Originally Aired: July 4, 1950
Philo Vance #104, "Muddy Murder Case,"
District Attorney Markham presents Philo Vance with a seemingly impossible puzzle: racket leader John Williams has been shot dead in his country house, which was completely surrounded by mud from yesterday's rain. The killer left no footprints, making the murder appear impossible. Williams had recently split from his criminal partners, Sam Foster and Whitey Morrow, giving both men clear motives. When Whitey Morrow is gunned down in a subway station by Foster's slow-witted henchman Oscar, the dying gangster insists he didn't kill Williams and couldn't have figured out how to commit such an ingenious crime.
Vance must now determine whether the smooth and calculating Sam Foster is behind both attacks, and more importantly, solve the central mystery: how could someone kill Williams without leaving a single footprint in the mud surrounding his isolated house? As Foster relaxes with his girlfriend Judy, confident that no evidence connects him to the crimes, Vance prepares to visit the house of mystery and unravel this seemingly impossible murder.