foster (Richard Anderson, without his rug), when she's charged with murdering David Cartwell, stepson of incumbent Senator Randolph Cartwell. A few days before the killing, Jason Foster learned that his underage sister Susan was out drinking with David Cartwell. He confronts her, she asserts that she plans to marry David, and he warns her to stay away from him and says he'll tell David to leave her alone. At this point, he confronts Perry about the issue. However, Susan visits David at his home anyway. Margaret had gone to see David but found him dead. Recognizing the gun as Jason's, she grabbed the gun and ran, obviously trying to protect her husband or her sister-in-law. David was in debt to gamblers and had written a bad check in Las Vegas for $6,000 and Harry Mardig was there to collect the debt. A quick trip to Vegas eventually leads Perry and his private investigator Paul to the killer.
Episode 3
The Case of the Scandalous Sculptor
Thu, Oct 8, 196452 mins
Perry Mason defends Mona Stanton Harvey, who is accused of murdering her sculptor-husband's model, Bonnie. Unbeknown to her, her husband, Hannibal Harvey, was being blackmailed by Nonno Volente, who threatened to send Mona's love letters to him from a long-ago relationship to a scandal magazine. Hannibal has been trying everything to find the $10,000 Volente has demanded but, with Mona in Seattle tending to a sick friend, no one at the family business, Stanton Press, will help him out. Everyone there is under pressure with a lock on funds due to a fight between Everett Stanton and Rex Ainsley over the future of the company. He concocts a scheme, with Bonnie writing him a blackmail note. Mona's uncle, Everett Stanton, agrees to get him the money right away. The money is delivered but Bonnie is found dead, leading to Mona's arrest. It's left to Perry to sort it all out and find the killer.
Episode 4
The Case of the Sleepy Slayer
Thu, Oct 15, 196460 mins
Perry Mason defends Bruce Jay who is accused of killing his employer, Abner Gordon. Bruce had already spoken to Perry about $50,000 Abner owed him from an industrial accident some years before. The Gordon household is not a happy one. Abner Gordon was a crotchety old man who treated everyone around him very badly. He was constantly threatening to change his will and had only recently demanded that his niece, Rachel Gordon, who has spent 15 years of her life caring for him, return some money she had taken for her lover, Tracey Walcott. Abner's physician, Dr. Lambert, confirms the family situation to Perry. Rachel had a good deal of sympathy from the household staff including the butler, Charles Norman, and his wife, housekeeper Sadie Norman, as well as nurse Phyllis Clover. Rachel had actually put three bullets in the old man but it was subsequently determined that he had been dead for several hours when she shot him. They've also determine he had been killed with Jay's own medication.
Episode 5
The Case of the Betrayed Bride
Thu, Oct 22, 196460 mins
Todd and Jimmy Meacham anxiously await the return of their recently widowed Aunt Nellie to the United States. Their Uncle Herbert died and they wish to pursue the planned conversion of the family estate, Hacienda Grande, into a residential subdivision that could generate $10 million in just a few years. Imagine their shock when she arrives with a new French husband, the much younger Pierre Dubois. Nellie is eccentric and flighty and refuses to talk business and they're sure Dubois is a gigolo, so they try to tempt him to stray by hiring a pretty French maid, Marie Claudel. They know they have a rival for the development in Roger Brody, who has offered $2 million in cash for the land as is. Jimmy Meacham hires his good friend, Paul Drake, to go to Paris to see what he can learn about Nellie's new husband but, when Pierre Dubois is found dead floating in the pool, it's Marie Claudel who is charged with murder. Perry Mason agrees to defend her in court and find the true killer.
Episode 6
The Case of the Nautical Knot
Thu, Oct 29, 196460 mins
Rick Scott has been recovering in Mexico under the care of a pretty nurse, Joanna Monford. While he's away, his uncle Harvey Scott has been running the family business, a mining company. He's also been telling Joanna that it's very important that Rick stay in Mexico and not return to Los Angeles. A surprise visit by his brother Ben, Ben's wife Elayna and a mutual friend Pamela Blair raises the issue of just what his uncle has been up to and so Rick decides to return to L.A. On board ship, he surprises everyone by marrying Joanna who had come to the conclusion that Pamela was his intended. Once in L.A., it becomes apparent that Uncle Harvey has been acting strangely. The company comptroller, Laurence Barlow, reports that Harvey has been making trips into the countryside and buying up old claims. Perry Mason gets involved in the case when Harvey is found dead, murdered in his study, and Joanna is taken into custody. Perry soon determines that the marriage on the ship is not valid and that Rick had done so to forestall his uncle's attempt to sell the company to a rival firm. Perry sorts through all of the evidence and confronts the killer in court.
Episode 7
The Case of the Bullied Bowler
Thu, Nov 5, 196460 mins
Alan and Bill Jaris own the County Corners bowling alley in the town of Tesoro that Bonnie Mae Wilmet is determined to close down. Wilmet, referred to locally as the Duchess, is from the once dominant family in the town and, as far as she is concerned, she's still in charge. She tries to get the mayor, Orson Stillman, to shut it down and then the local medical officer, Dr. Max Taylor, after some people come down with amoebic dysentery. Also, one of her top employees tries to apply a little muscle to the owners. The alley is ordered closed for health reasons and a friend of Perry Mason and Paul Drake, visiting lawyer Joe Kelly, represents the Jaris brothers and manages to get a court order allowing them to remain open. During their investigation of the issues, they learn Bill married Wilmet's daughter but she died during childbirth, in which Dr. Taylor was involved. Kelly soon suspects the same issue as Dr. Taylor is causing the sickness. When Taylor is found murdered in his office with Bill Jaris standing by the body, Bill Jaris is charged with murder.
Episode 8
The Case of a Place Called Midnight
Thu, Nov 12, 196460 mins
In Mitternacht, Switzerland to say hello to Lt. Frederic Ralston, the son of a client, Perry Mason also gets to meet the young woman that Fred has fallen in love with, Greta Koning. When they go to Fred's room to see him, they find the dead body of Capt. Joe Farrell and Fred standing there with a gun in his hand. Farrell and Fred did not get along and, while Farrell had been killed with Fred's gun, he says had just picked it up from the floor. Working with local police, Inspector Hurt, Perry learns from the military that Joe Ferrell was onto a scam having to do with a Nazi treasure at the bottom of the nearby lake. They believe that the eminent Dr. Kleinman is behind it all, but when they find him at the bottom of the lake, it's apparent they have two murders to solve. The victims of scam include an American, Frank Appleton, as well as an Argentinian, Juan Carlos Ramirez. Perry has an idea who is responsible.
Episode 9
The Case of the Tragic Trophy
Thu, Nov 19, 196460 mins
Film producer-director Tony Fry is something of a wheeler-dealer who returns to Hollywood after completing his latest movie in Mexico. On his arm is an attractive young blond, Kathy Anders, who he informs the press is going to be his wife. It's all a publicity stunt and, the press no sooner leaves, that he sends her on her way. But Kathy sees him kissing a woman in a car, later identified as Joanne Pennington, before they drive away. Fry has his own retinue including assistant director Howard Stark, his secretary Lydia Lawrence and personal assistant Coley Barnes, who's invested $200,000 in the movie. Tony is in desperate need of cash and has 48 hours to pay his $50,000 debts in Mexico or his film footage will be seized. He turns to J.J. Pennington in the hope of getting the financing he needs. Kathy has her own agenda as she blames Fry for driving her father, once a renowned movie cameraman, to drink. When Fry is found dead, Kathy is charged with murder and Perry Mason defends her in court.
Episode 10
The Case of the Reckless Rockhound
Thu, Nov 26, 196460 mins
Carl Bascom returns to Burgess, California after several years' absence. He visits Reba Burgess, showing her a signed agreement with her husband giving him half interest in the mine she operates. Reba takes it to Perry, who does not have good news, but she prefers to handle the problem herself. Perry sends Paul in to investigate the situation, anyway. Prior to Bascom's departure, he had closed down the Burgess mine, putting many of the locals out of work. Bascom had become a partner in the mine but claimed to have found irregularities in the books. Today, the mine is still being operated on a small scale by Reba Burgess, widow of the man who founded the business. With the help of two long-time employees, Kelly and Reelin' Pete, she's kept the place going thanks to a kindly banker, Mr. Malone, and loans using a million-dollars worth of diamonds as collateral. Bascom was viewed as a crook by many and frequently visited the bank, leading employee Mr. Kinder to wonder just what he's up to. When Bascom is found murdered at the mine, Reba Burgess is arrested and Perry Mason defends her in court.
Episode 11
The Case of the Latent Lover
Thu, Dec 3, 196452 mins
Eric Pollard is a successful businessman who has been behaving quite strangely lately. His marriage has started to break down after discovering that his wife is having an affair plus she is begging him for a divorce. He's prone to seizures where he loses consciousness and he begins to forget things that he only recently did or said. In one bizarre incident, he jumps into a taxi and orders the driver to take him to a bank, also announcing that he intends on robbing it. He's eventually convicted but accuses the probation supervisor Roy Galen, who is actually quite sympathetic to his case, of being the man having the affair with his wife. During his probation period, his wife is forced to take over the approval of his business affairs at the investment firm where he is a junior partner. Galen gets a call from Sibyll Pollard while she is being assaulted. An irate Pollard arrives at Galen's office just after he left and says he is going to stay there to confront Galen with a photo of him and Sibyll together when he gets back. Galen rushes to the house but, after entering, is hit over the head with a vase and dazed. When he recovers, he finds her dead by the fireplace. He is then arrested for her murder, being found leaving the scene. Perry Mason defends him in court and unmasks the real killer.
Episode 12
The Case of the Wooden Nickels
Thu, Dec 10, 196460 mins
Perry Mason becomes involved in a case involving avid coin collectors, fake coins, fraud - and murder. It all begins when Paul Drake is hired by Minerva Doubleday whose Uncle Homer Doubleday owns a local coin shop. She wants Drake to act as a go between in delivering a rare 1861 Confederate half dollar to an anonymous buyer who has agreed to pay $50,000 for the coin. She's afraid for her own safety so gets Drake to follow the buyers elaborate instructions. Both Drake and Perry wonder if the coin is real and Perry visits an acquaintance, Howard Hopkins, to see if it's real. Hopkins has made many efforts to buy the rare coin but Doubleday refuses to sell to him due to previous interactions. Drake is intercepted along the way and redirected back to Doubleday's coin shop where he finds Minerva standing holding a gun over the body of George Parsons, another who was very interested in the coin. Parsons was blackmailing Doubleday over fake coins he made for Parsons. Perry defends Minerva when she is charged with Parsons' murder.
Episode 13
The Case of the Blonde Bonanza
Thu, Dec 17, 196460 mins
Della Street is amazed at her new friend Dianne Adler's ability to eat enormous amounts of food and yet keep her slim figure. Dianne grew up near a relative of Della but she has had a rough childhood with a sick mother and dead father. Della becomes suspicious when she spots a couple of men following Dianne so she calls Perry and Paul. Dianne finally admits to Della that she has signed a contract with promoter Harrison Boring to be the exclusive model for a new clothing line. The only requirement is that she gain 12 pounds. Perry doesn't like the sound of the contract she's signed and confirms his suspicions when he visits Montrose Foster who finds missing heirs in return for a percentage. Paul Drake realizes that Dianne is being followed by another private detective named Dillard hired by Marvin Palmer, who lives with his mother Mrs. Winlock and her husband Mr. Winlock. After Boring is killed, Dianne is charged with murder and it becomes apparent that the Winlocks have a secret they want to protect.
Episode 14
The Case of the Ruinous Road
Thu, Dec 31, 196460 mins
Perry Mason defends a young engineer, Adam Conrad, who is accused of killing his immediate superior, Joe Marshall. Both worked for a construction firm that had come under pressure from a client, Archer Osmond, to keep the cost of an access road to his new subdivision, Osmond Estates, to a minimum. If they can't get better controls of their costs, he threatens to cancel the rest of the contract. Conrad and Marshall don't get along very well and Conrad is sent out to survey a new route that will take them right through an old stately house occupied by a pleasant elderly woman. Conrad's girlfriend thinks that tearing down the house is a shame and approaches well-known columnist Quincy Davis who writes an article against the move. When Marshall accuses Conrad of taking kickbacks and gets him fired, Conrad sets off to see him at the house in question but is hit over the head upon entering it. Adam is seen leaving the house by the owner so, when Marshall is found dead inside, Conrad is accused of murder and it's left for Perry to sort it all out and find the real killer.
Episode 15
The Case of the Frustrated Folk Singer
Thu, Jan 7, 196560 mins
Perry Mason defends Amy Jo Jennings, who is charged with murder after her agent, Harry Bronson, is found dead. Amy Jo had only recently arrived from Tennessee with aspirations to be a singer. She got work at a folk club with musician Jazbo Williams. She is followed to Los Angeles by Lester Crawford, a disc-jockey from back home who has hounded her to marry him. He interrupts her act at Williams' club and at Bronson's office. Bronson saw Amy Jo singing at Williams' club and signed her to a contract but not before getting her--in fact a young heiress to her family firm--to give him $50,000 as an investment in a summer musical in which she will star. Bronson and his partner Al Siebring are deeply in debt and Bronson's wife's lover is urging her to divorce him. Amy Jo had visited Bronson on the evening he was killed to get her money back after she learned that the lead role had also been promised to well-known singer Audrey Stemple. Several people had reason to want Bronson dead and Perry must find the real killer.
Episode 16
The Case of the Thermal Thief
Thu, Jan 14, 196560 mins
With Perry Mason away in Europe, his friend Ken Kramer takes on the case of Lona Upton, accused of murdering Maxine Nichols who was found dead in the park across the street from where she was staying. Maxine was a thief and had only just recently been released from prison. She had weaseled her way into the home of Amy Reid and had quickly become friends with Amy's half-sister, Lona Upton. Lona, tired of hearing about her sister Amy's constant attention to the death of her husband in the Catalina channel five years earlier, is glad to have the companionship of Maxine. Maxine had known Amy's husband when she was a cocktail waitress on Catalina. Maxine steals a necklace from Amy's safe that turned out to be just a cheap paste imitation. When Kramer establishes a connection between Maxine and Amy Reid's dead and much revered husband Dion, it leads to the identity of the killer.
Episode 17
The Case of the Golden Venom
Thu, Jan 21, 196560 mins
Perry Mason is hired by Lucille Forrest to look into the death of her son, Dick, some two years before. Lucille has been away for a year and most believe she went to Europe immediately after the death of her husband. She was his maid who he married ten years earlier and left her a wealthy heiress. In fact, she's been living in Chicago trying to earn enough money to live on without having to use one cent of the money her husband left her in his will. She's convinced that her son was murdered but her husband left a clause in the will stating that the trustee could withhold any of the proceeds if Lucille initiates any type of investigation about Dick's death. He and friends were on a hunting trip where he was found shot with his own gun, in a fence. She tells Paul Drake that Ralph Day is responsible and, when he is found to have been poisoned with rattlesnake poison, she is charged with murder as she kept the venom for her own use. Several people may have had reason to want Day out of the way and it's left to Perry to find the real killer.
Episode 18
The Case of the Telltale Tap
Thu, Feb 4, 196560 mins
Vera Wynne is the power behind the throne, so to speak, as secretary to Archer Bryant, the head of an investment firm and a bit of a playboy. She can make careers and her latest interest is the firm's new financial comptroller, the handsome young Clyde Darrell. He's just discovered a fraud being perpetrated by one of the stock brokers they use, Ian Jarvis, who promptly loses them as a client. Vera has her own interests, however, and arranges to tap her boss' private phone, the one he uses to place stock orders for the firm. She hires Glen Holman, a disgraced ex-detective, who has a gift with electronics and wire taps. Paul tries to find him but he is found dead. Problems arise, however, when she learns that Clyde is involved with Archer Bryant's pretty niece, Nancy Bryant. She confronts him in Archer Bryant's office and they quarrel and she falls, hitting her head. When she is later found dead, Clyde is charged with murder and it's up to Perry Mason, as his defense attorney, to find the real killer.
Episode 19
The Case of the Feather Cloak
Thu, Feb 11, 196560 mins
In Hawaii, doing work for a hotel chain that is thinking of acquiring prime beach front property, Perry Mason and Paul Drake find themselves involved in a murder. Jarvis Logan owns the beach front property on each side of a small point out in the bay that is owned by a trust for Anona Gilbert, which he oversees. Douglas Kelland is a beachcomber and avid surfer who is engaged to the beautiful Anona Gilbert. He suddenly breaks off his engagement when it is revealed he is still married to Dolly Jameson. He's found something important on the property Perry has been looking into, important enough for someone to kill him with a spearfishing gun. Paul Drake saw Anona running away from the murder scene after she had been asked to come there by Douglas, and Perry defends her at the preliminary hearing. A simple feather provides the clue needed to identify the murderer.
Episode 20
The Case of the Lover's Gamble
Thu, Feb 18, 196560 mins
After a car crash results in the death of a truck driver and severe injuries to his wife, Frances, art critic Philip Stark moves into a new home in Los Angeles. His wife is bedridden and he is pleased when art student Betty Kaster drops by and he quickly offers her a job as a caregiver for Frances. She is convinced that he is out to kill his wife and goes to see Della, who she had met when Della gave a seminar at her school, to ask about reciprocal wills. When introduced to Perry, she changes her mind and leaves the office. On the street, when she sees Philip kissing an attractive blond, she becomes seriously concerned and rushes home. There she receives a call from Perry who, based on some calls he made, is concerned. It all takes an interesting twist when Betty finds Philip dead in Frances' bed with the recovering woman nowhere to be found. Paul Drake is soon on the case and he keeps running into one roadblock after another. Betty is charged with his murder and its left to Perry to untie a devilishly twisted knot that has to do with an inheritance.
Episode 21
The Case of the Fatal Fetish
Thu, Mar 4, 196560 mins
Larry Germaine is a young lawyer working for Hamilton Burger as an Assistant District Attorney. He's taken up with fast company, however, in the form of Carina Wileen, who loves to party and spend money. He really can't afford her lifestyle and Burger questions the choices he's made. Larry has decided not to pursue a criminal fraud complaint scientist Jack Randall has filed against Brady Duncan. When Burger begins to questions his ethics, Larry does not react well. His mother, Mignon Germaine, is also against his relationship with Carina, even visiting her at her home to get her to leave her son alone. Mignon has a nightclub act at the Club Caribbe centered around voodoo mysticism. When she sees Carina at the club, she stabs a voodoo doll in front of her and the girl collapses. It's only later when Larry visits Carine in the hospital that he is found by a nurse standing over Carina's body with a dagger in her chest. It's up to Perry Mason to sort out the killer from those who wanted her dead.
Episode 22
The Case of the Sad Sicilian
Thu, Mar 11, 196560 mins
Enrico Bacio is a crusty old man who keeps everybody in the family under his thumb. He's nasty to Serafina, a woman who is everything but a legal wife to him. His daughter and son, Elizabeth and Massimo, work in the family business but get little respect from their father. Then there's Giangiacomo, whose father has built up the business with Enrico, supposedly as a partner. Nothing was ever documented and, now that Enrico is planning to sell everything for only cash and return to the old country, despite his lawyer's advice not to sell, Giangiacomo feels cheated out of what he thinks is his fair share. Into this mix comes a young man from Italy, Paolo Porro, hailing from the same Sicilian village as the Bacios. As soon as Enrico hears his name, however, he goes straight to the police saying that Paolo is going to kill him due to a 150 year old feud between the families. When Enrico is soon after found dead, Paolo is arrested and Perry Mason defends him.
Episode 23
The Case of the Murderous Mermaid
Thu, Mar 18, 196560 mins
Reggie Lansfield is a beautiful young woman who is prepared to pull any stunt to get recognition and make a bit of money. Paul meets her when he rescues her from a failed parachute jump and later returns a bracelet to her. She's approached by representatives of Victoria Dawn, herself a champion swimmer who made a name for herself by swimming from Catalina to the coast 10 years earlier. Once she's proven her swimming ability, they tell her that she is to impersonate Victoria and swim from Catalina; it's a publicity stunt to get Victoria's name back into the papers. Reggie agrees, but partway across, the boat that's accompanying her blows up. The operator, Charlie Shaw, isn't seriously hurt, but clearly someone was meant to be killed in that explosion. When Victoria is found dead in her cottage at a rest home, Reggie is arrested. She was seen jumping out of Victoria's window by a nurse, after coming to see Victoria to get her pay. Perry Mason tries to get to the bottom of it all.
Episode 24
The Case of the Careless Kitten
Thu, Mar 25, 196560 mins
Perry Mason finds himself trying to solve a murder involving the dysfunctional Shore family. Matilda Shore's husband, Franklin, disappeared some 10 years ago and his legacy has been held in limbo ever since. Franklin's brother, Gerald, and niece, Helen Kendall, both stand to inherit sizable amounts from the estate as does Matilda. However, Matilda refuses to let Gerald, a lawyer, probate Richard's will. When Helen receives a phone call from someone claiming to be Franklin and asking to meet her, she confides in her uncle who in turn consults Perry. They set off to meet the man only to find a stranger dead in a car with many of Franklin's possessions. Helen is convinced the man on the phone is Franklin as he knew personal details from her childhood that only he would know. Matilda soon finds herself in the hospital having been poisoned. She recovers but Perry is far more interested in the fact that Helen's Siamese cat had also recently been poisoned.
Episode 25
The Case of the Deadly Debt
Thu, Apr 1, 196552 mins
When Ed Talbert arrives at Union Station in Los Angeles, he's accompanied by Kitty Delany, who he met on the train and who is helping the elderly man. Ed calls his son, Carl, a nightclub piano player but, before the call is even finished, Ed Talbert dies from a heart attack. At the time, Steve Radom was standing by Talbert. The police officer who investigates the death at the station is Danny Talbert, a LAPD Sergeant, who is the son of the dead man. Carl consults Perry Mason and says that he subsequently received a call from Steve Radom saying that his father owed him $10,000. Radom, it turns out, is a well-known gangster and Carl's brother, Danny, pays him a visit. Perry makes an appointment to see Radom about the debt. He is approaching Radom's cabin when he hears shots and sees Danny running away from it. When Radom is found dead, Danny is arrested and charged with murder. There are several people who may have wanted him dead including business partners in Los Angeles. A family secret is at the root of it all.
Episode 26
The Case of the Gambling Lady
Thu, Apr 8, 196560 mins
Perry Mason is meeting with Peter Warren, going over the final documents for Peter's divorce from his wife, Myrna. After Perry leaves, Peter receives a panic phone call from her. She's a chronic gambler and, after an incident at a Lake Tahoe casino, is afraid that casino enforcers are now after her. Her neighbor, Irene Prentice, had run into her at the casino and asked her to go to a show. While waiting to cash in her chips, a man in glasses asks to see Myrna, taking some chips from her and telling her she is in trouble. She runs out and runs over a casino employee who pulls a gun on her. Peter rushes to her house only to find her calm and collected and telling him it was all a mistake. Soon after, however, he returns to the house and finds her dead in her bedroom. Rather than call the police or tell Perry, he heads off to the casino she had been at the night before. It's clear that her death has to do with counterfeit casino chips that have been circulating in Nevada casinos. Chips that may have been manufactured by Perry's client, who own a novelty games business.
Episode 27
The Case of the Duplicate Case
Thu, Apr 22, 196560 mins
Millie Cornwall works in the office of a major department store and has the interest of a number of men who work there. The fact that she is married, to Herbie Cornwall, doesn't seem to stop her from seeing those men whenever she feels like it. Herbie was once an up and coming baseball star but, now that he sells insoles for tired feet, he doesn't seem as glamorous to her. Herbie's office is next to Paul Drake's and he inadvertently comes across Herbie's problem: when he got home that day after visiting his wife at the office he found $72,000 in his briefcase. They get in a fight related to their marital issues and the briefcase resulting in Herbie striking his wife. He leaves and calls his boss to meet him at a bar with the police as he tells the bartender he struck his wife. Clearly the case is not his but a mysterious fire at his wife's office not only destroyed many of the company's financial records, his wife is found dead at their home. Perry Mason is soon on the case and, while he is fairly certain that Millie was involved in the theft, it's apparent that someone else also had plans for her.
Episode 28
The Case of the Grinning Gorilla
Thu, Apr 29, 196560 mins
After Della Street buys a package of memorabilia dealing with a woman, Helen Cadmus, who died a year ago, she and Perry are approached by Nathon Fallon, who seems prepared to pay any price to get his hands on the material on behalf of his employer, Benjamin Addicks. Intrigued, Perry asks Paul Drake to look into Addicks' background. They soon track down his former housekeeper, Josephine Kempton, who is in the process of suing Addicks for slander; he's been spreading lies about her being a thief. Addicks is a strange man, a scientist who keeps a menagerie of animals including a gorilla. When Josephine calls Perry from Addicks' home asking for help, he arrives to find the gorilla in Addicks' bedroom and Josephine on the floor avoiding the glare of the gorilla, who has seemingly gotten out of its enclosure. Addicks is dead, but when the police find that he has been stabbed, it's clear that someone other than the gorilla was involved.
Episode 29
The Case of the Wrongful Writ
Thu, May 6, 196560 mins
Ward Toyama, a young lawyer, is approached by Frank Jones claiming to be a government agent asking for his assistance. Toyama's father owns a major import/export company with dealings in the Far East and with export licenses in place. Frank is looking to ship 'farm implements' to an unnamed country in Asia. Ward foolishly agrees without checking out Jones' story and soon finds himself charged with murder when, after the ship's departure with Ward on board, Jones is killed. Ward realizes he is in trouble upon boarding the ship and finding that Jones is the first mate and the travel plans have changed. He confronts and fights with Jones who falls over the railing. Ward believes it was an accident until Perry tells him the truth. In Los Angeles, Perry Mason doesn't present a defense at the preliminary hearing and even Hamilton Burger is surprised at the ease with which he he manages to have Ward Toyama bound over for trial. Perry quickly files a writ of habeas corpus in the Federal Court arguing that the Stare of California has no jurisdiction. At the Federal Court hearing, he culls through the various witnesses eventually identifying the real killer.
Episode 30
The Case of the Mischievous Doll
Thu, May 13, 196552 mins
Perry Mason is more that just a bit taken aback when a ditsy blonde, Dorrie Ambler, barges into his office asking him to have a good look at her so he can identify her later, should the need arise. She says she went to a casting call where she was hired to dress a certain way and just go around town shopping, meeting people and generally being seen. Now that she's been doing it for a while, she's convinced that there has to be something illegal going on, though she has no idea what that might be. Della becomes concerned when she spots a gun in Dorrie's purse but Perry quietly finds it's loaded - with blanks. A faked incident at the airport where the gun is fired adds to the mystery. It turns out that Dorrie bears an uncanny resemblance to wealthy heiress Minerva Minden who is known for her madcap escapades. Paul Drake traces Dorrie's employer to Joe Billings, a less than reputable private investigator who Drake is certain is involved in all of this. When Billings and Dorrie Ambler both die on the same day, it's Minerva who is charged with Billing's murder. It's left to Perry to make sense of it all.
