James M. Cain is considered by many as one of the creators of the roman noir or “dark fiction” along with Cornell Woolrich, Jim Thompson, Dorothy Hughes and others. Some describe his stories as “hardboiled” though I don’t feel they are in the strict sense other than if one considers noir fiction as a sub-genre of the “hardboiled” school. The… (more…)
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This week, one of most thrilling episodes, for me, from the series Suspense. The best radio drama is when the acting is top-notch, the sound effects are well-tuned to enhance the dialogue and the music is designed to increase tension and a sense of thrill. This happens when a good producer and director can pull it all together to positively… (more…)
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This week, a return to mystery writer, Dorothy L. Sayers. Sayers is best known for her detective character Lord Peter Wimsey, but this British writer also wrote many short stories in which there was no specific professional detective. In this week’s episode, you’ll hear Suspicion, an episode from the Suspense radio series based on the short story, Mr. Mummery’s Suspicion,… (more…)
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This week, something a little different. The genesis of many of the detectives in fiction began with Edgar Allan Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue. His detective creation was one C. Auguste Dupin, and his method of solving a crime was as Poe referred to it – ratiocination. Dupin was the inspiration for detectives whose deductive reasoning methods became famous… (more…)
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This time I present an example of taking an excellent fictional story and trying to squeeze it into a one half-hour suspense play. Agatha Christie’s story The ABC Murders is a fine Hercule Poirot mystery, but when handled by a normally excellent scriptwriter turning it into a radio drama, something has to give. The radio play as pure radio drama… (more…)
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Something a little different this week but still within the crime genre. In 1953, Cathy & Elliott Lewis created a radio vehicle called On Stage. They would portray equally strong male and female roles within the genre of comedy, classical and suspense. Some were particularly hard hitting as the scripts came from the cream of the radio writing crop. This… (more…)
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This podcast I return to one of the most famous detectives in fiction, Sherlock Holmes. I wanted to have a look not so much for the great detective as much as the Anthony Boucher – Denis Green years. It was during their run that with the blessing of estate of Conan Doyle, the stories were originals beyond the Holmesian canon.… (more…)
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This week’s podcast looks at John Dickson Carr’s The Burning Court adapted for radio by Harold Medford for the Suspense radio series. It was the premier episode of the series which began in 1942. Carr was one of the premier mystery writers of the “locked room mystery” in the forties, but with elements that went beyond Ellery Queen, Agatha Christie… (more…)
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The last adaptation of my look at Dorothy B. Hughes, mystery writer from the forties. This radio adaptation is based on the film “The Fallen Sparrow” starring John Garfield. The adaptation is from the Lux Radio Theater. Not as good as the previous podcast, but it gives another look into the types of characters and situations, this writer created. This… (more…)
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The start of a two podcast look at somewhat forgotten pioneer of the psychological thriller – Dorothy B. Hughes. Hughes was a mystery writer from the forties into the fifties and beyond, but her peak power was in the late forties. In a Lonely Place was one of her best novels – a psychological murder mystery inside the mind of… (more…)
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