Originally Aired: May 16, 1950
Philo Vance #97, "The Manicure Murder Case," begins with a frantic young manicurist rushing through traffic to find a police officer. She works in a nearby barbershop where a strange and unsettling scene has just unfolded. Twenty minutes earlier, a man came in requesting a manicure, but something was terribly wrong. Despite appearing to be in obvious pain and struggling to remain conscious, he urgently insisted she hurry with the service. As she worked on his nails, the mysterious client seemed desperate to stay awake, repeatedly urging her to finish quickly.
The situation takes a dark turn when the man suddenly collapses in the chair. The manicurist notices blood on his coat and realizes he's been shot. By the time she manages to bring an officer back to the barbershop, it's too late—the man is dead. The bizarre circumstances surrounding his final moments raise troubling questions: Why would a dying man, bleeding from a gunshot wound, insist on getting a manicure instead of seeking medical help? What was so important about this seemingly mundane errand that he spent his last moments in a barber's chair?