[UPDATE: It appears that the ad that was placed into our posts was a signal that the payments supporting the ongoing existence of the Board had been used up. When I made a payment to Boardhost just a few minutes ago and returned to the Blackboard, the ads were gone. Please consider making a matching $9.99 payment to add 30 additional days to the ongoing life of the Blackboard. If you do so, please PM me so that I can keep track of our payment status...thanks!] MICHAEL SHAYNE - Murder in Wonderland – 1960 Not bad at all. Plenty of twists and turns for a television show. The writers here are William Link and Richard Levinson. These two knew how to twist a yarn as they wrote and produced over 60 episodes of the Peter Falk series, COLOMBO.
This is episode 13 from the 1960 to 61 P.I. series, MICHAEL SHAYNE. Richard Denning headlines as the famous detective based on the Brett Halliday series of books. The regular cast includes Herbert Rudley as the local Police Detectiveand Patricia Donahue as Denning's secretary. Rounding out the group is newsman Jerry Paris as well as Gary Clarke as the company leg-man.
Denning is about to head home from the office when he gets a phone call. The man, Herbert Lytton, barely has time to tell Denning who he is and where he is calling from (a tobacco shop) before Denning hears shooting come over the line. He grabs his car and heads out to the shop.
Already at the murder scene is his buddy, Police Detective Rudley. Denning informs the Detective about the phone call. "The man was shot before he told me what he wanted." says Denning. It turns out that Lytton was the bookkeeper for local mob boss (Anthony Caruso). Rudley figures the man had info on the mobster he wanted to pass on but was rubbed out before he could do it.
Denning returns to his office where of course Caruso and several of his gunsel's would like a word. "What did Lytton tell you on the phone?" Denning tells Caruso the truth, "Nothing." Caruso and his boys leave without resorting to any rough stuff.
The next day, secretary Donahue is kidnapped after stepping out for lunch. Denning gets a call that they want the info Lytton had, or the girl "gets it." A thoroughly annoyed Denning of course pulls out all the stops as he hunts down the swines' responsible for the kidnapping. It seems there is a book missing with all the book-keepers info in it.
Now a slew of red herrings are thrown in Denning's way. Lytton's daughter (Carolyn Kearney) and a crooked lawyer (Wesley Lau) slow down the investigation. Denning is sure mobster Caruso has set the whole train of events in order. He just needs to prove it. Denning follows all leads and discovers that one of Rudley's detectives (Frank Maxwell) is running with the bad boys. He sets up a sting and both Caruso and the bent cop, Maxwell, are arrested. Donahue is also freed and everyone is pleased.
The director was veteran actor Paul Stewart. Stewart had roles in CITIZEN KANE, CHAMPION, 12 O'CLOCK HIGH, THE WINDOW, ILLEGAL ENTRY, WALK SOFTLY STRANGER, APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER, LOAN SHARK, EDGE OF DOOM, THE WILD PARTY and KISS ME DEADLY. He started directing television as his film roles started to thin out.
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