Originally Aired: January 17, 1950
Philo Vance #80, "Talking Corpse Murder Case aka Catty Corpse Murder Case," Philo Vance takes on a baffling case when a distraught widow, Mrs. Miller, arrives at his office claiming to have seen and heard her husband on the street—ten months after she buried him. Dressed in deep mourning black, the terrified woman insists that Daniel Miller, whose death and burial Vance confirms through official records, has somehow returned from the dead. As Vance investigates, he learns that Miller had been hospitalized for poisoning before his death, and that the dying man had cryptically suggested his wife was responsible.
Meanwhile, a volatile couple named George and Flo engage in explosive domestic battles, alternating between violent arguments and passionate reconciliations in their dish-depleted apartment, accompanied by Flo's beloved Persian cat, Chang. Mrs. Miller hires two bumbling brothers to locate the man she believes is her deceased husband, instructing them to ensure he "returns to his former status" once found. When the brothers spot their quarry but lose him in a crowd, Mrs. Miller grimly accepts the delay, knowing that what happens next will determine her fate for years to come.