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Burke's Law is an American detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II.
1965
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.
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.
When big-game hunter Cable Roberts is found shot by one of his own rifles and ""mounted"" in his trophy room, the suspects include both Roberts' current wife (a predatory animal herself), his ex, an angry taxidermist, another hunter, Roberts' secretary, and his extremely sexy maid. Tim notices an interesting point - that Roberts was killed in the same way in which he killed his big game. After two false confessions, Burke discovers that one of the suspects has a more complex relationship to Roberts than first appeared.
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).
Hemingwayesque novelist Julian Buck is found dead and Burke checks out the guests at his funeral: his publisher, a former boxer, an ex-lover (who he ""traded"" for a plot), a bartender, a crippled university professor, and a glamorous blonde, all of whom have been used in the past by Buck as fodder for his plots. The manuscript of his latest novel (also based on facts from Buck's life) probably will contain the vital clue that will lead to the murderer.
At the opening of The Debonair Key Club, a Playboy-like nightclub/restaurant, Debonair Magazine founder Alex Debbs is found stabbed. The suspects are all connected in some way with the Debonair empire, both the club and the magazine: Debbs' main business partner, an embittered cartoonist, a swinging joke writer, a blackmailed princess, a folk guitarist, one of the Key Club girls, and a reclusive heiress. After an attack on Tim, another murder and the breaking of ""unbreakable"" alibis, Burke solves the case.
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.
Pop recording star Billy Jo Tate is slain in front of all his guests at a party celebrating his latest hit. A ""good-ol' boy"", Billy Jo is surrounded by users and people he used - his agent, his ""best buddy"", a smarmy astrologer, a jive arranger, Tate's showgirl sister, the woman who discovered him, and a female (and married) admirer. When Tim spots a shady character at Billy Jo's funeral, Burke confronts the man and learns what prompted the singer's murder.
When millionaire Wade Walker's plane explodes mid-air, Burke confronts Walker's business partner, secretary (whom Tim has an eye for), and the four women in his life (a model and beauty pageant queen, a society horse breeder, a starchy, sex-obsessed nurse, and a nightclub singer), one of whom Walker may have proposed to just before he died. All of Burke's theories go up in smoke when it is discovered that Walker died of an overdose of morphine before the plane blew up.
Psychiatrist Eric Techman calls Burke to report that he fears one of his patients is a homicidal maniac who plans to kill him. Before he can identify the person in question, he is shot in the back. Burke convinces both Techman's secretary and his wife to not reveal the fact of the kind doctor's murder until Burke can question the five most likely patients: a stripper, a movie starlet, a Texas oil millionairess and her wild son, and a ski instructor (and sometime kleptomaniac).
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!
A missing Siamese cat named Deborah is Burke's prime clue to the killing of Cynthia Royal. The murder victim had just arrived in town from Chicago trying to reunite with her estranged husband. The husband had been wooing a nightclub singer, which leads Burke also to suspect the nightclub's owner/comic and his attorney. When Burke and an elderly acquaintance stumble across another body, the trail eventually leads to two beatniks, the return of Deborah and the solution of the case.
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.
Burke is attending a pool party at tycoon Victor Haggerty's mansion when dashing Beau Sparrow is thrown into the pool by a faulty diving apparatus and dies. The apparatus doesn't seem to have been tampered with and George McLeod can't determine the cause of death. Was it murder? If so, who's the killer: the tycoon, his spoiled pampered wife, her paid companion, the countess who was Beau's current flame, the tough-as-nails secretary, or the blowhard businessman? As soon as Burke figures out who the culprit is, he has to rush to prevent another death.
When a shady businessman is found dead, fully clothed, in a hotel shower, surrounded by burned thousand dollar bills, Burke is confronted with a group of men who seem to have absolutely nothing in common - a shipbuilder with a musical hobby, a haughty wine connoisseur, a loud-mouthed used-car salesman, and a man who breeds carnivorous plants. The dizzy blonde who discovered the body (and who seems to always be hungry) may or may not be just a pawn in a scheme. While Tim becomes interested in the dead man's secretary, Burke has his eye on a lovely sculptor, who may be trying to steer him away from her father, one of the suspects.
At a jet-set party, it appears to Tim and Les that the victim of a fatal shooting is - - - - Burke! Was Burke really the victim and who was the shooter among the party guests: a wrestler, a racecar driver, a nightclub pianist, a professional ""houseguest"", or a sexy barefoot ""angel""? Or was it a playboy's glamorous wife, who has a ""perfect alibi""? After the killer takes another shot, the question becomes - was the actual victim the intended victim?
When the president of a bank is shot during a robbery, the only description Burke can get of the killer is that he was ""just ordinary"". Burke interviews a man who passed out during the robbery, and hunts for clues with a local bookie. After the two other bank robbers are slain, Burke investigates the bank president's wife and son, his very flirtatious secretary, his business partner and his accountant, and a beautiful B-movie star. Just as Burke is about to arrest the man who shot the bank president, the killer is himself slain - but by whom? And why?
Hotshot lawyer Madison Cooper calls Burke as he dies in a seedy part of town of stab wounds inflicted elsewhere. He had just put a large amount of cash into a newspaper vending booth and Burke finds that Cooper was dying and had been trying to contact former clients whom he had wronged in the past. With the help of Cooper's executive secretary, Burke investigates the old cases, including a murder trial, an prison sentence that resulted in death, embezzlement, and a paternity scandal.
Tim's mother is in town for a visit and provides several vital clues that solve the murder of April Adams. Tracking the victim to a carhop-style restaurant, Burke narrows the suspects to April's erratic brother, her cousin, her psychiatrist, the drive-in restaurant's manager, and a hockey star and his wife. Empty sugar packets from the drive-in and several bankbooks provide Burke with the link to a drug deal.
A group of ""junior cadets"" discover the body of a bikini-clad girl wrapped in chains, lying in the surf. The victim, a singer and sometime ""model"", has been linked to a oil tycoon, who is away on business, according to his alcoholic wife. While the tycoon is busy with young girls, his wife is supporting male artists. One of these, a sculptor, comes under suspicion, along with his studio mate, a health freak. Other suspects include the owner of a beachfront club, a guitar maker and a folk singer. Two more bodies turn up before Burke can solve the case.
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"".
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.
Burke follows a mournful song, an odd-looking key and an elusive young girl in white, after industrial designer Avery Lord is stabbed to death. The suspects are all his current clients: a playgirl whose compact is found at the crime scene, a hot-headed health food producer, a dishonest building contractor, and an auto manufacturer who dotes on his ""ferocious"" pet. Burke is knocked unconscious while chasing the girl in white through the fog one night outside Lord's mansion, or did he just imagine her? A distinctive piece of jewelry helps solve the case.
When pop artist Andy Zygmunt is discovered impaled on one of his works, Burke finds that several of Zygmunt's paintings contain materials used in a blackmail scheme. A vicious practical joker, the victim was hated by one and all: his sexy assistant, a former girlfriend (and fellow artist), the nasty host of a kiddie show, the head of a fashionable dog grooming salon, the scion of a wealthy family, and the arrogant owner of the art gallery (who also stars in a TV cop show that Burke despises).
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.
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.
One of the riders at a fashionable fox hunt must have bludgeoned wealthy W. H. O. IV (pronounced ""Who Four"") to death with a horseshoe. The suspects in the Hunt Club include an old flame of Burke's and her arrogant husband (who never stops needling Burke), a nouveau riche Texan, and a ""little old lady from Pasadena"". Last but not least is the dead man's butler, who may have more money than his master. And what about the sexy Prudence, who may or may not provide a clue or an alibi? Burke finally discovers that the killer may have clubbed the ""wrong"" victim.
When Annie Foran's body is discovered in the back seat of a car parked at a fashionable night spot, suspicion falls on baseball star Eddie Dineen. As evidence mounts against the man, Burke wonders if Eddie is really guilty. Perhaps he should pay more attention to the slimy gossip columnist and his assistant, the wealthy socialite who has more than a passing interest in Eddie, the ball club manager, or the shifty hotel clerk. One thing is for sure, the nervous owner of the car in which the body was found is not the killer.
When an old flame of Burke's is gunned down, he uncovers the darker side of her relationship with several men. The former chauffeur for the victim's father, an old friend of the family, an philandering astronomer and his embittered wife, a free-wheeling B-girl, a vulgar jazz trumpeter - any one could have killed ""my girl"". The truth may lie in Diana's little black book. Les and Tim are worried that Burke is too close to the case to handle it rationally. Burke refuses their help. Only after he is attacked in his own home and, later, is forced to hear the truth about Diana's past, does Burke realize who the killer is, with the help of Les's wristwatch.
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.
Don Pablo Ortega's skewered corpse replaces the wax figure in a museum during a Spanish festival. The historic plaza is in danger of being demolished for ""progress"" and suspects (pro and con in the matter) include the guide at the museum, a fiery female matador, the head of the rival clan, Don Pablo's old-world mother (who reveals many secrets to Les but hides many others) and Don Pablo's aggressive business partner. With the help of a flirtatious librarian and an elderly monk, Burke uncovers centuries-old secrets (not to mention a secret passage) that lead him to the killer.
The co-owner of a fashion house is killed in an elevator collapse that may not have been an accident. Les is convinced that it is the work of a madman, since no one could have determined who would be in the elevator. In the midst of battles between the other owner and the company's chief designer, the tantrums of the designer's spoiled daughter, the problems of an elderly seamstress, the divorce plans of the victim's less-than grieving widow, the industrial espionage of a rival, and one real fancy ""floating crap game"", Burke thinks he has the case solved, until it is determined that the victim was dead before the elevator crashed, struck down by a strangely shaped blunt instrument. A military insignia provides the final clue to the case.
Gene Barry
Captain Amos Burke
Regis Toomey
Detective Lester Hart
Leon Lontoc
Henry
Gary Conway
Detective Tim Tilson
Streaming availability information not available
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.
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.
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 Balkan King, a banker, a drugged out socialite and the head of a ""psychodrama"" society) more or less confesses to the crime, but each of their descriptions of the event varies slightly from the known facts. Meanwhile, Les keeps insisting that ""the butler did it"". With the help of Cassandra's sexy secretary and a health fanatic, Burke concocts a plan to trap the real killer.
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, the model accuses Tim of being a dirty cop and having provided inside information as part of an extortion plot. Burke has no choice but to suspend Tim and, when there is another killing and Tim has no alibi, Burke has to work fast before Tim is arrested for murder.
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?
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 local honorary (and very lovely) female sheriff of Epitaph Flats. After a dramatic jail break, with an assist from Henry, Burke and his crew question the town drunk, one of the ""gunslingers"" in the Wild West tourist show, the victim's business rival, the lady blacksmith and a very Brooklynese ""Native American"". Soon real bullets start flying and the whole case ends in a barroom free-for-all.
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 planning, including the lovely tour guide, a presidential candidate, the victim's drunken ex-mistress, a high-powered wheelerdealer and a fleeing embezzler. Just to make matters worse, Tim is attacked and kidnapped by a huge man and Burke is told that unless he lets the flight continue as planned, Tim will die.
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.
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?
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 had been involved with two of the sisters. After one of the suspects is attacked and brutally beaten, Tim is nearly run down by a speeding car and another suspect is murdered. Burke finally discovers the solution to the crime at a sanitorium.
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.
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'. Tim and Les, meanwhile, are recruited as waiters, much to the dismay of the hotel manager. All the clues seem to point directly to the victim's befuddled bookkeeper, but this may be a frame-up. The others who have been subpoenaed, and who have good reason to want the victim dead, include a businesswoman with a fiery temper, the victim's attorney, his sexy assistant, and a shady rival businessman. Burke just narrowly misses being shot in a dark alley as he finds the clue that solves it all.
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 the detectives, is stolen at the same time. Rather than solving the case, each of the detectives (the sexy Russian commissar, the head of the Surete, the chief of Scotland Yard, the Tokyo police official, and the arrogant amateur) seems to do everything possible to make Burke's job even more difficult. Even after recovering the missing gem, he is no closer to the solution. Inviting all the suspects to his home, Burke plans to unmask the killer, but first finds Henry's body slumped over the desk, a crimson stain spreading across his shirtfront!
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.
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.
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, and a very wealthy old lady with a strong affinity for wrestling violence. The weapon? - a poisoned dart. How was the murder committed without the killer being seen? After watching a tape of the event, over and over, he's not sure if he hasn't seen footage of the actual killing. Burke ultimately traps the killer into confessing by claiming to have found the murderer's ""lip prints"" on the murder ""weapon"".
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.
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 paranoid about industrial espionage). The victim's sultry secretary, the company's military adviser on all war toys, an aeronautical scientist, a ""James Bond"" wannabe, and the head of a school for juvenile delinquents all come under suspicion. When one of the suspects discovers a vital clue and is murdered, Burke discovers that Granny had plans to make millions by NOT producing a toy!
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"".
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 claims he can solve the case for Burke. The victim's pessimistic manager, his fiancee and her jealous sister (a dentist), his ex-wife, and a tennis rival all had access to the club room and could have tampered with the equipment. Finally, a nightclub singer who knew the victim well gives Tim some valuable information. When Burke figures out the relevance of a casual bit of trivia, he corners the killer, who still has a few ""bomb balls"" to spare. The case comes to an explosive finish.
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 racket and are now heads of powerful companies: a health club president, a fitness tonic manufacturer, the producer of fancy lingerie and the head of a think tank. Only one of the old gang hasn't made it big and now runs a local merry-go-round. When Les almost dies of cyanide as well, Burke discovers the murder weapon in an unlikely spot. He then turns the tables on one of the carny con artists and nails the killer.
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 veterinarian, and a vindictive lady bronc buster, in order to find out who sent Steele to that Great Corral in the Sky. A well-trained horse provides a vital clue. Before he can arrest the killer, Burke almost has his own neck snapped!
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 or, maybe, his wife? The circus owner or the performer with the fabulous nose? Or perhaps it was the seductive aerialist? While investigating the three-ring case, Burke performs backflips on a trampoline, comes face to face with a surly lion, and then disguises himself in the victim's clown makeup and outfit to trap the guilty party. After a wild, outrageous chase, the killer is finally cornered.
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.
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, but can he outwit the local police chief after all his ID has been stolen? He needs to find out whether the killer is the Nazi, the anthropologist turned voodoo priestess, the novelist, or the sexy sailor gal, before the angry mob catches up with him. When one of the locals is poisoned, Burke knows who the killer is.
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.
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 refuses to talk. His books, however, have created several notable enemies. Burke, in disguise, tricks the victim into revealing information that leads him to the killer. Was it the playboy, the polo player, the ruined oil man, Tree's publisher, or his socialite former flame? The would-be killer strikes again - will Burke get there in time?
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 process of rewriting all of Shakespeare's plays), the stage manager, and a surly Method actor who is chasing the current Ophelia (now missing). The plot darkens when the story of the death of the previous Ophelia is discovered. After yet another murder, Burke takes over a role in the production and puts himself at risk of being run through in order to trap the killer.
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 park, tracks the missing woman's past through a gambling casino, a lonely hearts club, and a waterfront dive. The other men in her life (also possible suspects in the case) include a ship's cook, a con artist ""hypnotist"" and an ex-jockey. An anonymous note proves to be the clue that reveals who the real murderer is. Burke arrives just in time to prevent another murder.
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 country with a huge amount of cash, now missing, along with his gun. Was his wife, the sleazy yacht owner she was involved with, the dead man's attorney, his very ""faithful"" secretary, or a local scuba diver in on the deal? Which was the killer? Will Burke or Honey figure out the crime first - and will they survive (one suspect already has been murdered!)?
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, his horror movie star brother, or the woman he had been pursuing (now a ""Bunny Mother"" at a local Playboy-like club). Les, Tim and Sgt. Ames each have their own favorite suspect, but Burke's feisty Uncle Patrick, over from Ireland for a visit, helps solve the case (while getting cozy with Burke's date). The secret to solving the case is in the fact that the piece the victim was playing had been written so he was literally the only one in the world who could play it.
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. If not, there are several others to choose from: the victim's ambitious successor, the mousy psychologist and his domineering wife, or the jingle writer. Burke's intentions are misunderstood and he comes close to being a second victim. The series ends with the whole cast of regulars involved in a big musical production number (of dubious artistic merit).