The Case of the Carefree Coronary

Instead of Mason for the defense, here Perry is hired by an insurance company to conduct an investigation or audit of claims. Hamilton Burger appears but only as an observer as Mason tries to unravel the situation and disentangle himself from misconduct allegations. Paul Drake, as usual, plays a major role. The story line is unusual but gripping with excellent performances that match the writing.

This show is somewhat different from a normal episode in that no formal charges are issued. The show never goes to an official courtroom but mainly plays out in a coroner's inquest. But there is this cloud hanging in the air that what ever happens in the inquest could lead to some serious charges. And not for just anyone but for Perry Mason.

Perry is looking into a situation for Safeline Insurance Company. Seems they are having a large number of clients that have disabling heart conditions. So many that it may bankrupt the company. So Perry does some investigation, with help from Paul Drake, into the matter.

Thinking there is something strange, Perry forces one of the disabled client to come for new check-up. When the person arrives he falls over dead from a heart-attack. His wife hires a lawyer claiming Perry was the cause of the death and is ready with legal action against the insurance company and Perry Mason.

But through Paul Drake, Perry gets information concerning the heart conditions but not until it leads Paul to a near death experience. In fact, in one scene Della is crying and tells Perry that Paul is dying which at the time is believed to be another one of those heart-attacks.

As stated this was a good show. Very interesting activities going on during the entire show. However, how we got to the climax of the show is still under investigation. Someone was presented with a piece of paper with their signature and somehow Perry is saved from losing his law license. Why that writing was so important did not seem to play well. Just to unbelievable. However I did enjoy watching this episode.

Note- during the show Paul Drake goes out and films some people claiming to be disabled. In one filming session he is in a doubled opened window in broad daylight. Yet somehow was not spotted with a movie camera and recording device.

This was very good and different. I know it would be a real spoiler, but I dozed off and missed the last 5 minutes or so and don't know who did what??

I really enjoyed this one. It involves a bevy of slime balls and arrogant jerks. Burger should have had about six trials after the episode is over. It is and insurance scam involving people with heart attacks, symptoms induced. The thing I couldn't buy was Perry putting both Della and Paul's lives in danger. They both drink a substance handed to them by a "doctor" suspected of incompetence.

It's a good episode worth watching, but as others here have adequately covered the plot elements, I will not repeat that. I am just writing to note that this episode makes me sad. A little over halfway through the episode, Paul Drake keels over apparently suffering from a heart attack. It makes me sad every time I see that scene to realize that William Hopper would lose his life to a stroke at the relatively young of 55 just 4 and 1/2 years after this episode aired. RIP.