Detective and Mystery – Retro Radio Podcast

In the airportMarlowe joins the cops to stop his man before his plane takes off. In flashback, Philip recounts how he was hired by an old man who lay dieing in a hospital. His son, Jack Schiller had been blinded by the promise of fast money the gangsters offered. It’s up to Marlowe to find him, and reunite the son to the father. Chasing down the slim leads at hand, Marlowe finds a thump on the head as he begins to get too close for comfort. Moving through a high class of nightclubs, bars, fancy buildings, and glittery, sparkly women, Marlowe spots Jack. The dame he’s with though, is the known girlfriend of notorious gangster, Martini. How can the club manager, Holland, help Philip? The propositions get dangerous as they have Marlowe playing on both sides of the fence. The stakes are driven up when George Martini is found dead in his penthouse apartment. Can Marlowe get the killer, and deliver him up to the cops on a silver platter? Has Jack just been the fall guy? The truth explodes, the chase is on, and we find ourselves where we came in, at the airport. Will Jack see his proud father again? Will Philip keep his promise to deliver the bad guy? Somethings in life don’t always work out the way we expect, but in radio dramas, justice manages to find its way.

A phone call from Catherine sets Philip on the trail of a missing person. Is this for real, or just the unfounded worries of an old fashioned woman? In studying history, Bennet has gotten entangled with a dame. Transplanted Spanish castles, old books, and historical artifacts offer clues. Superstitious stories surround the castle shwhen Marlowe goes to chevk on the matter; At the spooky castle, Marlowe gives the picturesque description of the scene. Is there real danger, or just superstitious mumbo jumbo? What’s the deal with the coffins that are said to move around? The descriptions of the creepy castle continue as Marlowe listens to the crazy characters. What is the weird ceremony that’s going down? Taking a hands off approach, Marlowe lets the ghost hunting run its course. But there’s still something real happening that demands that Marlowe needs to intervene. Stand by for the ghostly secrets to be revealed,.

Sam seems to have picked up a stalker, a timid man who struggles to get up the courage to talk to our hard boiled detective. What’s the life and death situation that has the man so terrified? With only a meager clue from the shabby, and under nourished actor, Sam sets out to get to the bottom of a murder. A trip to San quentin finds Sam interviewing an inmate, Willie Johnson. Is it such a queer thing that the prisoner claims to be innocent? Following up on the set up, Sam is soon on the trail to stop the murder of Willie, if he can. Clues keep coming, but can Sam beat the ticking clock? Finding the clue that made Willie become the fall guy, Sam tries to mobilize the cops to act. Will the legal system spring into action to save an innocent man? Will Sam’s clue be hard enough evidence to stay the execution? The race intensifies to save Willie, and bring the real bad guys to justice.

Edmund O’Brian is Johnny Dollar, and today he’s off to Brasil to investigate an insurance matter with the railroad. Mr Haley is dealing with a ruthless competitor, who has resorted to sabotage to get the upper hand. What might Johnny learn about the engine crashes from the competitor? Next, Johnny uncovers evidence of tampering with safety equipment on the engines. Will the rail yard workers overcome their fear of losing their jobs, and come through with the goods for Johnny? It only serves to introduce murder into the picture. Confronting the rival, Johnny pushes for answers while bribes and threats are tossed back at him. Who is going to blink first? The situation turns explosive, and Johnny has to fight for his life. Has he found the weak spot in the armor? Will he live long enough to report his finddings to the officials? The body count rises before answers to the mystery are revealed.

News alert from the past: The deteriorating political situation in South Korea has troops standing by to move in at a moments notice. LynnRussel is an old flame who needs Phil’s protection from a killer. Rushing to her beauty shop, there’s nothing to learn, but a thump on the head waits for him back at his office. Heading to her bungalow, Marlowe discovers Palmer Sloane. What connection does he have with Lynn, or the killer? The search leads to a small time bandleader, and Maxine. How will the dame tie into Marlowe’s next target, Ward Erling? The rising body count won’t shake our hardboiled hero. Which of our shady characters is going to be Marlowe’s man? The water front is the next stop in untangling the mess, and revengful motives. Stand by, the head thumping action isn’t over yet. Good thing Marlowe has a skull like a helmet. His options are running slim, and in a scene with the remaining characters present, justice finds its own way to solve the mystery. PS: Guest voist of note today is Arthur Q Brian.

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "retrootr-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Sam Spade on Amazon"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B00BDR8A9M,B006421JJY,1570196451,1932806229"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "d044d97d5e71edb0df9497c070c428e8"; Matters of journalism, and the National Geographic seem to have Effie Perine in tears today. Will Sam’s report on the latest caper settle her down? Playing long distance phone tag finally connects Sam to a client of his from a year ago, or so Wendall claims. Sam is reluctant to take the job of defending family honor, but the eccentric, wealthy family draws him in. More of the neurotic family members are interviewed about the missing person. Is there a money trail? At the bank, Sam gets some crossed wires, when Wendall claims to have never spoken to the hard boiled detective at, all. Golly! The crazy characters just don’t stop for Sam, including a notable pink car. If it wasn’t Wendall who contacted Sam, who did? The trail isn’t too difficult, but ddangerous. Awaking from a thump on the head, Sam finds his pants on fire. Being a little burned up, pun intended, as well as various others, Sam confronts Rowdy Dowser to see why he tried to kill him. Fists speak, but does Rowdy know anything about the missing uncle Purse “Snatcher” Wisby? Sam smells a rat, and might be able to save the Wisby farm.

California, 1941. Visiting a potential client, Marlowe meets the formidable Mrs Murdock, and becomes acquainted with the eccentric family and the matter of a missing, rare coin. Can Marlowe handle the delicate family matter, and leave it to Mrs Murdock to privately rake her daughter in law, Linda, over the coals for swiping the coin? She did it… right? Nightclub owners, kept women, love triangles, club singers, and murder creep into the picture. Marlowe soon has more trouble than he expected. The cops are willing to work with Philip, but the complications are just beginning when that rare doubloon shows up in the hands of our hard boiled detective. But when the coin shows up with Mrs Murdock, the case is closed as far as she’s concerned. Is Marlowe obligated to keep his client’s embarrassments confidential? How much can he tell to the cops and keep his conscience clear? The Murdock matter may be closed… sort of… but there’s murder that Marlowe is left to answer on his own. Facing a deadline with the cops, Marlowe digs into who killed who, and why. Easy resolutions are at hand to appease the cops, but the travesty of justice, truth, and ethics only make a big stink for Marlowe. Bodies pile up, secrets explode to the surface, and blackmail is exposed. Though the cops are happy with their case closure, it’s confrontation time to unravel the truth, and see that justice is done, confidentially, and in Marlowe style. Bonus Tracks It’s a long show, so Keith keeps his comments brief. There’s only some mention about the manner of justice, while avoiding the justice system.

The first thing Sam Spade needs to do is sober up his client. The distraught architect has had his building project sabotaged. Who had it out for him? Sam’s investigation leads to a dame. Does her boss, Albert Mitchell, know something about the building that collapsed? Sam might never learn what Mitchell knows, because he discovers the building inspector just moments after being gunshot. After a night of questioning by the police, Sam gets an audience with the mayor. Sam learns that both the architect and inspector had good reputations in town. Who is the third party who might want to ruin them? Who else is in this story? Will the dame have something to do with the case? Shady business contacts? Someone else? Sam learns deadly secrets about the inferior building project. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "retrootr-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Sam Spade on Amazon"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B00BDR8A9M,B006421JJY,1570196451,1932806229"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "d044d97d5e71edb0df9497c070c428e8";

Or the Revenge of Monty Cristoff. A man of high social circles, Gosden, is losing ground regarding his public reputation. The millionaire hires Sam to investigate Monty Cristoff to see why he has been ruining hin. Cristoff has got word of the investigation, and calls Sam to his lavish home to share his side of the story. Taken for a ride, Sam is given the option to be bought off, or be thumped on the head. Not to give much away, but Sam must be short a thump or two on his head this week. Getting the upper hand, Sam confronts the high society folk in his recent past to get a few things straight. True identities are discovered, but why the game of revenge, and the parallel to the tale of the Count of Monte Cristo? A sell out by Gosden’s own wife could be the final blow that ruins him. Confronting Cristoff again, Sam learns deep, and long running family secrets. Will tempers flare? Can Sam stop a murder from needlessly going down?

Philip is humming the blues, seemingly left over from the end of his previous excitement. Fending off phony blind beggars, he prepares to fly off to Chicago to play body guard to a golden trinket. Ross Winkham shares the details of the exotic middle eastern types who would like to get their hands on the cobra statue. Will they take the bait, and follow the decoy suitcase? A red headed dame may not be so gullible. The chase is on, and there’s a thump on the head waiting for someone in a hilltop mansion. The red headed dame is singing a new song when Marlowe has her on the spot. Excitement turns deadly when the golden cobra has become a real live snake. Marlowe needs a plan to escape the sudden an silent death, but the cobra isn’t the only killer in the joint. Stand by for more fist fighting, head thumping action before the truth comes out. Murderous masterminds haven’t counted on an ambush from the cobra, but Marlowe still needs to get himself clear of danger as well. Note: Guest voices today include Howard McNear and William Conrad in a couple different roles.

Candy is asked to look into a matter for a friend. Her brother is said to be losing his mind, and working on a symphony of death. He certainly seems to be a little wacky. He has a weird story to tell, and a one finger symphony that is far from being fit to play before any audience. Is he being threatened by a mysterious man? What do his riddles in his speech mean? No sooner is the decision made to put the mentally unstable man in a sanitarium, he is found dead, and his sister is picked up as suspect. Candy gets her friend Rembrandt Watson to help out with the musical clues the man left. Who killed the composer? The answer is odd, but a simple one. Note: At the start of the show, an award is given for the quality of the shows in the series. Good thing it was awarded before this one was performed. Maybe they revoked it afterwards. The acting and production in this episode is indeed high quality. I think the writers need to be put in the aforementioned sanitarium though. Not so much a good mystery as a public service announcement for mental health.

Actually a presentation of the Mystery Playhouse. A tale of war time espionage in Washington DC, that opens with a message of gthe importance of keeping military secrets safe. An Army officer is pleasantly surprised when he discovers that his wife gets a job in a government office in the nations capitol, where he’s stationed. Now that they’re together, Arabella reports a suspicion of spies at the all woman boardinghouse where she has been living. Is there something to it? Staking out the situation, the officer watches shady characters lurking in the shadows. Who is the sneaky Mr Jones, with the heavy foreign accent? In voiceover, the Army officer shares the suspenseful details of some background of his investigation, and the man that he was now tailing. Has he caught a spy? His wife, Arabella, has been doing her own investigating, and shares some of the gossip of the gals in her bboardinghouse. She has done some gossiping of her own, designed to set her own trap. It also goes to show how easy it is to put together a full picture of military logistics from scraps of seeminly unrelated tidbits. Are the husband and wife team getting close to danger? Gunshots punctuate the danger they have found themselves involved in. The officer, Lt Blake, reports to his superior officer that his wife has been kidnapped, but the attempt at comforting words doesn’t keep Blake from going after his wife’s pursuers. Will he be able to get his wife back? Is she safe? Have the two bitten off more than they can chew? Will they both fall prey to the Nazi spies? Get ready for the dramatic gun battle to see how things turn out. Afterward, the character of the wife, Arabella Blake puts in a plug for women to do their part in working in wartime service in a war job.

Working for an insurance company, Sam is hired to be security guard for Kimberly Cross. Who is she? Well… it’s not a she… It’s actually jewels, that are valued at $250k, a nice sum for today, but huge for 1951. I already see a problem. When private detectives get hired to be security, or a body guard, the thing or person comes up missing or dead as soon as the writers can put words on paper. Distracted by a dame going into a near by drug store, Sam keeps company with the other security guards, until a burglar alarm is sounded. One guard ends up dead, the jewels gone, but Sam is sure the suspicious blonde didn’t have time to pull off the job. Sam easily pegs a known gangster to the job. He just has to follow the trail to find him. He finds the dame behind the business end of a gun, and the story that his gangster is the fall guy for someone else. Sam needs to find out who is double crossing who, before he finds himself dead. He does, but stay tuned to the final report for the details.

Hired by a dame to find a contact on a train, Marlowe has only the sketchiest of descriptions to go on. The train is full of characters, including a traveling salesman who never forgets a face. He’s a man who Marlowe would like to forget about, or at least avoid. Is there somebody else onboard who is also looking for Marlowe’s man? As Marlowe gets close to putting the finger on his guy, a thump on the head also puts our hard boiled detective in contact with a corpse. Pretty soon its a case of throwing Marlowe from the train, while a killer runs loose. Can Philip catch up and get back on board? Will he need to? He just may be able to unravel this mystery, and leave the cops to untangle the mess of bodies in his wake of justice.

Sent to a fashion show, Archie explains in voiceover it’s his first, and he’s a little embarrassed to be there. The show organizer is worried about her brother, a dress maker. In Nero’s office, she tells her story about a woman who has her claws in him. Her troubles will have to get worse than that, or Nero will reject the case of romantic entanglements. Humoring Miss Gallante, Nero phones the shrew of a woman just in time to hear a murder being committed. Taking the case, with full transcript of the evening and phone call to Inspector Kraemer, the police detective hashes out the details and timeline of the crime. The pieces don’t all seem to fit. Was the sounds of the murder faked to skew the timeline? After a good night’s rest, Nero and Archie get busy on the investigation. What will Archie learn from Mr Gallante and the others involved at the fashion show? Any motives for jealousy, or reasons for foul play? The trip to fish for information finds the big question among the suspects is: Who hired Nero Wolfe? Archie shares his jackpot with his boss, and is amazed to learn that Nero already knows details about the fake murder, and the phone number that was actually called. Tempers flare when Kraemer finds out Nero has been poking around, but he may be in the right place at the right time. All the suspects have shown up on Nero’s door step to grumble about his questioning. While the police detective stands by, Nero calls his suspects onto his carpet for a full confrontation, and a big reveal.