Ellery Queen (Jim Hutton) the son of New York City Police Homicide Inspector Richard Queen (David Wayne) is often called in to help his father and Sergeant Velie (Tom Reese) solve complicated cases. Often times they have disasterous help from a wanna be radio show host Simon Brimmer (John Hillerman), who Thinks he's a detective or a nosey reporter for the New York Gazette Frank Flannigan (Ken Swafford) whos help is equally disasterous.