 Like Dickens  rascally scamp, Allen Sheridan cons everyone for his own benefit. He asks Joyce Fulton for money to pay a nonexistent gambling debt to Lou Caporale. He plans his get away under the name "William Wyatt." He lies about his birthday to his financial advisor, Victor Latimore, in order to secretly receive his inheritance. He flees to Los Angeles to escape Ralph Curtis, whom he injured in a fight in New York. And he hides from his penniless aunt, Sarette Winslow, to avoid paying her rightful share of his inheritance. Who wouldn t want him dead? Sheridan apparently flies to Mexico City as "Wyatt," but his body is found in Los Angeles. So who flew to Mexico? Sarette is charged with murder, and Perry Mason must sort out this mess.