Detective and Mystery – Retro Radio Podcast

Repeat of Nightwatch 540503 E003 Glass Breaker.

Get ready to take down all the clues from start to finish. Dick Diamond deals with a classic murder and cover up. A wealthy family, a body buried in the garden, and a host of suspicious characters. Dick Diamond provides color commentary, and in voiceover he paints a vivid portrait of the crime scene. Bodies pile up, and Dick gets rough after he’s the recipient of a little thumping of his own. Isn’t it about time the cops are called in to do their job? With Dick applying a little muscle, he controls the evidence, the suspects, which keeps getting easier when the killer hasn’t learned when to stop, and the choices for the killer get slimmer. PS: I’ll bet Miss Scarlet did it in the conservatory with a pistol. Er maybe it was Professor Plum, in the kitchen with a knife… No wait! It was Colonel Mustard with a… with a… Oh heck, just listen and you try to guess. Oh, and Richard croons to his girlfriend with, I Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.

Our story begins with Ann Williams and Casey hanging out in the Blue Note with Ethylbert. They talk about their newspaper assignment at the circus to cover the King of the Apes, a star orangutang. At the circus, angry voices are overheard before Casey and Ann begin interviewing the characters who run the show. , and take care of the star ape. After the behind the scenes glimpse of circus life, the show starts with the ring master calling out the acts. Suddenly the festive atmosphere is broken by the sound of screams, and Casey has a hunch that the murder is no accident. Back at the Blue Note, Casey and Ann talk the murder over with Ethylbert. The murder was made to look as if circus animals are the culprit, and was just one of the hazards of the job. Casey and Ann have their suspicions but not enough evidence to even take it to press, let alone nailing down a criminal charge. Can Casey poke around and bring things into the open? Can Casey put on the pressure to make the bad guys squirm, and confess? Listen in as the drama unfolds, and the trap is sprung, but not before the body count rises.

One signature feature of hard boiled detectives is to be able to take a licking and keep on ticking. Dick Diamond doesn’t disappoint when he takes a good roughing up, and is thumped on the head early on. He has been warned to steer clear of taking a case. Who is Barton, and what’s the controversy with taking his case? The wealthy man’s son was set up for murder, and the thugs who set him up would prefer to keep on letting the law think the kid did it. When the price is right, and it’s worth Dick’s risking more danger with the thugs, he takes the case anyway. I guess money, and justice wins out over being shoved around by goons. Dodging the gangsters, Dick crosses paths with a gorgeous dame. Who is Lenore Brown, and what part does she play in the mystery? Can Dick unravel his mystery before he gets another beating, and maybe the last one he’ll ever have? There’s sure to be gunplay as secrets are revealed. The man with the scar is found, but with all the loose ends, and too many crooks to count, justice comes at a high price. Mostly for the bad guys. In epilog, Dick Diamond spends a few musical moments as he croons to his favorite gal.

A labor union holds a meting to discuss hot button topics. There are a couple of thugs in attendance who are for the other side, and make plans to do away with the union leader, who is trying to reform the workplace. Later, Tom’s pleasant household scene is destroyed by a package with a bomb in it. We learn of a childhood friendship between Tom and Richard, and it’s the tie in that gets Dick involved on the case to investigate his old friends murder. Phil is Tom’s brother, and Dick is sure he had nothing to do with the bomb, but why isn’t Phil talking? what can the grieving family reveal to Richard Diamond? At Tom’s factory, Dick pokes around to learn more clues. A conspiracy is soon touched on, and the digging that Diamond does exposes more details. Not to mention an Abbott and Costello like routine with his policeman friend about the status of the case. Returning to a serious note, Diamond watches his suspect like a hawk. Diamond is sure he has his man, and now it’s time to rough him up a little to get some personal revenge for his friend. There’s still danger for Dick as he faces the business end of a derringer. At the end, Richard sings a few bars of a Yiddish cantor. PS: So is Richard Jewish, or not? In the show he claims to have stood in for Tom as kids, to sing at Temple. Do they let non Jews do that?

Auto Theft detail, Joe Friday and Frank Smith are on the case to stop the crime spree. Joe and Frank talk with a mechanic friend who is an ex-con, and an informant to see what he may know about the missing cars. They get some details about the technique that is being used, and general info on how the operation works. Whitey doesn’t have much on the players involved though. Friday reviews the case, and tells a little about the string of missing cars over the past to weeks. Suddenly, the man named Tops who they were looking for comes into Whitey’s shop, and the cops go to talk to him. He fits the profile of a car theif, but is he their man? Tops tells a story of how he overheard some heavies in a bar talking about cars, and when he got too nosey they put the pressure on him to keep quiet. More time passes before Friday gets another hot tip. A man comes in claiming that he thinks he just bought a stolen car. He tells why he thought it might be stolen, and when Frank comes back in, he confirms the car was stolen. The clue sets Friday on the trail and he questions the owner of a car lot. He has an unusual request when he agrees to go in to the station to look at mugshots. He wants to be seen taken around in a black and white police car for the dramatic affect. Soon Friday has a man who forges checks, but how does he tie in with the car theives? It seems that he also did work to forge car titles, and he is all too helpful to turn in his partners in crime.

A police officer brings a complaint of a large packing box on the front sidewalk. At the suggestion of the resident, Mrs Benson, he opens it to find a body. It’s not her husband, but a local gangster. What kind of signal is this death sending to the mob? Why did they choose the Benton house to drop off the crate? The cops, Casey, and Ann consider these questions. Switch to a behind the scenes drama with the mob, and their underworld practices. Crooked lawyers, extortion, lucky pennies, and dirty double crossers. Elsewhere, Casey relaxes at the Blue Note, and talks with Ethylbert to clear his mind. The lucky penny has found its way into Casey’s hands, and Casey is about to find himself in the hands of Lucky Carson. Both Ann and Casey are in danger as the thugs take them for a long ride to the country. Can Casey talk himself out of this one? These tough guys are ruthless, and murder is a commonplace event for them. Suspense builds, gunshots ring out, and… commercial time. Back in the Blue Note Casey and Ann fill in the details when they talk with Ethylbert.

A disfunctional wealthy couple argue over the evening newspaper. She is a socialite who is running around on her husband, and she is worried he might be heading out to kill her lover. Elsewhere, Richard Diamond has his plans for nightclubbing interupted when the rich man, Mr Sears, hires him to get solid evidence on his promiscuous wife. Not the prefered job for Dick, but it pays well, and he can combine some business with pleasure. Things go bad when an altercation breaks out in the club, and Dick is once again out of a job. Can it get worse? Fred Sears shows up in Dick’s office, and he’s dead. By now, you’ve got the big picture, the scandal, the skeletons, and the players who would want Fred dead. Ride along with Richard Diamond to go through the facts with a fine tooth comb and see if you can figure out this mystery. Was it the unfaithful wife, her lover, or the newspaper man who airs the family scandal on the front page? Don’t worry, Richard knows, and so will you when he springs his trap and explains it all.

In voiceover, Captain Frank Canelli describes an armed felony in action, and the response of his uniformed patrolmen. It’s a domestic dispute that has overflowed to involve waving pistols around. When John is hauled away in cuffs, his wife thinks the cops are just butting into her personal affairs. Of course, Canelli has to explain that it’s for the protection of not only her, but her neighbors. John is no saint, and has a history of encounters with the law. But there’s something fishy with the arrest. Canelli sifts through the evidence to find a cop who didn’t follow correct proceedure. Now he has to call a pair of his patrolmen on the carpet to chew them out about the importance of proper procedures, and not bending the rules for personal convenience. The audio cuts off a little short, but all that is implied is that John might be more than a petty arrest, and the botched procedure might have jeopardized the legal process.

Frank Lauring is a man who has disappeared, and Johnny has reason to believe that he is on a ship to the Panama Canal as Michael Walsh. Taking a flight to head him off at the pass, Johnny sets out to intercept Frank. First a thump on the head awaits when Johnny confronts Mrs Lauring, and name drops Michael Walsh’s name. In Panama, Walsh has kept a step ahead of Johnny, and out of his grasp. Turning the tables on traps laid in his path, Johnny closes in to deal with shady, underworld types. In seedy parts of the world, loyalties run as deep as the deepest pocket. Greasing the skids with a few dollars, Johnny soon has his man, but there’s no guarantee that Walsh wants to return to his life in America. Life is hard when you live it at the business end of a gun barrel. Note: In the background in the seedy bars of Panama, swing music can be heard playing. You would think something more of a South of the Border sound might be heard, but Panama has held close ties to America in its history as an independent nation. Current pop music is commonly heard in bars, hangouts, and radio stations, then and now. The other dominate sound is a style of music called ‘Salsa’ and is popular with many countries through the Gulf of Mexico areas. Just a little touch of social studies for those who care to know.

A blackmailer from the mob comes around to collect from Betty Moran. The strong willed woman refuses him, kills the mobster, then shoots herself. The news story gets the attention of Richard Diamond. Especially whenWilliam Moran, Betty’s husband shows up on his doorstep to find the others in the blackmail ring. The wisecracking Dick Diamond heads to the cops to share notes on the case. Is the blackmail story just a coverup for the demise of an unfaithful wife? Dick’s rounds lead to skid row, where he talks with an eloquent bum. Moving as quick as he can, Dick is still a half step behind death, and more murder. After a run in with the cops, Diamond goes back on the street to learn what he can, and in his own style. Acting on a hunch, Dick heads out into the foggy night for a confrontation. There’s gunplay, and a chase through the gritty streets. The truth is out, and justice is done the hard way. How does a hard boiled detective reward himself at the end of the day? With a hot woman, and a slow song.

After an insurance pay out to a New York company, the robber has been caught, but with no sign of the loot. Johnny Dollar hits the scene to see if he can recover the cash for his client. What did Lester James do with it? Squander it, gamble it away, play the market, or might it still be recovered? Lester isn’t saying, or admitting to anything. Johnny investigates to learn more about the character of Lester. He is said to be a quiet, and likeable man, but does he have a record of stealing? When Johnny learns that Lester has made bail, he tails his man. Its a good thing, since Johnny was on hand to prevent a suicide. As Lester’s life hangs in the balance, Johnny returns to the streets to learn what he can about this curious man. The slim trail leads to a dame, and expensive gifts. Only a fraction of the stolen money can be accounted for, so Johnny still has work ahead of him. Can this caper be as simple as the matter of a lonely, lovesick man? If love got him into this mess, can love bail Lester out of it?

Two thugs plan on stealing a set of famous pearls. They must be some popular gems, because elsewhere, other gangsters make similar plans. When safe crackers attack, the worried butler reports the theft to his boss, who seems to either be unconcerned, or at least something of an eccentric. The thieves begin doing their best to fence the goods. The trouble is that the fence claims the gems are phoney, after he runs a fake test, and the con works. He ends up with the pearls. Are they really fake ones? The disgruntled thugs have a fight, and there’s a bout of gunplay. Meanwhile, Blackie and Mary relax after talking about how they proved to the owner how easy it was to steal the pearls. Then Blackie realizes the pearls he has are also fakes. Meanwhile, the owner talks to Blackie, who had also been fooled by the plan to keep the pearls safe, and reveals a secret passage in the safe, and the fact that he kept three sets of fakes there, while the real ones were kept separately. His entire elaborate plan is shared. Just when he is showing off, guess what turns up missing? The once calm, cool, and collected owner starts to panic, especially when the real pearls have turned up in the hand of a dead man. Or have they? It’s up to Blackie to untangle the mess, and figure out what happened to the real pearls, and who took them. With the word out about fake pearls, and real pearls, the various gangster factions who had a hand in stealing the gems now scramble to make sure theirs isn’t the real set. Bodies pile up. Blackie gets blamed. Farraday shares a bit of info that gives Blackie the clue he needs, and now it’s a matter of springing the trap on the real killer. After an altercation with the bad guys, Blackie reveals what tipped him off, and the details of the mystery are told.

Dick Powell as Richard Diamond. A cold, icy day finds Richard indoors, enjoying a nap in his cozy office, until it’s interrupted by Abel Gunther. The old man can’t pay the standard rates, but his story is compelling enough to lure the hard boiled detective into the complications at his farm. Illness and hardship has struck him, and other farmers, just before offers for their land is made. Is there sabotage involved? Voodoo It’s more than a joke when Gunther dies in the office. The cops hold the bag on the homicide, and Diamond takes a flight to Haiti. Little Sheeva is a 300 pound hulking native, and the rash of death is far from over. Sheeva seems to be on the side of the Gunthers, and points Diamond to the authorities, and more voodoo related deaths. Where will the voodoo jungle drums lead? It’s time to regroup, and see what the cops have uncovered in their investigation. A cause of deth for the Gunthers is identified. How will it help Dick, down in Haiti? A plan is developed to turn the heat up, and expose a killer. How can Dick fight the supernatural forces of voodoo? Or the kind of natural forces to take on Little Sheeva and beat him to death? Is Dick too shaken by the voodoo ceremony he witnessed to take on the cqase? Voodoo secrets fall away, and rival farmer, Cuthwald, relies on good old fire power to convince Diamond. Voodoo gets revenge in an unexpected way for Richard Diamond’s typical flavor of hardboiled qjustice of Richqard Diamond.

Getting ready for a big dinner on the town, Marlowe has his plans put on hold when a business woman phones him. The powerful woman makes it worth Philip’s time, and describes her trouble. He could be playing with dynamite as the twists take him closer to danger. When a body makes the scene, Philip doesn’t believe it was only an accident. Marlowe gets tough and pours on the pressure to uncover lies, and get to the bottom of the mystery. Does Philip ever get his night out on the town, and make his dinner plans? Only after a hard day’s work, but there’s a nice payoff for him at the end.