The Best Episodes of Burke's Law

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
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   8.5/10(90 votes)

   #1 - Who Killed Holly Howard?

   S1:E19/20/1963

   A top fashion model is found at a construction site, apparently shot to death. When it is discovered that she was drowned before she was shot, Burke tracks the case back to her ditzy landlady, and then to the heads of the ad agency she was modeling for and the artist who was painting her likeness for a giant ad campaign. Getting involved with another model, Burke soon discovers a plush hideaway owned by three Texas millionaires who ""entertain"" gorgeous young women poolside (where the murder may have taken place). Even though he uncovers a blackmailing butler and information that an older admirer had paid for cosmetic surgery for the model, Burke is suddenly stumped when it is revealed that the water in the dead girl's lungs had orange blossom bath salts in it and not chlorine from the pool.

   Director:Hy Averback

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Hy Averback

   Writer:Unknown
2. 

   8.5/10(49 votes)

   #2 - Who Killed Merlin the Great?

   S2:E1112/2/1964

   Merlin the Great's famous escape-from-a-coffin trick backfires when it is discovered that he has been shot while ""buried"" in a hotel pool - but how was it done? and which of the rival magicians has a deadly trick up their sleeve? The only clues are a feather found on the body and the grave of someone named ""Miriam"". Whodunit? Was it the lovely magician's assistant, the escape artist, the fortune teller, the hotel doctor, the ventriloquist or the knife thrower? A phony seance exposes the real culprit.

   Director:Unknown

   Writers:William Link, Richard Levinson

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   Director:Unknown

   Writers:William Link, Richard Levinson
3. 

   8.4/10(56 votes)

   #3 - Who Killed His Royal Highness?

   S1:E212/21/1964

   The Grand Duke, Maximilian Karol Alexandrei Kadarian, collapses at a banquet. The Grand Duke was famous locally as phony royalty, who owned a fabulous emerald necklace, now missing. The suspects include his former wife, his secretary, the owners of the banquet hall (two former vaudevillians), the ghostwriter of his autobiography, a ""reformed"" safecracker, another Russian noble now working as a director, and the mysterious and elusive ""Charlie Prince"".

   Director:Don Weis

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Don Weis

   Writer:Unknown
4. 

   8.3/10(44 votes)

   #4 - Who Killed Lenore Wingfield?

   S2:E811/4/1964

   Wealthy Lenore is blown away by a shotgun blast while sailing on a barge in her pool, dressed as Cleopatra, and is discovered by one of the men she has befriended from the local mission. Wealthy after several marriages, but coming from hillbilly stock, the victim was planning to change her will. Was the killer her only surviving ex-husband, her sexually repressed sister, her favorite cousin or his ""down-home"" girlfriend, or the shady rival businessman who's planning on marrying off his daughter to the victim's heir? A whole flock of chickens provide a vital clue.

   Director:Don Weis

   Writer:Leigh Chapman

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   Director:Don Weis

   Writer:Leigh Chapman
5. 

   8.3/10(45 votes)

   #5 - Who Killed the Swinger on a Hook?

   S2:E1412/23/1964

   Someone seems to be systematically killing a group of individuals on a list. One name on the list - Amos Burke. What is the connection between these people? One possible suspect (who's name also appears on the list) is badly beaten, and Burke finally discovers that the solution comes from a case many years ago when he was just starting out on the police force. Can he trap the killer before he becomes the next victim? After one attempt on his life fails, Burke is kidnapped, but leaves his phone line open to the station so that Les and Tim can track where he's being taken. The case ends with a fight in an abandoned mine shaft.

   Director:Lewis Allen

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Lewis Allen

   Writer:Unknown
6. 

   8.2/10(69 votes)

   #6 - Who Killed Harris Crown?

   S1:E410/11/1963

   Promoter Harris Crown is killed when the car he is driving goes off a cliff. Burke soon discovers that all the brake fluid had been drained and that the car belonged to Crown's wife (a race car enthusiast) who is involved in a charity benefit and ""involved"" with the benefit's choreographer, who in turn is being kept by a wealthy (and jealous) society matron. Other suspects include Crown's strapped-for-cash brother and his greedy wife, and Crown's current mistress. Burke is assisted in his search for the killer by a gossip columnist and a shop owner (who takes a sudden shine to Burke, until she finds that he's a ""poor"" cop).

   Director:Don Weis

   Writer:John Meredyth Lucas

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   Director:Don Weis

   Writer:John Meredyth Lucas
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7. 

   8.2/10(43 votes)

   #7 - Who Killed the Richest Man in the World?

   S2:E911/11/1964

   A sniper fires through the window of the suite of the richest man in the world, who is planning on selling an oil lease to one of several bidders, each of whom was an expert marksman. Burke is informed that the bullet missed its intended target and killed, instead, the multimillionaire's personal bookkeeper. The tycoon constantly berates Burke for not having solved the crime to his satisfaction and insists on sending his staff along on the interviews with the suspects. After a bomb attempt again fails to kill the tycoon, Burke is almost shot by the sniper, who runs and falls to his death. Who hired him? - the Texan, the big game hunter, or the crazy brothers?

   Director:Gene Nelson

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Gene Nelson

   Writer:Unknown
8. 

   8.2/10(31 votes)

   #8 - Who Killed Rosie Sunset?

   S2:E191/27/1965

   Why would anyone kill sweet old Rosie Sunset, who sold maps to the movie stars homes? An heiress who was seen giving Rosie a ride, Rosie's neighbor (a Russian sculptor with a sexy sister, whose work mysteriously has appeared in Rosie's apartment), a neurotic, workaholic printer on the ground floor of Rosie's building, an accordion player (who suddenly disappears after being questioned), and Rosie's estranged step-son (who needed Rosie's money for his florist business) - all fall under suspicion. The solution lies in Rosie's past hospitalization and her late husband's ""hobby"".

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
9. 

   8.2/10(31 votes)

   #9 - Terror in a Tiny Town (2)

   S3:E171/12/1966

   No description available

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
10. 

    8.1/10(82 votes)

    #10 - Who Killed Mr. X?

    S1:E29/27/1963

    When a body is discovered dumped alongside the merry-go-round at an amusement park, clues (including a phone number on an old matchbook cover) lead back to the elusive millionaire Emory Flood. Burke is thwarted in his attempts to speak to Flood by the top three men in the Flood empire. Meanwhile, Burke and Tim come to the aid of an elderly woman who is also trying to see Flood, and interview three lovely starlets who are being ""supported"" by Flood (two of whom hate the man, while the third definitely strikes romantic sparks with Burke). Until Burke can identify the dead man, discover the true scene of the crime and locate Flood, he can't find the killer. A photo of Robert Mitchum reveals the clue which proves that the crime was based on a case of mistaken identity.

    Director:Don Weis

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Don Weis

    Writer:Unknown
11. 

    8.1/10(75 votes)

    #11 - Who Killed Sweet Betsy?

    S1:E711/1/1963

    Betsy Richards drinks a lethal martini and Burke investigates the Richards mansion, Betsy's three identical sisters (who may look alike, but who have decidedly different personalities), her wheelchair-bound (and possibly psychotic) aunt, her current beach bum lover (who might have been about to leave Betsy for another sister), her alcoholic brother-in-law, and a slightly demented professor of psychiatry. An attempt is made on the life of another sister and, after a second death, the dark secret of the Richards family is finally revealed.

    Director:Hy Averback

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Hy Averback

    Writer:Unknown
12. 

    8.1/10(36 votes)

    #12 - Who Killed the Surf Broad?

    S2:E19/16/1964

    An up-and-coming actress dies while surfing, apparently from an obscure medieval poison. But how was it administered? When Burke is faced with an unfamiliar milieu, he sends Tim undercover as a surfer. The victim's grasping mother, a famous novelist, the one-armed owner of a beachfront bar, not one but two bikini-clad young women, and the owner of a surf shop, who had been having an affair with the victim, all come under suspicion. A speargun shoots a little too close to home before the killer is finally uncovered.

    Director:Don Taylor

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Don Taylor

    Writer:Unknown
13. 

    8.1/10(41 votes)

    #13 - Who Killed Everybody?

    S2:E510/14/1964

    A showgirl jumps out of a cake at a stag party, only to discover all the guests dead. Each of the four wealthy men had a wife who had good reason to murder her own husband (one husband was abusive, one a ""weakling"", one was vulgar and unappreciative, and one an animal hater), but who would want to kill all four? Or could the killer be the stuffy country club secretary, who wanted the four men banned from the club and was in love with one of the not-so-grieving widows? And how to get rid of the showgirl, who insists that Burke and Tim take care of her?

    Director:Unknown

    Writers:William Link, Richard Levinson

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    Director:Unknown

    Writers:William Link, Richard Levinson
14. 

    8.1/10(40 votes)

    #14 - Who Killed Mother Goose?

    S2:E171/13/1965

    The beloved author of a series of children's books is strangled with her typewriter ribbon. Burke determines that the victim meant to leave a clue by pointing to a page in a book of nursery rhymes. But who does the clue lead to: the childrens' TV show hostess, the victim's secretary, the beat poet, the child psychiatrist, or the victim's publisher? When Henry is kidnapped by one of the suspects, the stakes go higher. When Burke finally deciphers the clue, he traps the killer using doctored videotapes recorded by the victim.

    Director:Unknown

    Writers:William Link, Richard Levinson

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    Director:Unknown

    Writers:William Link, Richard Levinson
15. 

    8.1/10(33 votes)

    #15 - Who Killed Cop Robin?

    S2:E263/24/1965

    Burke's mentor is slain in a dark alley. His killer may be a suspect from one of his former cases who got off, but who was actually guilty. But why would Officer Robin confront the killer without backup? Can Burke decide which (if any) suspect previously accused of a crime (possession of narcotics, assault with a deadly weapon, murder, blackmail and smuggling) is Cop Robin's killer? Burke discovers that the victim was already dying and was trying to prevent another crime from being committed by forcing the criminal to get caught for his murder.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown
16. 

    8.0/10(74 votes)

    #16 - Who Killed Purity Mather?

    S1:E1112/6/1963

    A self-proclaimed witch sends Burke a record predicting her murder, along with a list of suspects. When her body is discovered after a fire, she has been disfigured by acid, leaving only a clue of a tattoo. The design of the tattoo matches that of an amulet carried by her pet raven. For likely suspects, Burke has to choose between a less-than-imposing ""vampire"", the head of a nudist colony, the ""reincarnation"" of the Goddess of Love, a wealthy man obsessed with spiritualism and his compliant companion, and a con artist/fakir. Before the case is solved, Tim saves Burke from a ""brush"" with death!

    Director:Walter Grauman

    Writer:Harlan Ellison

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    Director:Walter Grauman

    Writer:Harlan Ellison
17. 

    8.0/10(58 votes)

    #17 - Who Killed Eleanora Davis?

    S1:E1312/20/1963

    When an unidentified brunette is discovered in a fake electric chair at a run-down amusement park/sideshow run by ""Professor"" Kingston, Burke has to track several elusive clues back to a modeling agency and the three somewhat odd people who run it, a blackmail scheme, eloping tennis players, and a feisty old Irish landlady. With the help of a vital piece of information gathered by Burke's girlfriend Juliet and the assistance of three young boys, the case is solved.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown
18. 

    8.0/10(53 votes)

    #18 - Who Killed the Paper Dragon?

    S1:E253/20/1964

    During Chinese New Year celebrations, a car crashes into a street full of revelers. After the Chinese woman behind the wheel flees the scene with a little girl, leaving behind her shoe, a tourist discovers a dead body in the trunk. Tracking the case to the nearby nightclub The Paper Dragon, run by Burke's old friend (of ""very mixed"" Chinese and Irish extraction), Burke tries to discover if the club's dancer is the killer or the next victim. A local drunk ventriloquist, the dead man's wife, and a shifty promoter round out the suspects.

    Director:Marc Daniels

    Writer:Jameson Brewer

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    Director:Marc Daniels

    Writer:Jameson Brewer
19. 

    8.0/10(59 votes)

    #19 - Who Killed Molly?

    S1:E263/27/1964

    A rose-covered cottage is the scene for the death of a seemingly ordinary housewife. Burke and Tim (who is contemplating settling down with his current girlfriend) soon discover that all is not what it seems in suburbia. The dead woman's husband, her totally gaga neighbor, a stripper with a boa constrictor, a flustered physician, several predatory landladies, a tennis bum, a couple of wigs, and the surly head of the Burglary Division all help to turn what at first seemed like just a slip in the bathtub into one of Burke's more complicated cases.

    Director:Don Weis

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Don Weis

    Writer:Unknown
20. 

    8.0/10(51 votes)

    #20 - Who Killed the Eleventh Best Dressed Woman in the World?

    S1:E304/24/1964

    A notorious homewrecker is discovered dead in a mud bath at a fashionable spa. Burke soon learns that every other guest at the spa, including the owner, had a strong motive for murder. The strongest case is against the woman whose husband might have been planning on divorcing her to marry the victim. A movie starlet, the best dressed woman in the U.S., a millionairess and her aunt/companion, and the spa's owner also need to be carefully watched. Even after Burke is viciously attacked, he puts himself in danger again in order to smoke out the real killer.

    Director:Don Weis

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Don Weis

    Writer:Unknown
21. 

    8.0/10(37 votes)

    #21 - Who Killed Vaudeville?

    S2:E29/23/1964

    The burlesque comedy team of Witt, Watt and Who (now an accountant, a desk clerk and a bartender with a dark secret), a professor of the striptease, a tap dancer, the manager of a hotel for showfolk, a unicyclist - any one of them may have ""killed vaudeville"", but one of them certainly poisoned baggy pants clown Rags McGuire, who was about to be featured in an event at the Hollywood Bowl. But why was Rags killed? He only left a few small bequests and an old battered trunk that no one seems to want. But was that really all? Burke corners the killer at the Hollywood Bowl and almost brings the house down.

    Director:Gene Nelson

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Gene Nelson

    Writer:Unknown
22. 

    8.0/10(29 votes)

    #22 - Who Killed Davidian Jonas?

    S2:E1512/30/1964

    A shipping tycoon's corpse is discovered draped over his yacht's anchor when it is hoisted out of the water. The tycoon's intended merger would ruin several of the guests on his current cruise. A large earring is a major clue - did it belong to the victim's brother (a gypsy king), or the maharanee, or perhaps to the ship's sexy radio operator? Or was the killer the rival shipping magnate, the boozy hanger-on, or his ever-so-pleasant PR man? When Burke finally realizes the importance of whose stateroom was where and how much alcohol was drunk on the night of the fatal party, he knows who the killer is.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown
23. 

    8.0/10(35 votes)

    #23 - Who Killed Mr. Colby in Ladies' Lingerie?

    S2:E243/3/1965

    With Burke out of town, Tim, Les and Sgt. Ames have to discover who is responsible for the murder of a blackmailer found propped among the mannequins in a department store window. Les is intrigued by the store owner's executive secretary, Tim follows the head of ladies' fashion, a race car enthusiast, and Sgt. Ames tracks down a nightclub comic who works days as a bus driver. The owner's son and a shifty sidewalk pitchman also come under suspicion. After the man who found the victim is himself killed, a winning racetrack ticket proves the final clue to the murder.

    Director:Jerry Hopper

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Jerry Hopper

    Writer:Unknown
24. 

    8.0/10(32 votes)

    #24 - Peace, It's a Gasser

    S3:E811/3/1965

    No description available

    Director:James Goldstone

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:James Goldstone

    Writer:Unknown
25. 

    7.9/10(54 votes)

    #25 - Who Killed Marty Kelso?

    S1:E222/28/1964

    After a party celebrating his marriage to an Italian movie starlet, producer Marty Kelso falls down a flight of stairs and gets a letter opener stuck in his neck. His bodyguard/manservant calls the police and informs Burke that Kelso's three ex-wives (a former Olympic star, a screenwriter and a failed actress) were at the party, along with the Olympic star's surly husband and a film director. Clues pop up at the oddest times and in the most curious places. Les and George each claim the other overlooked vital information. Several people had good motives to murder Kelso, but Burke knows that just because a suspect seems obvious doesn't mean there might not be a set-up in the works.

    Director:Don Taylor

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Don Taylor

    Writer:Unknown