'Firefall' (a.k.a. 'The Doppelganger’) by Bill S. Ballinger

Arsonist Frankie Markoff is murdered by a mob hitman inside a penny arcade. Later, talented conductor Ryder Bond drives his car past Markoff’s funeral procession; the dead man’s spirit becomes a doppelganger of Bond and immediately attempts to take over his life. When Kolchak learns that violinist George Mason has burned to death he decides to investigate, only to be dismissed by the detective in charge, Sergeant Mayer; however, the reporter is able to learn from an eyewitness that Bond left the scene of the crime. Racing to the Great Lakes Symphony concert hall Kolchak finds Bond in his dressing room, but is amazed to learn that the conductor has been in front of a packed audience for the last two hours, and therefore could not have committed the murder. Kolchak is then forced to leave as the police arrive to question Bond. Soon, two more murders occur: Felicia Porter is torched by her swimming pool, her body burning while her surroundings remain untouched; and then the Symphony’s business manager, Phillip O’Rourk, is incinerated along with Bond in his car, although only the manager’s body is found in the wreckage, and Bond is discovered to have been conducting the orchestra at the concert hall at the time. With no explanations forthcoming Kolchak is stumped, and so decides to visit Bond at his apartment. But he is unaware that the man that he meets there is not Bond but the doppelganger; the room quickly becomes a blazing inferno - with Kolchak trapped inside…

Darren McGavin (Carl Kolchak), Simon Oakland (Tony Vincenzo), Jack Grinnage (Ron Updyke), Ruth Mc Devitt (Emily Cowles), Fred Beir (Ryder Bond), Philip Carey (Sergeant Mayer), Madlyn Rhue (Marie), David Doyle (Cardinale), Virginia Vincent (Mrs. Markoff), Alice Backes (Mrs. Shropell), Joshua Shelly (George Manson), Lenore Kasdorf (Girl), Carol Veazie (Mrs. Sherman), Patricia Estrin (Felicia Porter)
Directed by Don Weis

TX (US): 8th November, 1974

Notes:
*Featuring Carl Kolchak and Tony Vincenzo