The Case of the Candy Queen

The Candy Queen had a recipe fall into her hands and made a candy empire out of it. She is young and the sharks come out and she get romantically involved. It would seem that sometimes fame is a recipe for disaster. She is accused of poisoning a man with her chocolate. I thought the case a bit weak but Perry still had to work it.

This story plays out very well in this episode. And one really good thing is the subtle clues that are seen by the viewer but do not come together until Perry points them out at the end of the show. I like this in any mystery.

The story involves Claire Amstrong (Nancy Gates), also known as The Candy Queen, she is the owner of a candy company. She has her grandmother's recipe that is obvious so good that even Perry takes a few good nibbles.

The recipe has been stolen by Clarie's boyfriend, Mark Chester (John Napier) and used as collateral in an illegal gambling casino. Harry Arnold (John Archer) has the recipe but now sees much higher profits if he tries to blackmail Claire into buying the recipe back from him.

While Claire is waiting for a meeting with Perry. She receives a call from Mr Arnold about the recipe. When she goes over to his apartment she finds Mr Arnold dead from a gunshot wound. Sad thing is that the police is raiding the gambling casino and when they go to Mr Arnold's apartment they find Claire wiping off fingerprints from the gun. She is taken downtown to stand trial for the murder.

There are a few odd events that happen during the show. As when Claire's cousin eats poisoned chocolates. Paul goes talk to a women that owns a Ladies refinement school. Plus the odd way Claire's chocolates were package. (Her smiling mug was on the top cover of the box)- All these seem like little things but may well end up helping Perry find the real murderer.

This may not have been the best Perry mystery, but it did its job by making me interested in the outcome of the program. When you are interested then it is a good hour of your time.

This episode, being a re-configuring of the season-one story "The Case Of The Silent Partner", had a high bar to hurdle, as season one for the most part was the pinnacle of the series. Despite the fact that the solution very closely mirrors the plot of its predecessor, there were enough changes to characters/incidents to still make it watchable. As far as early-season rewrites are concerned, this was probably the best of all of them (or tied for the best). Just like the story it's based on, the defendant has her issues, but the cast all play their parts admirably (somewhat of a rarity in the later seasons). Not particularly sweet, but edible.