Nostalgic Mystery Radio

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Ep.222 P.D. James: The Skull Beneath The Skin: Ep1 Pt2 Jun 17, 2022

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Respected as one of the greats of modern crime writing, Phyllis Dorothy James (1920-2014), known as P. D. James, came to fame for her mystery series starring New Scotland Yard Commander and poet, Adam Dalgliesh. She was also the author of a number of stand-along novels including The Children of Men, which was the basis for the movie Children of Men, and Death Comes to Pemberly, which was adapted into a BBC mini-series. Many of her Adam Dalgliesh books were also adapted for television. In 1991 she was created Baroness James of Holland Park. She died in 2014.
The Skull Beneath The Skin: Private detective Cordelia Gray is invited to the sunlit island of Courcy to protect the vainly beautiful actress Clarissa Lisle from veiled threats on her life. Within the rose red walls of a fairy-tale castle, she finds the stage is set for death.

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Ep.221 P.D. James: The Skull Beneath The Skin: Ep1 Pt1 Jun 17, 2022

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Ep.220 The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes: The Haunting Of Sherlock Holmes Jun 13, 2022

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Sherlock Holmes, fictional character created by the Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The prototype for the modern mastermind detective, Holmes first appeared in Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual of 1887. As the world’s first and only “consulting detective,” he pursued criminals throughout Victorian and Edwardian London, the south of England, and continental Europe.
From 1939 to 1946, Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes with his friend Nigel Bruce on cinema and radio.
The Haunting Of Sherlock Holmes: Holmes and Watson travel to Europe for holiday and attend an opera and the opera singer is a spy. Originally aired May 20th,1946.

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Ep.219 The Adventures Of Philip Marlowe: The Dancing Hands Jun 13, 2022

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Get this and get it straight. Crime is a sucker's road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison or the grave.
Philip Marlowe was Los Angeles's toughest detective in the groundbreaking series by Raymond Chandler that helped establish the "hard-boiled" detective subgenre.
The Dancing Hands: A set of twin-pianos is played by identical twins, who act non-identically. $30,000 and a corpse further confuse a twin plot. Originally aired March 19th, 1949.

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Ep.218 Dragnet: The Big Book Jun 09, 2022

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Dragnet ran from June 3rd,1949 to February 26th,1957 on NBC at various times and days and starred Jack Webb as Detective Sergeant Joe Friday. Various partners throughout the show's run were Sergeant Ben Romero (Barton Yarborough), Ed Jacobs (Barney Phillips), and Officer Frank Smith (Ben Alexander).
Webb was the creator/Director of the series and wanted everything to be as authentic as possible, down to the last sound effect. The stories were based on actual police files and "the names were changed to protect the innocent".
Dragnet broke a few radio taboos as well, such as dramatizing sex crimes. Children also were killed on occasion as in the episode "Twenty-Two Rifle For Christmas". The series eventually went to television and ran there for many years.
The Big Book: Obscene "comic" books are being sold in high schools. The trail leads to a cigar stand downtown. Originally aired April 6th,1950.

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Ep.217 The New Adventures Of Nero Wolfe: The Girl Who Cried Wolfe Jun 06, 2022

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Nero Wolfe is a fictional character, a brilliant, oversized, eccentric armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky.
He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in New York City, and he is loath to leave his home for business or anything that would keep him from reading his books, tending his orchids, or eating the gourmet meals prepared by his chef, Fritz Brenner. Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's sharp-witted, dapper young confidential assistant with an eye for attractive women, narrates the cases and does the legwork for the detective genius.
The Girl Who Cried Wolfe: The director of an "ecological foundation" has disappeared. Murder soon follows...ecologically! Originally aired December 15th, 1950.

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Ep.216 Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: The Body In The Library Jun 03, 2022

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Miss Jane Marple doesn’t look like your average detective. Quite frankly, she doesn’t look like a detective at all. But looks can be deceiving... For a woman who has spent her life in the small village of St Mary Mead, Miss Marple is surprisingly worldly. But as she often points out she has had every opportunity to observe human nature.
The Body In The Library: Amateur detective Miss Jane Marple investigates the murder of a young woman whose body is found in the library at Gossington Hall, the home of Colonel and Mrs. Arthur Bantry.

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Ep.215 The Adventures Of Sam Spade: The Sinister Siren Caper Jun 01, 2022

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The Adventures of Sam Spade was a suspense/detective radio show starring Howard Duff in the colorful title role along with Lurene Tuttle as his secretary Effie. It was based on the private detective character created by Dashiell Hammett, well-known from the book and movie The Maltese Falcon. The show ran from 1946 to 1951. Duff was replaced by Steve Dunne in later episodes.
The Sinister Siren Caper: A beautiful redhead has drawn a line around six names in the phone book. The six are then murdered...one at a time! Originally aired March 16th,1951.

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Ep.214 Pat Novak For Hire: Jack Of Clubs May 31, 2022

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Pat Novak For Hire: Classic old time radio showing starring Jack Webb (1946, 1949) and Ben Morris (1947-48) as Pat Novak, a street wise guy who rents boats and anything else a good man pays a bad one to do.
Novak is always getting into scrapes when taking on jobs for hire or occasionally as a favor to a friend. When he does, he goes to see "The Only Honest Guy I Know" an ex-Doctor and a boozer named Jocko Madigan (played by Tudor Owens). Novak's nemesis is Lieutenant Hellman of Homicide (played by Raymond Burr and others) who's constantly trying to get Novak sent to the gas chamber.
Jack Of Clubs: Where Pat Novak finds $1000 deposited in his bank account and a beautiful woman who wants him to find a Jack of Clubs, he runs into murder.
Originally aired February 20th,1949.

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Ep.213 The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes: The Man With The Twisted Lip May 30, 2022

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Sherlock Holmes, fictional character created by the Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The prototype for the modern mastermind detective, Holmes first appeared in Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual of 1887. As the world’s first and only “consulting detective,” he pursued criminals throughout Victorian and Edwardian London, the south of England, and continental Europe.
From 1939 to 1946, Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes with his friend Nigel Bruce on cinema and radio.
The Man With The Twisted Lip: Holmes and Watson helps a wife investigate the disappearance and possible murder of her husband in an opium den. Originally aired May 6th, 1946

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