Burke's Law

A top fashion model is found at a construction site, apparently shot to death. When it is discovered that she was drowned before she was shot, Burke tracks the case back to her ditzy landlady, and then to the heads of the ad agency she was modeling for and the artist who was painting her likeness for a giant ad campaign. Getting involved with another model, Burke soon discovers a plush hideaway owned by three Texas millionaires who ""entertain"" gorgeous young women poolside (where the murder may have taken place). Even though he uncovers a blackmailing butler and information that an older admirer had paid for cosmetic surgery for the model, Burke is suddenly stumped when it is revealed that the water in the dead girl's lungs had orange blossom bath salts in it and not chlorine from the pool.

When a body is discovered dumped alongside the merry-go-round at an amusement park, clues (including a phone number on an old matchbook cover) lead back to the elusive millionaire Emory Flood. Burke is thwarted in his attempts to speak to Flood by the top three men in the Flood empire. Meanwhile, Burke and Tim come to the aid of an elderly woman who is also trying to see Flood, and interview three lovely starlets who are being ""supported"" by Flood (two of whom hate the man, while the third definitely strikes romantic sparks with Burke). Until Burke can identify the dead man, discover the true scene of the crime and locate Flood, he can't find the killer. A photo of Robert Mitchum reveals the clue which proves that the crime was based on a case of mistaken identity.

When big-game hunter Cable Roberts is found shot by one of his own rifles and ""mounted"" in his trophy room, the suspects include both Roberts' current wife (a predatory animal herself), his ex, an angry taxidermist, another hunter, Roberts' secretary, and his extremely sexy maid. Tim notices an interesting point - that Roberts was killed in the same way in which he killed his big game. After two false confessions, Burke discovers that one of the suspects has a more complex relationship to Roberts than first appeared.

Promoter Harris Crown is killed when the car he is driving goes off a cliff. Burke soon discovers that all the brake fluid had been drained and that the car belonged to Crown's wife (a race car enthusiast) who is involved in a charity benefit and ""involved"" with the benefit's choreographer, who in turn is being kept by a wealthy (and jealous) society matron. Other suspects include Crown's strapped-for-cash brother and his greedy wife, and Crown's current mistress. Burke is assisted in his search for the killer by a gossip columnist and a shop owner (who takes a sudden shine to Burke, until she finds that he's a ""poor"" cop).

Hemingwayesque novelist Julian Buck is found dead and Burke checks out the guests at his funeral: his publisher, a former boxer, an ex-lover (who he ""traded"" for a plot), a bartender, a crippled university professor, and a glamorous blonde, all of whom have been used in the past by Buck as fodder for his plots. The manuscript of his latest novel (also based on facts from Buck's life) probably will contain the vital clue that will lead to the murderer.

At the opening of The Debonair Key Club, a Playboy-like nightclub/restaurant, Debonair Magazine founder Alex Debbs is found stabbed. The suspects are all connected in some way with the Debonair empire, both the club and the magazine: Debbs' main business partner, an embittered cartoonist, a swinging joke writer, a blackmailed princess, a folk guitarist, one of the Key Club girls, and a reclusive heiress. After an attack on Tim, another murder and the breaking of ""unbreakable"" alibis, Burke solves the case.