When the credits rolled on this episode, I saw that it was written by Frank Gruber (1904-69). He was an interesting author. He got his start writing for the fiction adventure magazines in the 1930's, such as Short Stories magazine. He did a lot of Western stories, and also wrote screenplays. He was author of two of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies in the 1940's. And, he wrote a lot of mystery novels. Which is a long way of saying, Gruber knew how to construct a good mystery plot, which he does here.
The supporting roles are all well played. It's fun to see such a young Adam West--very handsome. As much as I like the Stu Bailey episodes, I must say, the ones oriented around Jeff Spencer, such as this one, are my favorites.
We don't see Suzanne or Roscoe at all in this episode. Kookie makes a couple of brief appearances. It's Jeff all the way, here.
This is a high quality episode, where you keeping wondering, what is going to happen next?
I wish I had a time machine, to go back and visit that Los Angeles of 1958--sharply dressed guys, great looking young ladies, fascinating cars. At least, LA as Warner Brothers showed it in the show, looked very fun and appealing!
Two other points: as I watched, I was sure that the actor playing the department store owner was John Dehner, a familiar figure in many 1950's and 1960's TV shows. I was astonished when the credits rolled, and I saw the role was actually played by an actor named Stephenson! He looked very much like Dehner, and even his voice sounded similar to me!
My other point: the other reviews of this title, don't seem much impressed with the plot. Well, it's always hard to have a complex plot in a TV show that runs about 50 minutes! In a mystery novel, the author has a couple of hundred pages, or more, to plant clues, and red herrings, and to develop a big cast of characters, including suspects. The writers of these TV shows did not enjoy that luxury! So far, I've been favorably impressed by all the plots o.f these episodes that I have seen.