After the last few episodes were sort of duds, this episode brought all the good things that made Perry Mason a great series to watch.
This episode centers around Herbert Cornwall (Martin West). Herbie is a former baseball player that is now reduced to a salesman of arch supports. It is very easy to say that Herbie is down on his luck and stuck in this dead end job.
But there is more, He is also married to Millie Cornwall (Susan Bay). Millie is an accountant at a large department store. She married the big-time ball player but now is not to happy to be married to a arch-support salesman. In her world of executive business she has become the 'slut-of-the-office'. Seems like everyone in the office, plus some outside on the streets, has ridden Millie like an old bicycle.
When Herbie goes to visit his wife at her office, she advises that she cannot go out to eat that they have to work late for an surprise audit. He storms out of the office picking up a brief case and goes for a drink. But just about an hour later, Herbie sees his wife out eating and drinking with the owner of the store. Herbie staggers home and goes into a fit inside his house.
When he throws the briefcase against the wall it is filled with money. He had picked up the wrong case when he left his wife's office. And he believes that his wife is stealing from the company and planning to run off with one of her affair guys.
He finds his wife packing to leave him and gets into a argument and hits her. He leaves and then calls a friend to help him get the embezzlement information to the police. When the police arrive to talk with him, they take the case with the money and then tells him that his wife has been found dead and he is the main suspect.
Thanks to Paul Drake, Perry is called to defend the hapless Herbie in court. And it is up to Perry to find exactly what is going on in that office and to find the real killer of Millie.
There is some good acting in this episode that keeps the viewer interested. Martin West does a good job of playing the down-on-his-luck former baseball player that finds his wife cheating. It was easy to feel his pain in the way Mr West portrayed the character.
Susan Bay as the cheating wife also did a good job of making the viewer have disdain for her. Her acting of the obvious cheating spouse made no one shed tears for her when she did not make it to the credits. That is what makes a good show in my opinion. You connect with the characters and the story. And the remaining cast was just as interesting. Seems like even Perry was a step above his regular acting.
After being disappointed during the last two episodes, I find myself looking forward to the next show. This episode brought back all the good qualities of the 'Perry Mason' series.