I Love a Mystery (film)

Two private detectives, Jim Packard (Jim Bannon) and Doc Long (Barton Yarborough), make the uneasy acquaintance of Jefferson Monk (George Macready) at a nightclub. When a flaming dessert is nearly spilled onto the trio, Monk reveals it was meant for him. He explains that, according to a prophecy, he is to die in three days. Upon learning their profession, Monk hires the two for protection, particularly from a hideous, peg-legged horror who stalks the streets, toting a valise, supposedly to use in transporting Monk's severed head to an ancient secret society. When Packard and Doc trail Monk and a woman companion outside the nightclub, the one-legged man appears, but he eludes capture.

Eventually, Packard comes to suspect someone is trying to drive Monk to suicide. He has learned Monk's two-million dollar inheritance will go to charity instead of to his wife Ellen should he divorce her (Nina Foch). Since Mrs. Monk has the most to gain from Monk's demise, it is assumed she is the person behind the conspiracy. In the end, Packard discovers Monk has begun killing off his wife's fellow conspirators, one by one, including the one-legged stalker. Later Monk presumes Packard and Long have figured all this out. He thus decides to kill them. However, the detectives foil his scheme, and Monk is forced to flee in his car. He loses control of the speeding auto and is involved in a collision. Ironically, this results in his own decapitation.

• Jim Bannon as Jack Packard
• Nina Foch as Ellen Monk
• George Macready as Jefferson Monk
• Barton Yarborough as Doc Long
• Carole Mathews as Jean Anderson
• Lester Matthews as Justin Reeves / Mr. Gee

• I Love a Mystery at IMDb
• I Love a Mystery at the TCM Movie Database
• I Love a Mystery at AllMovie
• I Love a Mystery at the American Film Institute Catalog