Though he is known for his Charlie Chan mysteries, Biggers was a prolific writer of other mystery stories, several of which were based in Hawaii and/or San Francisco. This time a look at one of his shorter novels involving Detective Sergeant Barnes of the San Francisco police department. This is a classic whodunit with a number of suspects. Biggers often… (more…)
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One of Black Mask magazine’s popular writers from 1934-1939 was Dwight V. Babcock. His stories were in keeping with the style developed by Joseph “Cap” Shaw of “hard and brittle” stories with naturalistic elements of street grit. After his stint with Black Mask, Babcock wrote three novels involving “The Gorgeous Ghoul” Hannah Van Doren, who with her friend Joe Kirby… (more…)
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A look at a writer of detective fiction who seems on the cusp of relative obscurity. Baynard Kendrick is actually a very good story-teller of mystery fiction. His Captain Duncan Maclain series of detective stories were very popular in the forties and Kendrick’s detective was relevant even into the 1970s. What makes his detective unique is that he is blind… (more…)
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A visit with author T.S. Stribling’s Psychologist-cum-detective, Henry Poggioli, PhD in a strangely fantastic detective melange that was meant to be the writer’s last Poggioli story. Enter into the realm of the current and after life of Poggioli as he unravels the mysterious death of a young Hindu maiden in a temple. An excellent story, and well written radio drama.… (more…)
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A Clairvoyant? Schemer? Detective? A look at one of British author Philip MacDonald’s (left) detectives – one of his lesser known ones – Dr. Alcazar, mentalist and sleuth. One of MacDonald’s short stories was dramatized over the radio series Suspense in 1957. I look briefly at author MacDonald, one of the thirties most popular mystery writers at the time, and… (more…)
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Up in this podcast, a look at the inverted detective story, thanks from a tip by Cameron Estep. Unfortunately, there isn’t a really good example on radio of one, but a close contender is a play from the Molle Mystery Theater via the AFRS Mystery Theater called “Witness for the Prosecution” based on a play and short story by Dame… (more…)
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A request to air a “western” detective series leads to Tales of the Texas Rangers. In reality it was a westernized police procedural created by Stacy Keach Sr. It takes place in modern times, many of the stories coming from actual events (like Dragnet – only the names have been changed…) usually from the late forties, but takes place in… (more…)
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Besides getting to this blog page via https://otr.com, you can now get to it by entering rdsh.otr.com. Right click on this new way and create a bookmark so you can get to the blog more easily.
I want to briefly examine Bob Bailey and Mandel Kramer in their roles as Johnny Dollar. Bailey left the show when it moved to New York due to his being turned down for a television version of the character. Jack Johnstone who successfully led Bailey to his star run as the character is also discussed with comments from Bailey’s daughter… (more…)
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A look at how suspense is built dramatically as described by Mitchell Wilson, novelist and critic, in 1947. This podcast will use Agatha Christie’s short story, “Philomel Cottage,” and compare it to Hitchcock’s Suspicion and Rebecca in how the initially weak protagonist reaches a level of fear in which the reader/listener empathizes before either becoming strong by the experience and… (more…)
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