About this episode
Originally Aired: May 10, 1949 In Philo Vance #44, "Meanest Man Murder Case," wealthy construction company owner Walter Benton lives up to his reputation as the cruelest man alive. When his desperate niece Irene begs him for money to escape his torment, he coldly refuses, having kept her near for a decade solely to punish her for her father's sins. Benton proves equally ruthless in business, blackmailing competitor French with evidence of wartime draft evasion to force him out of a lucrative contract. Even Benton's own doctor, worn down by his impossible patient, grimly suggests the man may not live until morning—though not from natural causes. That dark prophecy comes true when Benton staggers into a police station, announces he has been murdered, and collapses dead at the officers' feet. As District Attorney Markham rushes to headquarters, Philo Vance takes a different approach, heading directly to the Benton household where the victim's longtime housekeeper Dora nervously insists she knows nothing. With a house full of people who had reason to wish Benton dead, Vance must unravel which of the meanest man's enemies finally acted on their hatred.
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