Scripted by Robert Bloch and guest starring Patty McCormack, this winds up being reminiscent of "Psycho" in the case of the former and "The Bad Seed" In The case of the latter. Since all detective shows are legally required to have an episode where the hero finds out that a friend's been murdered/framed or what have you. Dave Barrett attends his Marine buddy's wedding as the best man.... but arrives to find the proceedings are a wake, as his friend's been stabbed and killed, with his body stuffed into a trunk. His friend's mother had tried to contact Dave to let him know... He doesn't need any urging to track down his killer. But he still gets it from the bereaved mother. The trail leads to a group of travelling players headlined by former big star Clara Calvert (Celeste Holm livening up proceedings when she appeared) who's very protective of mousy troupe member Doris (Patty McCormick). It's fairly easy to suss out who the killer is, It turns out to be Clara's disturbed daughter.... Doris. Well, the only reasonable suspect is fellow troupe member Peggy (played by QM regular (and horribly underused in this episode) Claudia Jennings. Who only has one sort-of scene. Doris was the best friend's fiancee/killer... There's a subplot about robberies that coincide with the play's stops, but it never really impacts the story....
Review of The Truck Murders
