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 fam…

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 …

After Cassandra Cass is shot in her bed (by a mysterious hooded figure) while her butler draws her bath, it is revealed that she has been blackmailing subscribers to her society Blue Book. One after another of the suspects (a deposed Balka…

A sniper kills the head of a model agency during a fashionable lawn party. The suspects include the victim's business partner, his disc jockey brother, one of his top models and her estranged husband. During the course of the investigation…

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 un…

Burke goes cowboy at a tourist-style Old West town, after the hanging of Emerson Cartwheel at a coin auction. The clue is a valuable rare coin used to kill the victim, but before Burke can investigate, he's tossed in the hoosegow by the lo…

A hotel tycoon is electrocuted while climbing out of his swimming pool. A scrap of plaid cloth from a coat lining and a St. Christopher's medal are Burke's clues as he investigates the passengers on a round-the-world flight the tycoon was …

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 hil…

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 t…

The lead singer in a sister trio act is poisoned. Both the surviving sisters hated the victim, but others had motive as well: the nightclub owner, the trio's former arranger, the girls' agent, their stepfather, and a real estate agent who…

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 onl…

This victim was scheduled to go before a grand jury but was slain in a hotel elevator before he could testify. The solution to the crime must be in his hotel room, 711, but in order to solve the case, Burke goes undercover as a maitre d'. …

The five greatest detectives in the world become murder suspects when Police Chief Gaynor is murdered in a locked room right under the noses of his bodyguards - Tim and Les. As if that isn't bad enough, a huge diamond, belonging to one of …

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 B…

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 bel…

A famous wrestler is slain during a charity match and the killer is one of five people seated in the ""Gold Row"": the victim's sister (who has a split personality), his wrestling rival, a fashionable socialite, a ""method"" sportswriter, …

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 chil…

Granny Grabber, the not-so-nice head of a toy firm, is blown sky high by a bomb placed in his giant toy soldier cigar lighter. The killer had to be one of five people who were photographed coming into his office that day (Granny was parano…

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 apa…

An ace shot by a tennis star blows up in his face at a charity event, after one of his tennis balls has been loaded with explosives. Burke scours the local country club for clues while trying to avoid the ""help"" of an eager ball boy, who…

A big business wheeler-dealer, formerly part of a carny consortium, meets his end after injesting cyanide - but he didn't eat or drink anything that had been tampered with. The suspects all formerly worked with the victim in the carnival r…

Cowboy movie star Clayton Steele is grand marshall at the rodeo, but in the final parade, he rides into the arena, already dead, his neck broken. Burke questions his megalomaniac rival, his former stunt man, his ""Indian"" sidekick, a sexy…

At Raff's International Circus, 13 clowns pile into a tiny car, but only 12 come out alive. The thirteenth has been skewered. It turns out that he had been blackmailing several members of the circus troupe. Was the killer a fellow clown …

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, T…

Burke's vacation south of the border is anything but restful when he is jailed for the murder of a gossip columnist and a popular local fisherman. With the help of his vacation date and the ever-faithful Henry, Burke escapes from prison, b…

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) s…

Author Graham Tree is poisoned at a party celebrating the publication of his new book. Tree miraculously survives and now it is Burke's job to find the killer before there is a second - successful - attempt on Tree's life. But Tree refuse…

Burke attends the opening night of ""Hamlet"" and later discovers that someone has arranged for the star, Roland Trivers, NOT ""to be"". The suspects include the arrogant director, the actress playing Gertrude, ""Polonius"" (who is in the …

When a wealthy physician is shot, his wife disappears. It seems she has a habit of running away when things get tough. Is she the murderer or another victim? Burke finds out more about her unhappy history from her sister at an amusement p…

When a wealthy banker is found murdered in a seedy hotel, it becomes a race to see who will catch the killer first - Burke or glamorous private eye Honey West, who had been hired by the victim. The banker had been planning on skipping the …

Pianist Artur Bachner's concert ends with a bang when his piano explodes, killing him. Anyone could have tampered with it during the backstage party before the concert - his abused ex-wife, a rival concert pianist, his personal manager, hi…

The head of a greeting card firm was killed, but not by the arrow protruding from his body. It was slow, methodical arsenic poisoning. His flirtatious teenage assistant takes a shine to Burke, but he's afraid she may be the prime suspect.…