A young widowed high school English teacher in a small town is accused via letter of making passes and more towards some of her male students. But a small town is small town and it seems that all the key figures are involved somehow, the principal, the lawyer, the doctor, the local barkeep, and of course the oldest boy, who's really more of a man, in the high school.
Della asks Perry for $25,000 for her friend Janet Brent, who is being blackmailed. Edward Franklin, an employee of Janet's husband, has staged compromising photos of her in a motel. At a party, Janet confronts Franklin and hits him with a small statue of a "weary watchdog." The police arrest Della when they find her driving Janet's car from the scene of the argument. Franklin is dead, struck three times on the head with the statue. Perry defends Janet knowing that if he loses, Della will go to prison as an accessory.
Two brothers at separate times have claimed the same young girl as their daughter. One brother owns a fleet of tuna boats; the other is a mobster. Then banker Franz Moray reveals that $100,000 due to the girl via a trust fund has been mishandled. When Moray is found murdered Perry steps in and discovers an old family secret.
Phil Schuyler is a two bit songwriter who comes to a bad end on Halloween night. Someone enters his bungalow while Phil is taking a bath and tosses an electric heater into his tub thus turning him into a crispy critter. Damian White, husband of a famous musical comedy star, was seen entering the bungalow around the approximate time of the murder by an eyewitness. But what about all the trick or treaters?
Young cop Jimmy Anderson, cousin of Lt. Anderson, and veteran Otto Norden come across a robbery at the Wilson Plastics Company while on patrol one night. A shooting occurs and Otto is killed. Evidence then points to Jimmy as having been an accomplice in the burglary and he is suspended from the police force. Then the night watchman at Wilson Plastics, a disgraced ex-cop, is found strangled to death. Lt. Anderson then asks Perry to look into things and defend Jimmy against all charges.
Carleton Gage, a major financial supporter of an orphanage, wants to keep it open but lapses into a coma and later assumes room temperature. Gage's nephew, George, wants to close the orphanage and he is being secretly aided by Ernest Demming. Joane Proctor, Carleton's sister-in-law, wants to keep the orphanage open but her good intentions are complicated by the murder of Demming.