Too Many Winners

In this episode of the Mike Shayne mysteries from "The new PRC", Hugh Beaumont and secretary Trudy Marshall are getting ready to go duck hunting when Ben Welden walks in and offers his $2000 to not take a case. This soon develops into racetrack manager John Hamilton hiring Beaumont to investigate who's been forging winning parimutuel tickets.

It's a clunkily composed mystery, with Beaumont dealing with people who refuse to answer questions, and then someone advances the plot lot a ratchet, along with fist fights, pointed guns, and Ralph Dunn as a permanently disgruntled police lieutenant. Director William Beaudine clearly is trying to make Beaumont a breezy version of Brett Halliday's shamus, but while there is some fun with George Meader as a hotel desk clerk who doesn't like Beaumont, mostly there's a sense of frustration as Scott Darling Fred Myton's script keeps everyone waiting. With Byron Foulger and Stanley Blystone.