"In a few minutes, Spencer Lockridge will disappear. One of these people is responsible. Was it the Dormouse? Alice in Wonderland? The public relations man? The March Hare? The mother-in-law? Or was it someone else? Match wits with Ellery Queen and see if you can guess who done it!"
This episode contains examples of:
- Alice Allusion: Naturally.
- Asshole Victim: zig-zagged. Spencer was willing to go to considerable lengths to give his nephew a great birthday weekend, and Emmy Rinehart seems genuinely mournful when she finds out Spencer is dead. However, it's pretty clear that his neglectful behavior towards his wife sent her into Paul Gardner's arms, and his mother in law (who's been bankrolling his productions due to said marriage) is delighted at the prospect of his death.
- Chekhov's Gun: Lockridge purchasing a very large home safe, because he didn't trust banks. Lockridge's body was originally hidden in the safe, itself hidden in a secret room. Ellery works out that the only two people who knew where the secret room was located were the victim - and the architect who remodeled the house.
- Clock Discrepancy: variant. Ellery comes down in the middle of the night looking for a book, and doesn't see the glow-in-the-dark details of a wall clock. As he doesn't see them in the large mirror, it tips him off where the body was initially hidden.
- Hostile Weather: The murder is committed during a literal 'dark and stormy night'. One of the reasons the body was initially hidden in the safe - a location that pointed to the murderer - was because of the storm happening when the murder was committed. The killer couldn't bury it without getting suspiciously wet, and had to resort to a further plan in order to move and bury the corpse.
- Meaningful Background Event: When Ellery first comes into the drawing room, where the house party is rehearsing the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, Spencer Lockridge (Mad Hatter and soon to be murder victim) abruptly stands and comes to Ellery in greeting. If you watch closely, Laura Lockridge (playing the Dormouse), her eyes closed and pretending to be asleep with her head on Spencer's shoulder, falls over and bumps her head due to Spencer's support leaving without warning. As Spencer is greeting Ellery, he completely ignores Laura, with the March Hare sitting on her other side fussing over her in concern. If you notice this byplay, it clearly signals the state of the Lockridge's marriage, and that the March Hare, aka Paul Gardner, is in love with Laura.
- Never Found the Body: played with. Ellery found it where it was originally stashed, but there was no evidence pointing to the killer. Then the killer drugs everyone and moves the body. Ellery subsequently starts his War Of Nerves to rattle the killer enough to reveal where they had buried Lockridge's body; without that confession, there was no evidence against them. This was the killer's original plan - or at least, the body not being found until there was no way to pinpoint the killer note .
- Pinkerton Detective Doyle
- Shout-Out: No less than four guest characters share a surname with a well-known mystery writer.
- The Butler Did It: Averted. He wasn't even a butler, but a Pinkerton Detective.
- The Only Exception: this is the only episode of the series note based on an actual Ellery Queen story instead of being created for the show.
- Theme Naming: Does the grouping of Doyle, Gardner, Rinehart, and Allingham mean anything to you?
- War Of Nerves: Spencer Lockridge disappears Friday night; during Sunday morning, a succession of strange items - taken from within the house - start showing up, addressed to the various suspects. It's Ellery doing it. They're all clues to where Ellery discovered the body Saturday afternoon. His goal is to push the killer to reveal where they moved the body to Saturday evening.
