The Case of the Mystified Miner

Before anyone is murdered, Susan Fisher, secretary to Endicott Campbell of Corning Mining, comes to Perry about a shoe box with about $200k in cash that Endicott's son brought into the office as his "treasure," while screaming the pirates are coming. Amelia Corning, the company owner, arrived a day earlier than planned from South America, and Susan tells Perry that she had discussed the shoe box and certain issues about the Mojave Monarch mine with Amelia. Amelia goes missing but a different Amelia Corning arrives the next day. Paul interviews Ken Lowry, the Mojave manager, and learns that something odd is going on. Ken is asked to report time for numerous non-existent workers, get paid by Campbell, and return said money to a po box. Lowry goes along with this (!). The amount of money involved is around $200k. Susan gets some very odd instructions, including a car rental. Lowry ends up dead and Susan is charged. Now, there is no Amelia Corning to be found. Paul implies to Perry that the second Amelia had a passport (and thus was real), but the second Amelia was merely using the passport of the first (real) Amelia. During the hearing, an investigator of Paul/Perry named Abert (really Hebert?) gives damaging testimony and Perry really badgers a different witness. Perry asks for a recess and the "reveal" happens out of court. There is an interesting line earlier, Perry to Tragg: this time you've gone too far.

This was quite a complex effort. It starts out with a loving, but dense, secretary, having a little boy hand her a shoebox with a couple hundred thousand dollars in it. But from that point on there is a constant hammering of facts and deception, to the point where the conclusion is anticlimactic. I would have appreciated things being settled in the courtroom.

The second half of Season 5 has some real gems and "The Case of the Mystified Miner" is certainly one of them. This episode is based on the Gardner novel "The Case of the Spurious Spinster." The only misleading thing about that title is the implication that there is only one spinster.

"Mystified Miner" centers on Susan Fisher, a secretary for the Corning Company - owned by Amelia Corning. She works directly for Mr. Campbell, whose job is not particularly well described. Nonetheless, Campbell's son runs into the office on a Saturday and hands a shoe box to Susan (he says it's treasure that he needs to hide from the pirates, how cute). She discovers that it's filled with genuine treasure indeed - $200 thousand dollars! Before she can notify Mr Campbell, Mrs. Corning calls and tells Susan she's just arrived from South America and to pick her up at the airport right away. This sets off a chain of events that cause Susan Fisher to look awfully bad. Fisher (played by Kathie Browne, who was in 4 episodes of Perry Mason and 3 episodes of Ironside) does a good job playing the trusting but naive good girl. Every time she does something stupid, it's only a little annoying to watch.

The basic idea is that somebody is embezzling from the company, and the murder that takes place is undoubtedly tied into the embezzlement. Simple enough, but the relationships between the characters are unclear which can make the story rather confusing. On the other hand, the episode has excellent pace. From the moment the kid runs into the office with his "treasure," something interesting is always happening and it isn't until the very end that it actually makes sense. Like a lot of Perry Mason epilogues, there's a lot of explaining to do.

Della mentions her age to a mechanic (I can't tell if it's supposed to be a joke or not) and Tragg has a funny scene in Mason's office. There's also a clever tactic employed by Mason to tamper with evidence in a circuitous manner, which winds up being completely irrelevant. Overall, there are a lot of good reasons to watch this one.

My word, the Good Lord was awfully good to this "secretary"! Burr always had well endowed, beautiful women in the Perry Mason series, but this girl is exceptional. The addition of the librarian style glasses was almost too much to bear. My my, then add to all of this, the idea that the young lady is a literal killer, and you have a Perry Mason that stands out. Speaking of standing out, well, it would seem we've come full circle, ha, ha.

By Season 5, it had become a rare treat to see an episode based on one of Gardner's books. And this episode might be one of the best of the season.

Over the course of the series' 9 seasons there were many excellent original episodes created by the writing team however, plot elements exist in Gardner's stories often missing in the former. Having watched each episode multiple times, it is hard to put one's finger on the subtle differences, but they are there. One may be a few more twists and turns.

This episode is based Gardner's novel, "The Case of the Spurious Spinster." The name change may have to avoid confusion with a Season 3 episode, "The Case of the Spurious Sister" that wasn't based on one of his works. The episode includes the great scene stealer, Josephine Hutchinson, prominent 60s actress, Kathy Browne, and the often oily Bartlett Robinson. It is a great ride, and highly recommended.