The Case of the Lame Canary

This is a very tricksy story with some sleight of hand.

Ruth Prescott is unhappily married to Walter Prescott. A loveless marriage and he was only after her money.

When she was single she had an affair with another man and they had exchanged love letters. Walter has them and demands a large some of money to give her a divorce.

When Ruth leaves the house, truck almost runs her over and ends up injuring another man. He seems to have been ordered to so by Walter.

Later Walter is found dead and Ruth is caught burning the love letters by his secretary.

When arrested for her husband's murder she engages Perry Mason. He looks into Walter's business dealings.

There are several plausible suspects. Walter was a nasty piece of work. I enjoyed the twists with Perry eventually putting together just who was meant to be the victim.

Neat twists and turns mark this episode as one of the better series offerings. The one glaring flight of Hollywood make-believe was immediately apparent to this mechanic, though. (As its departure from fact has no bearing on the storyline, I don't consider it a spoiler - just an amusing goof!) When Mason and Drake are interviewing the truck driver whose vehicle crashed into a parked car early in the episode, the driver claims his air brakes failed because of a hose that appeared to have been cut with a knife blade. He also stated he was able to drive the vehicle despite the broken hose, by using the hand brake.

As any auto mechanic can tell you, - unlike hydraulic brakes which are off unless the brake pedal is applied - air brakes work on the dead-man principle for safety of the general public. An air compressor powered by the engine has to build up enough air pressure to RELEASE the brakes before a vehicle equipped as such can move. (This explains that loud HISSSSS one hears when a tractor-trailer rig is ready to move out.) Pressing the brake pedal opens a dump valve, lowering air pressure and letting the brakes engage.

A cut brake hose in such a system would never allow the pressure to reach the brake-release point, rendering the vehicle virtually impossible to drive without extensive brake damage and strain on the engine and transmission, too. I kept waiting for Drake to catch the driver in this tall tale, but not to be.

Once the story begins to come together, it moves quickly. Don't go to the fridge for that cold drink, until the show's over!

This was one of the better constructed and cleverly written Perry Mason episodes with two murders apparently unconnected occurring on this show. In fact there's a rather clever scheme afoot in the case of one of the murders to make it look like an automobile accident.

Stacy Graham, the estranged wife of Walter Kendis is nearly rundown in an automobile accident. Later on Kendis is found dead in their home and a pet canary injured. That canary has part of the key to the mystery. She becomes the Perry Mason client.

The second part involves the burning of old love letters by Susan Cummings from her old boyfriend. That sends Raymond Burr off on a whole new line of thinking and William Hopper as Paul Drake digs up the evidence that not only finds the murderer, but uncovers quite a racket.

Barbara Hale gets into the act as well. Burr has Hale order a matching set of luggage to what Cummings has. That's when it all starts to unravel.

This was a good one.

In an action packed episode that has highlights at every turn, the story turned out to be an excellent tale with all the aspects needed for a great mystery.

It all begins at the home of Walter and Ruth Prescott. It seems that Ruth is no longer in love with Walter and has been seen in the company of another man named Jimmy McLain. Ruth wants a divorce but her husband refuses saying that the marriage is to death parts them. When Ruth exits the house she is nearly run over by a moving truck and suspects her husband in trying to kill her.

Later Ruth returns to the house and finds that Walter has been shot and killed. Instead of notifying the police about the incident, Ruth takes the time to remove the gun and also burn some letters between her and Jimmy McLain. But with all great mysteries, as Ruth is burning the letters, Walter's secretary enters the house and finds Ruth with her dead husband and burning the letters.

This is when Perry and Paul come into the situation but discover that there is more to this story than the following description. We learn that Jimmy McLain had a gun, there is more to the secretary that meets the eye, there is a insurance policy that is up for grabs, another man with Prescott connection is found dead and Della gets some new luggage.

There is something going on in this episode at every turn. An enjoyable mystery that was filled to capacity with interesting evidence from beginning to end. Don't blink or you may miss something in this enjoyable episode.

The crime here calls for some pretty good timing to work. That's what makes it work and also what leaves a trail of clues. By the way, the bird gets way too much credit here (basically to set up one line). Still, there is some great cross examination leading to discovery. I also enjoyed the bit with the suitcases that Perry sets up.