Detective and Mystery – Retro Radio Podcast

Your mother has disappeared, and there has been no sign of her. It’s time to call Joe Friday on the job and solve this crime. Joe and partner, Frank Smih go to talk with Mrs Randall, a young housewife who hasn’t heard from her mom lately. She tells a story of a disfunctional family with an abusive dad. Has he done something to Mrs Randall’s mom? He refuses to tell any of the kids where mom might be. The cops go to dad, and though he admits to flaws, he claims that his wife simply left him without saying where she was going. Too much of his story has problems, and Joe Friday quicly turns up clues, and the lies are exposed.

The action moves fast and without much background. Johnny goes undercover when he signs on as a crew member of a sailing ship. He gets settled in, meets the crew, and even the boss’s daughter. Can he trust anybody on board? Strange things unfold, and a murder is followed by a man over board alert. Explosions send the trader ship rocking. Is there danger of being sunk, or being drowned? Back on land, Johnny Dollar confronts the daughter about the staged sinking, and the insurance claim he was sent to investigate. Is there something else going on besides the sunken ship? Johnny suspects there is something shady about the cargo that was onboard. Listen in and learn for yourself.

After the death of Mr Martin, Johnny Dollar takes a job to investigate at the luxury estate. Suspecting a murder, and to prevent the insurance company from making an unnecessary payoff, it’s up to Johnny to learn who shot Mr Martin. Mrs Martin is too young and beautiful for the old man, or so says the cantankerous police detective. Plus there’s a list of characters who had reason to knock Mr Martin off for his money. The drunken brother, a housekeeper who is jealous of Mrs Martin, and the body guard. when the police detective snoops a little too close to the truth, he ends up dead. Johnny shares what he knows with the listener through his voiceover description of the clues. Besides the interviews to learn the personalities of the players, some interesting ballistic rports add to the mix. It’s looking bad for the lovely Mrs Martin, but is she guilty? Or is she being setup by a dangerous killer? Johnny thinks he knows the answer, but gets a thump on the head before the killer can be revealed. Thumps never stop Johnny for long though, but when the body count rises, he has the answer for the cops.

The story of your police force in action. There has been a series of robberies in the big city. It’s up to Joe Friday and Frank Smith to stop them. The partners head out to the residential neighborhood to question the latest victim. The young married couple has had all their wedding gifts ripped off, even their pet parakeet. A trend is identified when other robberies involved stolen pet birds, some killed and found dead. Friday and Smith hit the pet stores in search of clues. The cops get a hot tip when a lady calls them in to investigater near miss with the burglar. She even made contact with the man, and can recognize him. The mug shot she points out is one of a known cat burglar. The trouble is, the man has an alibi, he was held over in jail when the crime went down. Time to start again from a different angle. Frank and Joe decide to do their own sting operation, and buy a pet bird to try to lure the pet killer out in the open. All it takes is time, because you know they will get their man. He turns out to be a man with some mental issues, Surprised? In the end, he gets tucked away in his little rubber room, presumably to get the help he needs for his condition.

Trying to pick up a hot dame, Rogue finds that pamela has just recieved word that her dad has been murdered. More troubles emerge when the judge, who is acting as executor of the will finds problems with it. Pamela is adopted, and nearly nothing has been left to her. The judge is a life long friend, and knows another will existed that left Pamela and a few charities as the main beneficiaries. Who is going to gain from the will? Can Rogue prove the will was changed? Richard Rogue investigates to see if Mr Leeds was actually in sound mind at the time of his death. It shouldn’t be too difficult, but twists in the plot begin to make things complicated. Interesting clues take Rogue through a road of motives that leads to a murderer. In mystery novel fashion, all the players are gathered together for a heated session of finger pointing, and picking apart each others character. The body count rises, and Rogue turns up his own heat as he digs for more clues and makes connections to paint the picture of the killer. How was the will faked? Who did it? Will there be more bodies before the crime is solved?

Danger is his stock in trade, so if it’s loaded with dynamite and needs to stay confidential, write to George Valentine. A woman writes to George about a family problem where an undesirable person wants to marry into the family with hopes of an inheritance. Later in George’s office, a detective friend of George’s named, Max pops in with the juicy information for the woman. George has trouble when a man tries to intercept him on the train as he goes to report to the woman. It’s the young husband to be, and he isn’t thrilled that George found out about his shady past. Has he really changed his wicked ways? It’s not for George to decide. A cab drops George and Brooksie off at the mysterious mansion. Their Irish escort and houseservant fills them in on some of the characters in the family. George begins to see a trend of nearly harmful accidents that center around Edie, the womans sister who she is trying to protect from being married. I’m beginning to wonder whether there’s a mystery here or not. The well meaning sister says she cares about her sister, but I think she just wants to keep the money in the family. After the mid show commercial, George and Brooksie settle in for the night. The plan is to stay for a morning boat ride, though the weather isn’t supposed to be good for it. Through the walls, George hears Edie crying, and goes to investigate. He finds the young boyfriend who he had the scuffle with on the train earlier, and confronts him about his side of the story. Does he actually care for Edie? The drama builds, the ttears flow, it’s prime time for something bad to happen. The emotional bubble is about to burst, but can George nudge it in a safe direction? The anticipated boat ride the next morning is a miserable one, and only made out of a force of habit. Will there be an accident? There’s a fire on the boat, and Lydia the older sister is murdered. Who did it, Edie, her young husband, the wierd old Irish house servant? George knows. Listen in and you will too.

Dan recieves a letter to meet a man who is in charge of building a tunnel under the river. There is trouble with sabotage that will cause him to finish well behind schedule. A situation like that could ruin his reputation, get him fired, and it may be years before he could secure another contract. Dan goes undercover into the tunnel to learn about the operation, and warned about the danger of getting the bends while moving from under the river back to the surface. Since Dan is a writer, his cover story is simple, he’s doing a story on Sand hogging, and writing about life in the tunnel. As the story develops, we learn a little about the life and procedures involved in digging a tunnel. The men, equipment, dangers, and concerns for safety. Dan is making progress with getting in close with the work crew when a threat comes in. Dan urges the company owner to take it to the cops, but he’s too afraid of the negative publicity. Now working as a sand hog, Dan gets a little too close to the saboteur for comfort and to get Dan out of the way, he is forced to the surface without proper decompression. It looks like the end for Dan Holiday when he is mistaken for being drunk, and the cops haul him in. Without immediate medical care, and being returned to a decompression chamber, he stands the real threat of dieing a painful death. Dan’s secretary gets worried about him and convinces the cops to get him to medical help. There’s still a mystery to solve. Does Dan have enough clues to figure this one out? Who has been causing the trouble? Just as importantly, why are they doing it?

CBS net. “The Case Of The Girl Who Sang Too Well”. Sponsored by: Anacin, Kolynos, Heet, Kriptin, Bisodol, Hills Cold Tabs. Murder plays the Palladium as big time vaudeville leads to a star performer’s disappearance. Bennett Kilpack, Frank Hummert, Anne Hummert (author). (OTRR) The mystery begins with a singing stage act. Lola, the beautiful and popular singer takes a break after her number. While the band plays a novelty number, she suddenly disappears. Mr. Keen is brought in to get to the bottomn of the matter. Why is she acting this way? Who is putting pressure on her, and why? Answer these questions, and maybe you can take over for Mr. Keen. (Audio enhanced for better listening enjoyment.)

If it’s touch and go with trouble, and you want a way out, write to George Valentine. The latest to let George do it is a letter from a woman who is involved in a racket. She’s a former chorus girl who got involved with a boxer who layed on promises of mink coats. Can George help Johnny the boxer get off the hook with the racketeers? Johnny is an aging boxer, and this next fight is to be his last. The mob wants him to take a dive. Other boxers who have crossed the mob have ended up dead. George takes the job as the manager of the boxer, and breaks the news to the racketeer that all ties are to be cut off with the boxer. Get ready George, here comes trouble. To fight back, George visits a former fighter who has landed in the sanitarium after crossing the racket. George gets the inside scoop on how the racket works. The punch drunk boxer doesn’t paint a pretty picture for George. This job will be tougher than he expected. What kind of win win situation does the racketeers have that makes it appear to be such a losing job? If George’s man wins, he faces the risk of death from the mob. Johnny may well end up losing his match to the much younger boxer anyway. Knowing the details, will the boxer’s wife back down? There is a way out and George springs a set up of his own to get the leverage he needs to give the bad guys an attitude adjustment. With the best training George can manage, and armed with advice from the punch drunk boxer, Johnny gives it all he has in his last fight before he retires. Listen in to the ring side drama. Will Johnny beat the much younger opponent? If he does, will the mob crush him? Will George’s plan actually stop the gangsters in their tracks? Facing down the mobsters, George gets it all done, and for anyone who still needs an explanation, there’s a nice epilog and a happy ending.

On the busy night shift, a tip comes in about a dice game. The phones keep ringing when a woman enters to talk with Captain Canelli. Mrs Tarban has a problem with her husband and his brother. The brother has apparently killed his wife, but he still hasn’t been picked up for the crime. The woman tells about the habits and whereabouts of her criminal brother in law. How will her testimony help the cops? While Mrs Tarban goes to talk to the detectives, Canelli returns his attention to the gamblers. Mr Tarban is pulled into the police station to see how his story matches up with his wife. Lies are identified and untangled, but are the cops any closer to arresting a killer? At a subway platform, the drama comes to a head. Will keeping family secrets win out over doing your civic duty? Get ready for some action packed moments of chases and gun play to see how things shake out.

Bringing you the exclusive files of Scotland Yard. Only the names of the participants have been changed. An army private meets a stripper in a bar. Both seem to lie about who they are as they try to impress each other. On a drunken spree they steal a lorrie and becoming enamoured with the romantic fantasy of being a gangster they rob a girl. After hitting her and leaving her for dead, the matter might have been put off on the local police jurisdiction. Soon, their crime spree grows, leaving a trail of crime that draws the attention of Scotland Yard. Though it takes a few days to track down the would be gangsters, Scotland Yard has plenty of clues, and zeros in on them quickly. Stay tuned to learn the outcome of the trial, and the way each captive pleaded that the other was more guilty than the other, drawing them into the crime spree against their will. PS: I think this was also protrayed in the Black Museum, but I can’t recall at the moment which episode it was.

Dan gets talked into attending an auction to buy a particular Chinese box. What’ the significance of that box? Dan is told just to buy it and wait for instructions. Dan is late, and the box is sold. When he tails the buyer, he, gets run down by a car. The box is gone, swiped by a woman who gets away in a cab. As Dan stays on the trail, he notices he’s being followed himself. What’s in that box? Dan confronts the woman, but doesn’t learn anything other than she’s in some kind of trouble. After Dan gets his thump on the head, He gets summoned to the man who wrote him the letter to get the box in the first place. Dan has to do some fast thinking and bluffing to avoid another thumping. Dan is set free, and given the chance to get investigating. Armed with new information, Dan Holiday is able to turn the tables on the bad guys. He takes control, and convinces the woman to do the right thing with the notebook full of information that was in the box. Will she be able to clear her name, and shake off the bad guys? Listen in and find out.

A business client of the insurance company needs Johnny to put a stop to a rash of frauds taking place in that business. It doesn’t take Johnny long to meet a lovely dame, who is the company rep who is to show him the ropes. It also doesn’t take long for the next theft to take place. Armed with fresh clues, johnny gets busy. Mr Snyder is the harried store manager, and he tells about the shooting, and a little girl who witnessed the crime. Johnny may be a genius at his expense reports, an excellent investigator, but his child skills are in sore need of repair. Santa Claus to the rescue. With a description in hand, and with the belief the theif is still in the department store Johnny makes plans to search to building. There’s just one little snag with the whole plan, the thief has hijacked Santa, and is proving to be hard to catch. with all the customers busily shopping, what can be done? If the store is closed, and the customers and employees leave, won’t the killer leave with them? Still, Johnny manages to set a trap. Gunshots puntuate the cat and mouse game. Johnny gets his weekly thump on the head, but when he wakes up he springs back into action with renewed vigor, and the solution to the mystery.

A murder in Chinatown where jewels were stolen gains the attention of Philo Vance. The cops have already picked over the crime scene, but Philo seems to already know how to handle the situation to lure out the killer. He is a criminal psychologist, and detective, and has a knack for profiling people. Philo is aided by a young Chinese man, born in America, and tossing around the slang of the times like a pro. Philo isn’t out to butt heads with the cops, but work with them to hand over the crooks. What makes Philo so sure of himself? He tells his Chinese friend, Lee, all about it. There’s just one problem, traps sprung for bad guys in the first 15 minutes of radio programs are doomed to fail. Crooks don’t get stupid until the second half of the show. Everybody knows that. The facts emerge like this: the diamond is missing, these crooks were spotted fleeing the scene, but when they’re quickly caught, there’s no diamond. Has Philo’s plan backfired? Though the evidence points to futility, Philo still has ideas that could prove who the bandits really are. Might there be an accomplice? Philo puts his friend Lee wong to work to try to get the inside scoop of what’s going on with the crooks. The pressure is on, and the crooks are beginning to squirm. It looks like that trap will work now, especially since it’s the second half of the show. It’s about time for the bad guys to fall for it now.

Dan receives a copy book in his box. There’s no additional info to help him figure out what it means, but the listener is clued into a scene of a murder where the killer seeks for a missing copy book. When Dan gets a following letter about a missing copy book, his curiosity starts him on the trail of this mystery. Just what is a copy book? It’s a notebook for kids to copy down their lessons, and generally write or draw in. When Dan meets the couple claiming to be the parents of the child behind the missing book, their stories are so full of lies that Dan decides to figure who the real owner of the book is before he lets it go so easily. Back in his office he spends an all nighter pouring over the book, looking for some secret code or message. There’s a shadowy figure in the dark with a knife. A struggle, and Dan is left with only a knife to present to the cops to check for fingerprints. The notes in Box 13 about that copy book keep coming. Might this be the real owner? The plot twists keep coming, but this just might be the twist that helps unravel Dan’s mystory. Whatever is behind the book, it is shrouded in more than one death, and plenty of secrets. It involves an old archaeology expedition to South America and Mexico, but listen in to get the clues first hand, and try to solve the mystery.