Michael Shayne TV - "Murder in Wonderland"

A man is shot in a phone booth in a tobacco shop while he is talking to Mike (Richard Denning). The police know him well. He was an accountant connected with the mob in Miami, and had a list of every bigwig hood in the city. All they found in his briefcase was a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Police Lt. Herbert Rudley is very frustrated because he had expected to get the list. In the police station the killed man's daughter (Carolyn Kearney) is waiting in a bad temper. When Mike arrives back at his apartment, Anthony Caruso is waiting for him with a muscle man.

On her way to lunch, Mike's secretary, Patricia Donahue, is kidnapped. (Private eyes always have beautiful secretaries.) Al Ruscio shows up to tell Mike about the terms for her release. He wants Mike to get the copy of Alice in Wonderland. Mike's assistant and Lucy's brother (Gary Clarke) tails Ruscio. Mike calls his reporter pal, Jerry Paris, and asks him to call Rudley and keep him busy for five minutes. When Mike gets to Rudley's office, he meets Caruso coming out with his lawyer, Wesley Lau. Paris calls, and Mike is able to switch books, but Rudley spots it immediately. Meanwhile Ruscio goes to a warehouse, with Clarke close behind, but he is knocked out and loses him. Mike goes to see Kearney. She wants the book because she hates Caruso. Mike tells her that Lau is Caruso's lawyer, and she throws Lau out of the house. Mike goes to see Caruso with an offer of the book, but he is not interested and disclaims any knowledge of Ruscio. Ruscio calls Clarke at Mike's office, and then someone comes to the door and shoots him. Donahue is still tied up, but Clarke finally finds her.

When Mike gets to his office, he finds Kearney there. She tells Mike that her father had called her two days before, frightened because someone was following him, and that he was getting out of his connection with Caruso. Rudley now has Mike on the carpet for stealing evidence, but Mike tells him the book is worthless, and that Caruso had bought it for a girl next door, so the evidence is still in the tobacco shop. Caruso and his thug break in, and Rudley nails them. It turns out that Rudley's assistant is the murderer.





Rudley


Donahue