The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.
The best episode of "Perry Mason" season 2 is "The Case of the Corresponding Corpse", rated 8/10 from 384 user votes. It was directed by Arthur Marks and written by N/A. "The Case of the Corresponding Corpse" aired on 9/20/1958 and is rated 0.5 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "The Case of the Lucky Loser".
Perry receives a telephone call from George Beaumont, a man who supposedly died in a plane crash nearly three years before. In reality, Beaumont missed the plane and after hearing about the accident decided to disappear leaving wife Laura with his life insurance money. Since then, Beaumont has been cavorting with girlfriend Ruth Whittaker and living under an alias. He has grown tired of this life and wants to return home but someone cuts short his return by sticking a letter opener in his back. Ruth is then charged with the murder.
Director: Arthur Marks
Writer: N/A
Perry has all kinds of troubles in this one when a murder brings him into the tangled financial and personal affairs of the wealthy Balfour family.
Director: William D. Russell
Writer: N/A
Robbers lift a bundle from the Hargrove Finance Company and Frank Anderson is murdered in the aftermath. Anthony "Pop" Renzi is identified as one of the robbers and charged with both the robbery and the murder. Perry sets out to clear him of both charges.
Director: Buzz Kulik
Writer: N/A
Major Frank Lessing, a payroll officer on an Army base, is found murdered and Sgt. Joseph Dexter is charged with the crime. The case hinges on a payroll robbery committed in the Phillippines years before. It seems as though some of the bills from that robbery were turning up on the base.
Director: William D. Russell
Writer: N/A
Rhoda Reynolds is charged with murdering her blackmailing ex-husband, Arthur Kane. At the trial, Perry moves the proceedings to the room in which Kane was murdered in order to re-enact the fatal night.
Director: Arthur Marks
Writer: N/A
Slimy Jack Hardisty embezzles $100,000.00 from his father-in-law, Dr. Blane. The greedy Hardisty then tries to blackmail the good doctor for more. Perry is hired by Dr. Blane to put an end to Hardisty's machinations but before he can swing into action the rogue turns up dead. Dr. Blane is charged with the murder forcing Perry to do some intricate courtroom work involving a wildlife camera triggered by a buried clock which took misleading pictures of the actual killer.
Director: William D. Russell
Writer: N/A
A moonlighting school teacher is charged with the murder of a male acquaintence he had taken home after the acquaintence had earlier raised a disturbance at his night job at a cafe.
Director: Arthur Marks
Writer: N/A
Jockey Tic Barton is in a mess of trouble. First he's fired when his horse loses a fixed race and then he's charged with murder after confronting Johnny Starr, the man actually responsible for the fix. And, oh yes, Tic's wife was having an affair with the murder victim. It's up to Perry to set things right.
Director: William D. Russell
Writer: N/A
An art collector, Rufus Varner, is told by a reputable art critic that one of his most prized art paintings named ""The Purple Woman"" is a forgery. Varner visits the art dealer from whom he purchased the painting, Milo Girard. After he finds out the dealer knew it was a forgery, he realizes the news would damage his reputation as an art collector. At the Girard home, an artist Aaron Hubble, tells Evelyn Girard, the wife of the art dealer, that he painted a forgery of The Purple Woman for her husband. Milo Girard is found dead in his office the next morning and his wife Evelyn is charged with his murder.
Director: Gerd Oswald
Writer: N/A
Martin Ellis is sent to jail for stealing the sum of $300,000.00. Ellis is later exonerated thanks to evidence discovered by his wife and the real thief, Charles Brewster, is arrested for the theft. Brewster manages to get out of jail on bail but later turns up dead. Ellis is charged with the killing.
Director: Arthur Hiller
Writer: N/A
The courtroom action in this episode takes place at a coroner's inquest as a parrot holds the key to freeing suspect Ellen Sabin from blame in the murder of her husband.
Director: William D. Russell
Writer: N/A
Sarah Werner asks Perry to find her husband, Hugo Werner, who ran off with her inheritance. Hugo, now using the name Hans Breel, is now working on a gem scam but his scheme backfires when he is murdered and Sarah is charged with the crime.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writer: N/A
Eva Martell is hired out of numerous candidates by Melvin Slater to impersonate a woman named Helen Reynolds. Eva is paid extremely well and given a nice apartment to live in with her Aunt Agnes as long as she continues with her impersonation. Both Eva and her aunt suspect a rat and seek Perry's advice. Then Melvin Slater turns up dead in the apartment.
Director: Arthur Marks
Writer: N/A
Rollins and Wyatt have discovered a cure for gill fever. As they plan to market the product, they find that Jack Huxley has bought the aquarium business and owns all patents and intellectual property. Huxley is murdered; Wyatt is charged.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
Two troubled women, Millie Crest and Fern Driscoll, switch identities. Millie, posing as Fern, stabs shady private eye Carl Davis in the arm in self-defense. Davis then turns up dead from poisoning of the stab wound to his arm. Millie then gets Perry to help her in return for a 38 cent retainer.
Director: William D. Russell
Writer: N/A
A District Attorney is charged with the murder of a chairman of the bids committee to a defectively built hospital whom he is investigating for a series of bribes being passed around.
Director: Arthur Marks
Writer: Seeleg Lester
An heiress to her uncle's fortune is charged with the murder of a female private investigator during a search for her missing uncle.
Director: William D. Russell
Writer: N/A
Danny Ross is a television comedian who is waiting to hear about a new television show. It has been three years since his last television show was cancelled. Charles Goff is an advertising executive who promised Danny he would pitch him for a new show in return for an introduction with the president of a large big-budget advertiser. Danny does his part but learns from Goff's secretary that Goff landed the deal without him. When Charles Goff is found dead in his office the next morning, Danny's friend, Freddie Green, is accused of the murder after finding his fingerprints on the murder weapon.
Director: Gerd Oswald
Writer: Milton Krims
Wealthy Peter Baxter decides to test the loyalty of his heirs. He pretends to change his will cutting them all out and leaving his entire estate to groundskeeper, James Hing. Hing is then supposed to burn down Baxter's house and Baxter would substitute a medical cadaver for his own body. If any of the heirs contested the will, they would be disinherited. Hing does as he is instructed. He burns down the house but the body discovered inside is really that of Peter Baxter. Perry tries to sort through this muddled mess and arrive at the truth.
Director: Arthur Marks
Writer: N/A
Bishop Arthur Mallory is met in his hotel room by Wallace Lang, an associate of a wealthy man named Charles Burroughs. He is warned thru physical violence to stop looking for the real granddaughter of Charles Burroughs. Carol Delaney helps the bishop with his wounds and hears an incredible story that she may be the real granddaughter, Janice Burroughs. She doesn't believe him at first but changes her mind when she is also visited by Wallace Lang and warned to drop this idea. Carol is invited to meet Charles Burroughs and later the same night he is found dead. Carol is accused of his murder when the knife used to murder Mr. Burroughs is found to belong to her carving set.
Director: William D. Russell
Writer: N/A
Playwright Ernest Royce is found shot to death in the same manner as a character in one of his unproduced plays. The play dealt with characters very close to real people and the real life murder of a New York underworld figure years before. Perry's client, Frank Brooks, is charged with Royce's murder and Perry must find the missing final act of the play in order to clear Brooks.
Director: Gerd Oswald
Writer: N/A
Dr. David Craig discovers that tapes of conversations with his psychiatric patients are missing and being used for blackmail purposes. When the suspected thief and blackmailer, Mark Douglas, turns up murdered, the good doctor is charged with the crime.
Director: Arthur Marks
Writer: N/A
Evelyn Forbes escapes from a mental institution only to be charged with murder. The key to the case is a dog that continues to howl no matter what.
Director: William D. Russell
Writer: N/A
A building contractor is charged with the murder of a wealthy political Mr.fix-it.
Director: Arthur Marks
Writer: N/A
Harry Bright and Chuck Clark were once best friends and business partners until Margaret entered the picture. Margaret was a much younger woman on the make who entranced Chuck into marrying her. When Margaret is found shot to death, Harry is arrested for the crime but the more Perry digs into the victim's past the more convoluted things get.
Director: William D. Russell
Writer: Milton Krims