Episode 3, "The Adventure of the Chinese Dog," finds Inspector Queen and son Ellery on a fishing trip in the small town of Wrightsville, named for the powerful family of Eben Wright (Robert F. Simon), who runs a galoshes factory worth millions (Ellery quotes: "you can't go wrong with two Wright galoshes"). Eben's daughter Julia (Katherine Crawford) is about to marry an ex-con, Gordon Wilde (Robert Hogan), and the concerned father has already selected their wedding gift, a Chinese temple dog made of solid gold, studded with rubies and emeralds. Entrusting the local sheriff, Oscar Eberhart (Eugene Roche), with the task of guarding the priceless dog, Eben Wright is soon found dead in his study, killed by a blow inflicted by the dog itself. Currently running for sheriff himself is grocer Henry Palmer (Murray Hamilton), who figures it would be a feather in his cap if he could convince Ellery and his father to help out on the case, due to the fact that Eberhart appears to be 'running scared.' There was no love lost between Eben and his gardener nephew Warren (Orson Bean), whom he did not trust to run the business, while Eben's longtime housekeeper, Tilda McDonald (Geraldine Brooks), in love with him for years, was about to be banished to an apartment in town after the wedding. It's mostly Ellery's show, his father more concerned with catching an elusive trout. Hal J. Smith, best known as Otis Campbell in THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, is amusing as the gluttonous coroner (equally unsuccessful in hooking that pesky fish), while Mamie the waitress is played by a brunette Dee Wallace, in only her third TV role. Nina Roman returns (unbilled) as Grace, Inspector Queen's secretary, in a brief sequence with Sergeant Velie (Tom Reese).
Review of The Adventure of the Chinese Dog
