Flames break out in a state school for deaf children, and only quick action by firemen saves the terrified youngsters. The school superintendent swears he was at his post when the fire occurred but an anonymous woman phones the attorney general with a drastically different account of his activities.

Seventeen-year-old Dotty Halsey, who lives in a resort town, falls prey to suave actor Damian Shea. Shea appears every year in the town's summer stock theater and is idolized for his supposed act of bravery the previous summer during a local fire. However, Shea is neither brave nor heroic. He schemes to eliminate Dotty, the only person who can expose his secret.

For the past year Charlotte Bell Wheeler has been the victim of a series of poison-pen letters. But the latest is the most incriminating - it accuses Charlotte of murdering her husband.

Simon Dow is a neurotic man constantly living in fear. After his wife Avery notes his increased agitation when the topic of murder is discussed, Simon is compelled to share one of his fears with his wife. His confession and subsequent bizarre behavior lead Avery to her own cycle of fear.

Diagnosed with a terminal illness, embittered schoolteacher Alfred Emerson decides to end life on his terms. He subsequently devises a monstrous plan to blackmail Peter Montopolis, a popular student he jealously loathes, into killing him. However, the scheme might not go as planned.

A man wakes up in a hospital emergency ward to learn he's been fished out of the river. He's got no idea how he got there or who he is, but police suspect he's the victim of foul play and may be involved with the racketeers who control the city.

Joseph Teague is an American doctor who lives in Guatemala and has a somewhat tarnished reputation. Then U.S. consul Greyson gives Teague an important job - find Andrew Glenn, an American youth who's on a bender somewhere in the city.

A distraught woman appears at the Girards' front door at a very late hour, pleading piteously to be allowed inside. She babbles that she's fleeing two hoodlums who have threatened to kill her. Before Fred Girard can fully grasp the situation, his caller has lurched off again into the night.

Dr. Flemming has a secret life, his shrew of a wife leads him into the arms of Susan a vulnerable and easily manipulated young woman. Together the plot is staged for the demise of Mrs. Flemming.

Attorney Jim Powell becomes his own client following a false accusation of murder. After he is tried and acquitted of the crime, the widow of the victim, Elizabeth Marshall, convenes her own personal trial in order to get justice for her late husband's premature death, but is Powell really guilty?

Actor and former box office gold Francis Rushmore finds his career in sharp decline. While drowning his sorrows in a tavern he eavesdrops on two men who are plotting the murder of influential but much loathed agent Michael Semmes. Rushmore then launches a valiant effort to warn Semmes of the unfolding plot, unaware that he has ordered everyone to give Rushmore the "run around" to prevent him from begging for acting work.

The Paris Bureau of Missing Persons is tasked with looking for one of its own as its Chief Inspector suddenly vanishes.

There have been a lot of men in the life of Lisa Townsend, a former movie actress. Boyfriends and husbands alike had something in common, they all met with violent deaths. When husband No. 3 has a near-fatal accident, it's another unusual coincidence. Or is it?

When popular mystery novelist John Clayton's career begins to wane, he steals a clever plot written by an amateur writer who has since passed away. However, Clayton's scheme unexpectedly goes awry when his plagiarized story is discovered to be the blueprint for a real life unsolved murder for which he is now considered to be the number one suspect.

Ray, a young war veteran, participates in a bank robbery which is accidentally captured on television cameras recording a man-on-the-street series. With his face broadcast across the country, he decides to hide inside a place where no one can recognize him, a home for the blind. Meanwhile, as he contemplates surrendering, both the police and his angry accomplices desperately attempt to locate him.

A club president has no intention of dying, the club dues give him much too nice a living. A game of cards decides who will die and who will do the killing, making each deal an exciting game.

Two prisoners given life by an English judge in Kenya vow to murder the judge if they ever get out. When the judge is found sitting at his desk, dead the search is on for the culprits.