John Bedford is suspected of being the murderer of his wealthy aunt, Miss Ferguson, but the police are unable to break his alibi. Now, exactly two years after the crime, a retired Scotland Yard investigator named William Brent, puts together a plan that he hopes will make the nephew confess. Brent invites the young man to a dinner in the home that once belonged to the late aunt...
Thelma Tompkins is a waitress in a hotel restaurant. She's a good waitress and has always been kind to old Mrs. Mannerheim who eats in the restaurant every evening. Thelma is shocked when Mrs. Mannerheim tells her that she is her closest friend and has left her a considerable legacy in her will. In the interim, she gives Thelma a brooch. Over the following months, Mrs. Mannerhe...
John Forbes own a used car lot and business has been very slow. He only has one employee, whom he calls Dad, and has always assured him that no matter what, he will always take care of him. John's real problem is his extravagant wife who has just told him that she will be going on an expensive trip. When the opportunity presents itself, he takes care of the matter in a decisive...
Poor widow Billy Herman plans to speed the demise of the wealthy uncle who lives with her in Boston. A comely new female boarder quickens the hearts of both the niece and the elderly misanthrope. The new tenant, a struggling actress, is perfect casting for the crucial role in the gaslight era murder melodrama the niece has plotted for so long.
Laura Bowlby is a psychic who wants to visit her husband in Hong Kong. She is picked up by a chauffeur in a black sedan. Laura Bowlby says she does not like the color and would prefer a canary yellow one instead. This remark shocks the driver since the car was once canary yellow before a recent paint job. Inside the car, Laura begins to hear a woman's voice. The voice tells Lau...
Mr. Waterbury in interested in buying a high priced house. Sadie Grimes, the house's owner, invites Waterbury in for a drink. She says the price is nonnegotiable. The place has strong sentimental value for Sadie: her son was killed there over a mysterious bag that has since never been found. She believes the bag contained money which is hidden somewhere in the house. Waterbury ...
Miss Paisley adopts a stray cat. She names him Stanley. Stanley sneaks into the room of the violent tempered Mr. Rinditch. He tells Miss Paisley to keep the cat out of his room, but she fails. The cat sneaks into his apartment and Rinditch kills it. When Miss Paisley finds out, she grabs a knife to kill Rinditch, but she has second thoughts. She sits down and falls asleep. In t...
D.A. Warren Selvey learns that he's on bad political ground because of his low conviction rate. He decides to vigorously prosecute a man named Rodman. He wins the murder case and Rodman is sentenced to die. After the sentence, however, Selvey meets a man named Barnes who claims to have committed the crimes. Selvey is now being considered a candidate for Congress. Fearing the re...
Donald Mason is a married professor who wants to end a romance with one of his students. He stops by while she is babysitting. He tries to end the relationship, but she threatens to expose him. He kills her and leaves a witness: the screaming baby she was watching. Later, Mason runs into the infant in a carriage on the street. At the sight of him the baby screams and cries. Hau...
In the midst of a heated quarrel, a man lifts up the fireplace poker in his hand and brings it down on his wife, who drops to the floor. She's dead. The man puts her body in the trunk of his car and drives off, hoping to find somewhere to dispose of it. If he thought his wife was a nag, she'll seem like sweetness and light compared to a motorcycle cop, who stops him and insists...
The kooky Babs Fenton's imagination is a great asset when writing murder mysteries. But it does not foster peace and harmony in the home, especially not when she has an unimaginative corporate lawyer for a husband. Her overstimulated mind begins working on her new next-door neighbors, the Blanchards, when she realizes she's never seen Mrs. Blanchard. And Mr. Blanchard seems les...
The cab driver taking Mr. Vinton to his destination is surprised to see he has business with Miss Julia Pickering and not her sister, Miss Cordelia. Miss Cordelia, aka Mrs. Welles, has her sister under her thumb. He's even more surprised to find that Miss Julia has written a book that Mr. Vinton wants to publish. When Mr. Vinton arrives at the elderly sisters' magnolia-scented ...
Gil Dalliford has an unnaturally close relationship to his father, whom he calls by his first name, Jonathan. "Every important moment of my life is a moment I had with Jonathan," he says. But after eighteen years of being a widower, Jonathan finds he's ready to settle down with a new wife. Before Gil even meets her, he declares his everlasting hatred for her. And that hatred on...
Georgie Minnelli confronts Lucky Moore, his old childhood enemy, for interfering in his pinball machine racket. Georgie waves a gun in Lucky's face, but Lucky isn't intimidated. A cop named Larkin has just been made lieutenant, and Larkin vowed long ago that if either of these hated rivals turns up dead, the other had better have a good alibi. Georgie couldn't possibly get away...
