Carla Chaney is caught seemingly red-handed at the scene of the murder of her ex-boyfriend. Perry agrees to take the case pro bono after three other attorneys drop out. Carla's only hope is an unseen woman she claims was also present at the scene. According to Carla, this woman had a sinister laugh.
A fortune teller gives a series of accurate predictions regarding a woman's future. But something goes wrong when she's charged with murdering her new husband.
Things aren't going too good for the self-styled candy queen, Claire Armstrong, these days. Boyfriend Mark Chester steals her candy formula in order to pay back his gambling debts and Harry Arnold is blackmailing her. Then there's cousin Wanda. She'd like nothing better than to see Claire convicted when Arnold is murdered so that she can takeover the business.
Perry returns to his college alma mater to receive an award but there's no rest for the weary when he's called upon to defend Van Fowler for the murder of a professor.
The Safeline Insurance Company notices an increase in heart attacks among their policy holders. The company suspects fraud and hires Perry and Paul to investigate. When Paul goes undercover as a construction worker, he almost doesn't survive the assignment.
An old Army buddy of restauranteur Terrence Clay, Lucas Tolliver, arrives in California from Oklahoma to meet the woman he was matched up with by a computer dating service. The woman, Miliicent Barton, is supposedly a rich widow. Lucas has money too having inherited it from his previous wife who died under mysterious circumstances. This doesn't prevent Millie from marrying Lucas but she dies at a party after drinking poisoned lemonade supposedly provided to her by Lucas. This one is a tough row to hoe for Perry.
Burt Payne owns 10% of a professional football team. His rich wife, Ellen, owns the remainder. Knowing that he's washed up and needing some quick cash, Burt tries to sell his share of the team to a group of investors and even gets a down payment from them. Ellen, however, is opposed to the deal. Then, after she meets with one of the potential buyers aboard a train, Burt is apparently killed in an explosion.
Louise Self must have broken a mirror. She has to stand trial for murdering her husband, Jamison, twice. Perry gets her off the hook the first time because the body was never found. Guess what? Jamison Self only faked his death and is still alive. When he ends up dead a second time it's deja vu all over again for poor Louise and Perry gears up for the second round.
Test driver Pete Griston cracks up one of ace car builder Pappy Ryan's vehicles. Pappy accuses Havey Rettig of tampering with the car and files charges against Rettig and Griston. Then Rettig is killed and Griston is found standing groggily over the body.
Police Sergeant Dave Wolfe warns Joe Oliver to stay away from his kid sister, Susan. Now Susan's been beaten up in her apartment, Oliver has been shot to death, and Dave is being charged with murder.
In this change of pace episode Perry and Della travel behind the Iron Curtain and get involved in a murder case which ends up being tried in an East German court.
Tryon Laboratories hires the Drake Detective Agency to protect their latest formulas. In spite of Paul's best efforts, there is a leak in security and some top-secret information is stolen. One night, Leigh, an undercover agent working for Dr. Scranton, the head of the company, calls to say he knows the identity of the spy. Scranton and Paul rush to the laboratory only to find Leigh dead, floating in a vat of water.
Victor Montalvo, co-owner of the Golden Bear Club, gives a ride to a sweet young thing named Debbie Conrad who later attempts to blackmail him by threatening to claim he took advantage of her. Debbie is working the scam with her boyfriend, Rick Durbin, and Montalvo decides to pay them off. But before he can make the payment his partner in the club is murdered.
Aspiring actor Tony Polk lands a job on a popular TV program. Part of his job consists of dressing up in a buccaneer costume and delivering free gifts to viewers at their homes. Another actor and Tony trade lists and before too long he's up the creek. One of the women on the list is murdered with a buccaneer's hook, the one belonging to Tony, and a neighbor swears that Tony fought with the woman.
Barney Austin is the king of late night talk radio in Los Angeles. One night during his on-air rants, Barney gets a note to call his boss, Kevin Steele. While talking to Steele on the air, the audience hears Steele begin arguing with someone and then two shots ring out.
Dr. Stacey Fielding takes off for Salt Lake City on business. When his plane crashes, Veronal poisioning is found in the body. Miriam Fielding is arrested since the last thing the good doctor drank was whiskey from a flash she had given him. Upon further investigation, Miriam is cleared when it's discovered that the man who really perished in the crash was Al Dolby, the plane mechanic. But where is Dr. Fielding and who did the poisoning?
Chick Farley is a low rent, semi-talented golf pro at an exclusive country club. He now mooches off his wife's money and occasionally blackmails members of the country club in order to keep his position. One night, ole Chick discovers that someone has been stealing from the pro shop. He calls club member Hamilton Burger at his home to inform him of the theft. While on the phone, somebody takes a sand wedge and bashes in Chick's skull. Chick is no great loss to humanity but, as usual, the wrong man is charged with the crime.
An art dealer and his girlfriend are arrested for a two murders related to a series of hijacks. Paul goes undercover to ferret out the hijacking ring and Perry finds himself staring face down the barrel of a gun pointed by a killer even he never considered.
Perry plays Mr. Brownlow to young Lenny Beale who's involved with a gang of teenage car strippers. Lenny wants to quit the gang but when his boss, Bill Sikes, turns up murdered the police theorize that Lenny killed him in revenge for Sikes shooting his girlfriend.
Perry must defend a goofy, untalented British kid whom someone thinks has the talent to be a pop singer but in reality couldn't get in the door of American Idol. Then someone bumps off a shady promoter and the would be pop idol gets blamed.
Imagine Gerard Van Ness's surprise when a long-lost tiara worth a fortune turns up in his hands. Imagine Perry and Della's surpise when the body of a jewel thief turns up in a trunk delivered to their building. Needless to say, Van Ness gets blamed for the death and it's up to Perry and company to save the day.
Things keep going from awful to good grief for poor Ethel Andrews. First she's left at the altar by her fiancé, Bruce Strickland, who also let's her take the blame for a $50,000 securities theft since her signature was on the transfer authorization. Ethel decides to leave town but nearly has an accident with a car driven by Peggy Sutton. Peggy, it seems, is on the run from a hired killer. Ethel foolishly agrees to swap identities with Peggy but then Peggy perishes in a car accident. Ethel then finds $50,000.00 in the trunk of Peggy's car and makes the mistake of informing Bruce Strickland who turns up murdered. Perry sends Paul Drake up to Lake Tahoe to find out about Peggy Sutton but it might be too late because the noose is getting pretty tight around poor Ethel's neck.
Nasty oilman Jerome Klee is shot to death and there's no shortage of suspects. Perry's client is Klee's foreman who tried to change his boss's mind about backing out on a drilling contract on a low income family's land.
Perry has all sorts of troubles in this one including a client who takes a shot at him. It starts when dim bulb prizefighter Duke Maronek gets into a fight with Art Grover over pretty model, Sharon Carmody. Duke believes he killed Grover with his bare hands. Perry discovers that a vagrant, who stole a wallet from the corpse, has been charged with the crime. He quickly gets the vagrant off the hook only to discover that Duke has disappeared. It is Sharon Carmody, the model who is up for a big assignment, who holds the keys to Duke's whereabouts and what really happened on the night Art Grover died.
Retired general Roger Brandon is set to head an anti-crime commission to investigate racketeering in a notoriously corrupt town. Rackets boss George Emory claims to have compromising photos of Brandon's young wife, Laura. Emory threatens to launch a smear campaign against Laura unless Brandon refuses the assignment. Brandon calls Emory's bluff and accepts the assignment but then Emory turns up murdered. Guess who gets charged with the crime?
Gossip columnist Danny Shine is a real scumbag. Even his own mother would disown him. So it's no surprise when he turns up shot to death in his car one night after a party at Alex Tanner's house. Danny's assistant, Greg Stanley, is arrested for the murder. Tanner can provide Stanley with an alibi except for one thing--his baby has been kidnapped and if he testifies the child will die.
A nasty actor with a lot of enemies is murdered. Perry gets his accused killer off the hook but then HE turns up dead and an aging, eccentric actress is blamed for that one. Are there two murderers on the loose or are both the work of one person?
