Nostalgic Mystery Radio

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Ep.192 The Adventures Of Sam Spade: The Critical Author Caper Apr 08, 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 Critical Author Caper: Spade is hired to find Gabrielle Leggitt, who has disappeared. The author of murder mysteries plays an important part in the case.
Originally aired August 15th,1948.

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Ep.191 Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: The Mysterious Affair At Styles Apr 04, 2022

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Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: the world-renowned, moustachioed Belgian private detective, unsurpassed in his intelligence and understanding of the criminal mind, respected and admired by police forces and heads of state across the globe.
Since his inception over 100 years ago, Poirot has stolen the hearts and minds of audiences from Azerbaijan to Vietnam, and his celebrated cases have been recorded across 33 original novels and over 50 short stories.
The Mysterious Affair At Styles: A refugee of the Great War, Poirot has settled in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactor, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work.

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Ep.190 Dragnet: The Big Pair Apr 04, 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 Pair: A couple run a racket of selling all the furniture in the houses of families out of town, starting with a little girl and her grandfather. Originally aired September 21st,1950.

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Ep.189 PD James: Cover Her Face Pt.4: An Adam Dagliesh Mystery Mar 30, 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.
Cover Her Face: Headstrong and beautiful, the young housemaid Sally Jupp is put rudely in her place, strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Coolly brilliant policeman Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard must find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had very good reason to wish her ill.

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Ep.188 PD James: Cover Her Face Pt.3: An Adam Dagliesh Mystery Mar 30, 2022

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Ep.187 PD James: Cover Her Face Pt.2: An Adam Dagliesh Mystery Mar 30, 2022

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Ep.186 PD James: Cover Her Face Pt.1: An Adam Dagliesh Mystery Mar 30, 2022

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Ep.185 Tales Of The Texas Rangers: Play For Keeps Mar 28, 2022

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Tales of the Texas Rangers, a western adventure old-time radio drama, premiered on July 8, 1950, on the US NBC radio network and remained on the air through September 14, 1952.
Movie star Joel McCrea starred as Texas Ranger Jayce Pearson, who used the latest scientific techniques to identify the criminals and his faithful horse, Charcoal (or "Charky," as Jayce would sometimes refer to him), to track them down. The shows were reenactments of actual Texas Ranger cases.
Play For Keeps: Jace Pearson tracks down the crooked constable who killed Sheriff Smithers in cold blood. Originally aired September 2nd,1950.

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Ep.184 The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes: The Strange Case Of The Murder In Wax Mar 25, 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 Strange Case Of The Murder In Wax: Scotland Yard calls on Sherlock Holmes to assist in catching a serial killer who has killed ten young women.

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Ep.183 Father Brown: The Mystified Mind Mar 24, 2022

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Rough and tough Hard-boiled detectives grab a lot of attention, but who would have a better insight on the nature of human evil than “a man who does next to nothing but hear men's real sins”?
Where could you find a more “soft-boiled” character than the parish priest. Mutual brought The Adventures of Father Brown to the air in 1945. Father Brown was the antithesis of the more celebrated soft-boiled detective, Sherlock Holmes. Where Holmes was a master of deduction, Father Brown relied on intuition based on his familiarity on men’s souls.
The Mystified Mind: A young man is accused of killing a window-cleaner, but Father Brown believes he’s innocent. Originally aired August 13, 1945.

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