The Well-Dressed Corpse

Originally Aired: January 18, 1951

Suspense #412, "The Well-Dressed Corpse," Ruth Franklin, a successful advertising executive and one of the ten best-dressed women in America, is found disheveled and incoherent in a Hell's Kitchen alley, wearing only a policeman's overcoat. When Captain Rourke questions her at the station, she confesses to murder. Through her account, Ruth reveals how her polished world unraveled when she met Roy Mason, one of the ten best-dressed men, at a press luncheon celebrating their fashion accolades. What began as witty banter blossomed into a whirlwind romance, with Ruth confidently assuming they would marry.

Ruth's carefully constructed life shatters when Roy casually reveals he's already engaged to Elizabeth Granger, a Long Island socialite. Humiliated after the newspapers had documented their courtship, Ruth finds herself facing a devastating betrayal. As she sits before her fireplace burning Roy's books, nursing her wounds and confronting the ruins of her expectations, something dark takes hold. What transpires next transforms this sophisticated career woman into a disheveled murder suspect with no dress and no future.