The Case of the Jealous Journalist

The owner of the newspaper 'Los Angeles Chronicle', Dan York, has been been killed in a raft accident on a Canadian vacation. Now a nasty family dispute will start when one side of the family wants to sell the paper and the other part of the family, wants to continue the paper.

When the 'Will' is read it appears that Joe Davies will get his wish and continue with the newspaper. The thing that pushed the entire situation to the Davies' side was that Joe's fiancé, Kerry Worden, is set to inherit a small amount of shares that will tilt the vote toward Joe Davies. However when announcing the engagement Ms Worden tells Joe that she is not to marry him but his cousin Ralph Quentin which will now tilt the side to selling the paper. And before leaving Joe does something that we all know is never good- he tells her that he will see her dead before she marries Quentin.

Guess what? The same day Ms Worden is found dead in her apartment and Joe is seen holding the murder weapon. Perry will have his hands full when he defends Joe Davies against some powerful evidence.

There is much more going on in this episode than meets the eye. Plus a lot of useless information, that at times, the viewer feels bombarded. But in the end it will come down to a person that needed money and just a little more time. Good watch.

I liked this this one well enough. The story had some intrigue that has been missing over the last few episodes. There are some personalities here that you'll love to hate, which at least gives the audience some direction as to who to pull for in this embroglio. The most enjoyable part for me was Perry's magnetic exhibit exposing the intentions and plotting of one of the main characters. For a change, the murderer wasn't obvious...

Linden Chiles the new owner of a local newspaper is Perry Mason's client in this episode. Seems like his father and uncle both died during a fishing expedition with family friend Denver Pyle and he's inherited the paper and is running it. His cousins want to just sell the thing and reap the profits. His girlfriend Claire Griswold jilts him for another man. When she winds up dead as he said he would like to have killed her. Of course the cops take him up on it and William Talman once again looks like he has a good case.

But of course there's a lot more going on here than Chiles's love life and a battle for control of a newspaper. Naturally Raymond Burr gets to the bottom of it.

This episode and many other shows should teach the lesson that one should never utter words like 'I'll kill you'. They could put you in a jackpot and you probably won't have a Perry Mason to get you out of it.

This is about a newspaper in deep trouble. When the head honcho dies in a rafting accident, it falls on a young man to keep it going. There is no confidence in him and soon the weasels come out of the woodwork. The biggest thing is a tussle between two combating entities who will be affected by the old boss's will. There is a also a conniving woman who turns on people at the drop of a hat, anything for a buck. This was a neat episode with some interesting twists and turns.

The episode begins with three men in trouble in white water somewhere in Canada: Adam York (publisher of LA Chronicle). Prentice York, and Tilden Stuart (played by Denver Pyle). Only Tilden survives. Perry comes into the case as a transactional attorney, reading the will and acting as a transitional trustee. When explaining a point, Perry spouts Section 296 of the Uniform Death code related to "simultaneous" deaths. Perry is corrected on a factual matter by Paul, who notes the Mounties believe Prentice outlived Adam, which changes the outcome of the will. The coherence of the plot relies on Tilden Stuart knowing the will and the law, which is not clear from the episode version I saw on television. As to the plot, Adam's nephew Joe Davies wants to continue the Chronicle after Adam's death and believes his fiancee Kerry Warden will help him. Kerry is the step-daughter of Prentice and will get some stock voting rights if Prentice outlived Adam. As to the newspaper, the Quintin side of the family wants to sell and the Davies do not. Throw in bad guy Boyd Alison (played by Theodore Marcuse, who looks like a slimy evil version of Gavin McCleod) and a good woman (Miriam Coffey played by Bek Nelson), and you have a complicated mess. The police work of the Mounties was sloppy. The culprit does confess in court, breaking down to a blubbering puddle.