The Case of the Waylaid Wolf

A young woman is manipulated by her boss into a possible sexual encounter. She deals with it as best she can, but then becomes the defendant when he is murdered. The guy is portrayed as the worst of the worst.

This one actually plays out pretty well. Benson Fong is 'right on' (but then he always is) and his co-thespians all do a great job. Directing was evenly paced and not ham-fisted. Perry plays some shyster-like tricks in this one that were more prevalent in the early episodes than in the later seasons (and more like the ESG books). The tables turn against him, though, when he is accused of such tomfoolery while caught investigating with Paul, only he's playing it straight. Of course, he overcomes it and calls just the right witnesses to break the case and get the guilty party to confess. Very watchable.

One of the rottenest characters ever to be murdered on a Perry Mason show has to be Tony Travis. A no good womanizer, a degenerate gambler, the spoiled rotten son of a rich man who never is seen in this show because he doesn't bother to come back from Europe. Of course there are a host of suspects for this guy's killing.

But the one arrested is Andra Martin who is a stenographer in his office whom he asks home for a little dictation. When she resents being dictated to take her clothes off, Travis roughs her up and Martin flees the scene stealing his sportscar. She's in to see Raymond Burr the next day, worried about a stolen car rap. William Hopper comes in and says that Travis was found stabbed to death in his house and Martin's looking good for it.

This truly was a public service homicide and when the real killer is revealed you hope Perry Mason will take that person's case. You really feel sorry for that individual.

The episode begins with a young playboy named Loring Lamont Jr is trying to get him some action from one of the secretaries in the office named Arlene Ferris. Mr Lamont blows off his regular secretary and ask Ms Ferris if she will work late. Due to tampering by Lamont, Ms Ferris's car will not start and he will drive Ms Ferris home. But instead he remembers a meeting and takes Ms Ferris to his beach house in Malibu.

While at the beach house Mr Lamont gets a call from Oolong Kim concerning a loan that he wants repaid. Mr Lamont blows off Mr Kim and gets back to the seduction of Ms Ferris.

After forcing himself on her she pushes him over the couch and makes a run for it out the sliding glass door. Mr Lamont gets in his car and chases Ms Ferris down the rural road.(It was very obvious that the small car chase was filmed inside a movie studio) While giving chase Lamont gets out of the car and Ms Ferris gets in. As she is pulling off she knocks Lamont to the ground.

The next day Mr Lamont was found stabbed to death in the Malibu house. And the police arrest Ms Ferris for the murder. But thank goodness Ms Ferris has already visited Perry's office and he will defend her in court.

Even though the writers try to add material to spread blame for the murder to many different people, the best suspect was known after the first few minutes of the show. A simple mystery that was more interesting due to the many conflicts in the script.

We get some good ribbing between Perry and Lt Tragg that makes this episode entertaining. Lt Tragg even hints, while on the witness stand, of improper conduct by Perry. ---- Plus we get an odd scene where some rough gangster-type people invade Perry's apartment-and then leave just as odd as they entered.

This is one episode where the interactions of the characters were more interesting than the crime. Something different with good results.