Detective and Mystery – Retro Radio Podcast

Joe Friday and Ben Romero work the Robbery detail. After checking their stats, the cops hit the street and follow up on clues. But there is another story going on besides the robberies. In voiceover, Joe tells a little background of an Army buddy, then drops in for a friendly visit. Hank wants to join the police force, and his wife just needs a little convincing from Joe. Afterward, Joe and Ben continue tracking down their known suspects. Things seem to have stalled with the investigation, no sign of their man, no word from informants, and no new witnesses to interview. Meanwhile, Joe’s friend graduates from the Police Academy, and a speech is delivered that expresses the tough, dangerous, and thankless job that lays ahead for the rookies. Is this guy trying to encourage them, or make them have second thoughts? It’s the tough jobs that are the most rewarding though. The overly eager cop assists on Joe’s robbery case, and in a dramatic moment with the seemingly harmless and boring case that has taken weeks to develop, the rookie is gunned down. A tribute to the fallen cops, and a depiction of how quickly a routine case can become tragic. And of course, they catch their burglars.

As the title implies, Sherlock Holmes is on the case of a missing person. Does the theater owner have something to do with it? Is Holmes right to threaten him to keep him from sailing away? Clues are reviewed that expose blackmail, and the method of keeping the dancer under wraps. Easy stuff for a master detective like Sherlock Holmes.

Featuring Joel McCray, and real stories from the files of the Texas Rangers. . The scene is West Texas, and a couple of ex-cons who return to their ways of bank robbing. The crime takes a down turn and leads to a shoot out. Ranger Jase Pierson lends a hand to the highway patrol, and the manhunt that ensues. Clues are found in the aftermath of the gunplay, as the cops also do their best with the grieving family members of the fallen. Using fingerprints, forensic evidence, and modern technologies identities are made to help locate the bad guys without the traditional chase with a posse. Have the Rangers found their man? All the clues point to Trummel, almost. Each piece of evidence is picked apart, and Trummel is set free. Still, the gas station attendant manages to offer enough new clues to uncover a new trail to investigate. Hot on the trail, Jase falls back on the old ways, and rides fast on his horse after the bank robber. Suspenseful voiceover tells the tale as the Ranger creeps up on the desperado, and saves the state the bother of putting the electric chair to use. Will it cost the Ranger a serious wound of his own before it’s done?

Gabrielle Leggit is a missing person who Sam is now dictating his report about. The young woman has flown the coupe and is suspected of swiping things from the mansion. Sam has plenty of possibilities when he goes through the messy room Gabriella left behind. Its not hard to track her down, and Sam discovers the reason Gabriella ran away. He also ends up with a thump on the head, and a fresh start in his hunt for the girl. A lead takes Sam to a well known author. What does he know about the girl? How might he be connected to the case? The swarm of red herrings is sure to pan out to a real clue sooner or later. Tortured emotions could lead to murder, but Sam cuts to the core of the matter to expose the real crime that had been intended.

Schemes involving missing artwork seem to be the doings of Moriarty. With the help of Watson, Holmes works out the clues as he knows them. Hitting the streets to investigate, Holmes and Watson hash out the evidence, and arrive at making an accusation. The complexity of Moriarty’s evil plan are shared, as is how the plan unfolded.

A plan for living, for which the architect was death. A mild mannered bank teller goes to the big city to talk to some gangsters. He is fed up with his employer, and presents his plan to rob the bank. The wary mobsters are curious enough to come around and case the joint. They see the merits of the plan and agree to do the job. Later, the teller’s slightly overbearing wife finds clues and turns her hubby over to the cops. On the run, Andy the bank teller seeks refuge with the mobsters. The cute little hatcheck girl swipes his cash. When the mild mannered man becomes too much of a burden, the mobsters get rid of him along with other evidence. Will the mobsters get away with it? A message that crime does not pay comes In epilog, when we learn that the rest of the crooks were also caught. PS: I particularly like Andy, and can get behind his cause for wanting to get the money, and break free from his oppressive wife, but as was the custom of yor, the big message to learn is to not turn to crime to achieve those goals. Andy learns the hard way not to play with fire. I also like the thugs. Sort of good natured in their ruthlessness. A creepy ending to Andy and at least our mobsters get what’s coming to them, even if we only learn of it in the brief epilog.

The documented drama of an actual crime. travel step by step on a case from actual police files. Joe Friday works with partner Ben Romero on the Missing Persons Bureau. Hanah Laski phones long distance to ask Joe Friday to look for her missing daughter, Juanita. With all the particulars and description given Joe gets busy checking out the girl. At the hotel where she lives, Joe seems to have just missed her. The shower is running, and other signs of recently being occupied are in her room, but no Juanita. At her workplace, the cops question the coworkers. Again they seem to have just missed her. Other places of business, habit, and personal relationships are checked out, all with the similar result that Juanita is keeping a step ahead of the cops. It’s all just too wierd, and Joe offers voiceover to recap the case, and other activities that are keeping them busy. An unsettling call comes in from the morgue. Has their gal been found? Christmas is drawing close, and Friday is determined to find Juanita before it gets here. Despite all the evidence and clues, she keeps out of the grasp of the cops. Is something wrong? Why is she being evasive? A new lead comes in and it appears Juanita is working under an alias, but when the cops go to check it out, she mysteriously reappears where the chase began, at her hotel. Joe finally gets to confront her face to face, and learns her strange story. Listen in and you can learn it too.

Returning home from a night on the town, a young woman is teary eyed, but her troubles are soon ended when a shadowy figure attacks her from the bushes and kills her. The next day Mike Clancey talks about the case with Mr Keen when a man claiming to be the girls fiancee comes to the office. He isn’t buying the story of a mugging, gone wrong for the reason for her death. Mr Keen takes up the challenge, and starts asking questions. The dead gal was a hopeful actress, and a friend of hers has reason to believe the fiancee isn’t as pure as he let on. She and her husband both offer accusations, as they cooperate in the questioning. Still, Mike thinks the Fosters may be holding out on the information about the murder. The strange characters just keep popping up. Who is Hazel Collins? There is a missing necklace, but does it really play into the murder? Mr Keen has a knack with cutting through the web of lies, and begins to ask the uncomfortable questions that are designed to flush out a killer. A wierd love triangle is exposed. Photographs in an album offer a source for Mr Keen to find an astonishing discovery. Mr Keen calls the suspects together and yanks all the hidden skeletons from their closets. The killer won’t stand a chance.

The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Assigned to Robbery Detail, Joe Friday has to deal with a rash of burglaries in a residential neighborhood. In the squadhouse, partner Frank Smith shares a little about his domestic life, but Friday can’t sympathize much since he’s a long time bachelor. The first case to investigate is to a lovely elderly lady, who happens to be Frank Smith’s aunt. With the family connection, Frank gets to run the show. Some of Frank’s hidden tallents come out as the interview with the elderly aunt. At least Joe gets a chuckle out of it, before the details of the robbery come out. The likely suspect is a maid working the neighborhood, and Joe Friday offers the voiceover to describe both the police activity, and the known crimes that are reported. It doesn’t take long, even with the routine police reports and paperwork, and the female robber is hauled in. The suspect just doesn’t have enough hard evidence against her, and the cops are back on the street. Now there seems to be an anti-thief giving out expensive stolen jewelry to ladies she meets on the bus line. I think Friday just caught his thief. Well not exactly, but he’s on the track, and it won’t be long now. Is this some kind of new Robin Hood? She has an excuse, but too bad it won’t hold water with the law.

A story of a circus where the last performance was given by death. A lion tamer with known wreckless practices at training lions, and a disfunctional relationship with his wife, ends up dead. She is having an affair with the circus owner. Their plan to make the death look like an accident goes all wrong when the circus security guard drops hints that he knows what happened, and wants paid off. The cops ask the questions, and the emotions run high as the pressure is on. Has Roy and Louise committed the perfect crime? With the security guard threatening blackmail, the desperate circus owner plans a second murder to get the old guy off their back. With a couple as deadly as these two, will they get away with it? How can they be caught and get their just rewards? Jim, the old security guard, who is a former circus tumbler, has his own plans to set things right.

It was Joe Friday’s day off, but he finds himself called back to City Hall along with partner, Ben Romero. The captain has the story. A man walked into the building and threatened to bomb the place if his brother wasn’t released from jail. The cops plan for the evacuation of the building, an argue over who will take on the possible suicide mission of taking the bomber down. As the City Hall administration does what it can to clear the building, and worry over whether to actually release the prisoner, Joe and Ben both go to try to calm down the bomber, and talk sense to him. Is the bomber just bluffing? Is the bomb real? Can the cops take the bomb away, or put it out of action somehow? When the early attempts don’t work out, it’s time to regroup, and rethink strategies. The bomber has all the angles covered, and all the advantages. Isn’t there some weakness in his plan? Sit in for tense moments as Joe tries to counter all the bomber’s tricks. In the end it comes down to raw nerve as the clock ticks down to the deadline. Be sure to stay tuned in for the nailbiteing, suspenseful ending.

A special opening with a word from Bing Crosby, and his sponsor. Hey, I suppose the unhealthy affects of smoking those Chesterfields might be expected to be counteracted if you also used Mr. Keen’s healthy products of Anacin. Too bad it doesn’t work that way. Speaking of healthy, a young gal is the envy of all the other young girls in her neighborhood as she meets a heartthrob crooner and gets his autograph. Moments later, the starry eyed girl is talking on the phone when gunshots break in. Her crooner has been murdered. Amy, the young wife of the famous crooner arrives in Mr Keen’s office the next day, just as he is reading about the case. The weeping bride assures Mr Keen that she may seem to be the likely suspect over jealousy of all his teeny bopper fans, but she didn’t have anything to do with the killing. Who did it then? She fills in details to Mr Keen about who found the body, and other working relationships and situations that might boil over into murder. It’s off to the Grande Theater to talk with show biz ttypes involved with Don Taylor, the dead singer. Mr Keen has reason to doubt that Amy was entirely truthful in her assurances of being free of jealousy. Who can be believed? Shouts and threats ar heard, and though the drama is broken up by Mr Keen and Mike Clancey, the list of suspects and motives keep growing. Commercial time for Anacin, you know, to keep the balance of those cigarettes that were pitched at the start of the show. Or something. (cough, cough.) Mildred Sellers is a deranged fan, but are there still more secrets to dig up? Questioning continues as Mr Keen tries to figure whether Amy was telling lies, or if Janice the young woman at the start of the story, and the one who found the body might be the guilty party. What about the studio producer, and father of Janice? Dig up the dirt and learn all the plot twists as you listen in and get the facts firsthand. Mr Keen holds the key to the murder, and is about to expose the truth as he gathers the suspects together, and blows the lid off the case.

Working the Internal Affairs department, Joe Friday and partner Frank Smith are in the squadroom waiting for their next case. Small talk is made over Franks’ new puppy. A woman enters with a story about a policeman who she paid money to get her husband out of jail. After a month has gone by, her husband still hasn’t been released. She either wants her hubby, or her money back. Was he a real cop, or an imposter? The woman claims to have checked for proper ID, and the cop is said to work in Auto Theft detail in City Hall. The cop is identified, investigated, suspended, but otherwise shows no signs of having any of the large sum of cash that was said to be given to him. Despite the adamant claim of the woman, the evidence isn’t matching up. Then some troubling word comes to Joe about the suspected cop. Has the big break come in that will wrap up this case? It gets better when a huge lucky break falls in Joe’s lap to nab the blackmailer and extortionist. In the interrogation room, all the facts come out, and the truth about the cop is revealed. Did he do it, or not?

A very exciting story of a play that was finessed by murder. Hal is a diamond thief who is released from prison, and within weeks is setup for another theft. The detectives haul him in, and all the circumstantial evidence points to him. But did Hal do it? There’s something fishy going on, and at least one of the cops begins to believe Hal is innocent. Though Hal is given the third degree, and a more softer approach by a lady dtetective, he still isn’t talking. Things get serious when a body is found, the head of the detective agency, Sam Lawless. Hal has to do some of his own investigating to solve the related crimes. As the bodies pile up, the list of suspects grows smaller. The ex-con sets up his own little trap to squeeze out the reall thief and expose the killer.

In the Express building, the newspaper presses are beginning to roll when photographer Casey, reporter Annie, and another colleague talk. Henry is upset over a dentist visit from an uncertified doctor. The phoney doctor offered free service to do experimental work on his teeth. Was there more to it than just dental work? Why is Henry feeling so low? Casey smells a rat, and when Henry comes up missing it’s off to the bar to relax with Ethylbert. The idle chatter in the casual atmosphere is just the thing to inspire Casey, and he’s off on the trail of the bogus dentist. Has Henry skipped town to evade his creditors, or is he in some kind of danger? Casey sticks by his friends honesty, and gets help from Henry’s son to stage a trap for the bad guys. Casey throws himself in the path of danger to get into the lair of the phoney dentist. Just what is the game here? What crimes are afoot that have such a hold over Henry? Will Casey fall under the control of the dentist? Listen for the exciting turn of events that Casey orchestrates to blow the lid off the mystery.