Wealthy Abner Gordon is difficult with everyone, but he only hurts himself. He has a temper tantrum at the beginning of the episode and has yet another of his mini strokes. His doctor says he could hang on for years like this.
Meanwhile Abner's ill temper and his refusal to let his caretaker niece, Rachel, marry or have any kind of life seperate from caring for him without being disinherited has turned her into an angry husk of a person. She is 35 but looks about ten years older. Her secret boyfriend is a drug addict, and she's been taking cash from her uncle's accounts to him so he can buy drugs. When this is discovered during a random audit, the uncle demands that she return all of the cash by the following Monday or he'll have her arrested. Her boyfriend is unsympathetic and breaks up with her since the cash kitchen is now closed. Later, she spills hot coffee on her arm and is heavily sedated by the household doctor. Later that night, in her medicated sleep, she goes into Abner's bedroom, shoots him repeatedly at point blank range, and collapses. But it turns out Abner was already dead when she shot him! - poisoned by tainted medication. Complications ensue, not the least of which is that the house is full of servants and employees who have sizable bequests in Abner's will.
If you watch and listen closely you can see the clues that lead to Perry finding out who the real killer is. And then there is Richard Hale as the perpetually angry uncle. He has a face that is just unforgettable - If I were casting a film about the humorless Puritans back in the day, he would be at the top of my list! He frequently guest starred on PM, usually playing the same kind of grumpy person, and quite effectively.