Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: April 10, 1948 Suspense #292, "Crossfire," brings the acclaimed RKO radio picture to life as Captain Finley investigates the brutal beating death of Joseph Samuels in a Washington, D.C. apartment. The case centers on a group of soldiers who met Samuels in a bar earlier that evening. When Montgomery returns to the apartment looking for his buddy Mitchell, he walks into a murder scene. Mitchell's wallet is found behind the sofa cushions, making him the prime suspect, but Mitchell has vanished. As Finley digs deeper, he brings in Sergeant Keeley, Mitchell's roommate and closest friend, who insists Mitchell isn't capable of murder. Keeley reveals that Mitchell has been struggling with loneliness and separation from his wife, prompting Keeley to call her and arrange for her to fly to Washington that very night. As the investigation unfolds with Mitchell still missing and his wife en route, Finley must determine whether the troubled soldier is a killer or simply another victim of circumstance. With Montgomery's testimony and Mitchell's wallet as evidence, the captain faces mounting pressure to solve the case before the trail goes cold.

Originally Aired: April 3, 1948 Suspense #291, "Suspicion," presents a chilling domestic mystery when a husband becomes convinced that his household may harbor a deadly secret. The narrator, recovering from mysterious bouts of nausea and illness, becomes increasingly paranoid as news spreads about a sweet, motherly-looking poisoner on the loose—a middle-aged cook who mixed arsenic into her delicious meals. When his wife Ethel falls ill with symptoms the doctors cannot diagnose, his suspicions turn toward their own cook, Mrs. Mummary, especially after he discovers arsenic in the house. As the narrator's terror intensifies, he confides in Brooks and watches helplessly as Ethel grows paler and more wasted. The presence of young Wellbeck, who seems unusually attentive to Ethel, adds another layer of unease to the household. Trapped between his fear of seeming foolish and his dread that something sinister is unfolding under his own roof, the narrator must decide whether to act on his suspicions or dismiss them as paranoid delusions brought on by his own illness and the sensational murder case dominating the news.

Originally Aired: March 27, 1948 In Suspense #290, "Night Must Fall," charming but unsettling Dan arrives at the isolated Bramson cottage after Mrs. Chalfont, a guest at the nearby Tall Boys hotel, mysteriously disappears. Scotland Yard investigators search the surrounding forest, but it's Dan who captures everyone's attention—especially the wealthy, bedridden Mrs. Bramson. Dan works at the Tall Boys and has gotten the maid, Dora, into trouble, yet he seems strangely unbothered by the brewing scandal or the police presence. His eerily precise description of the missing woman and his calculated charm raise immediate suspicions with Mrs. Bramson's niece, Olivia Grain, who recognizes something dangerous beneath his surface pleasantries. As Dan ingratiates himself with the demanding Mrs. Bramson while dismissing Olivia's warnings, the tension builds around this remote cottage surrounded by dark forest—"a proper place for a murder," as the narrator ominously notes. The police continue their search, but the real mystery centers on Dan himself: his unsettling composure, his manipulative charisma, and his connection to the vanished woman. Robert Montgomery stars as the dangerously charming Dan, with Dame May Whitty as Mrs. Bramson in the role she created on the London stage.

Originally Aired: March 20, 1948 Suspense #289, "Wet Saturday and August Heat," presents two chilling tales of murder and madness. In the first story, the respectable Princey family gathers in their living room on a rainy afternoon, united by a shocking secret. Millicent Princey has just killed a curate named Withers in a moment of rage after learning he intends to marry another woman instead of her. As Mr. Princey desperately tries to interrogate his daughter and devise a plan to avoid scandal and the hangman's noose, tension mounts. The curate's boots remain visible through the doorway to the sun porch, a constant reminder of the crime. Mrs. Princey grows hysterical while son George lounges uselessly on the couch. Just as Mr. Princey attempts to piece together whether anyone witnessed the murder, an unexpected neighbor, Captain Smollett, arrives unannounced. The family must now maintain the appearance of normalcy while a body lies mere feet away, threatening to destroy their reputation and lives.

Originally Aired: March 13, 1948 In Suspense #288, "Nightmare," Vince awakens from a terrifying dream, but the nightmare refuses to release him to the morning. He vividly recalls a white-masked woman's face turning evil, a struggle with a shadowy figure, and killing a man whose body he locked in a closet with a clover-shaped key. As he dismisses it as nothing more than a bad dream - perhaps caused by that late-night salami - he discovers disturbing physical evidence that shatters his sense of reality. Fresh bruises circle his throat, a deep scratch mars his wrist, and most chilling of all, he finds a strange button in his pocket and an unfamiliar clover-shaped key that matches nothing he owns. Desperate for answers and increasingly terrified, Vince reaches out to his sister Lil, hoping to speak with her husband Cliff, who works as a detective. As the boundary between dream and waking life dissolves, Vince must confront an impossible question: Did he actually commit murder while asleep, or is he losing his grip on sanity itself?

Originally Aired: March 6, 1948 In Suspense #287, "In a Lonely Place," Dixon Steele is a former Air Force pilot turned aspiring novelist, trying to adjust to civilian life in post-war Los Angeles. When he reconnects with his old war buddy Brub Nicolai, Dix discovers that his friend has become a detective with the LA police force. The reunion seems pleasant enough, but there's an underlying tension as Dix leaves abruptly after giving Brub his phone number. That same foggy night, Dix encounters a young woman waiting alone at a bus stop on Camden Drive, and their chance meeting takes an ominous turn. The next morning, Dix wakes to find a newspaper headline screaming "Strangler Strikes Again." As he prepares for dinner with Brub and his wife Sylvia at their beach club, the implications become clear. Dix is a man harboring dangerous secrets, and now his closest friend from the war is a homicide detective. The hunter and the hunted have become intertwined in what Dix himself describes as "amusing and more exciting than anything that had happened in a long time."

Originally Aired: February 28, 1948 Suspense #286, "The House by the River," presents a dark tale of murder and its aftermath. When something terrible happens to Emily, a young servant girl, the protagonist finds himself desperately trying to cover up the crime. John Burns takes a motorboat out on the river, searching the angry black water in ever-narrowing circles, looking for signs of what he has done. As night rushes in and the water turns black beneath him, the weight of his actions begins to close in around him. The story unfolds as those around John begin to notice Emily's disappearance. Questions arise about the pretty young girl who has suddenly vanished, with some being told she has run off to Venice with a gentleman friend. But suspicions grow, and an investigation seems inevitable. The tension mounts as John struggles to maintain his composure while the truth threatens to surface from the dark waters of the river, where secrets refuse to stay buried.

Originally Aired: February 21, 1948 Suspense #285, "Beyond Reason," stars Robert Ryan and Ruth Warwick in a gripping tale of suspicion and sudden death. When businessman Pinkton Carr is killed in a hit-and-run accident on a San Francisco street corner, his eldest daughter Evangeline finds herself tormented by questions that go beyond grief. Why did her father die so suddenly, and who is the mysterious Harry Newton, a man who became her father's business partner the very day of the fatal accident? This stranger now holds legal claim to the family's 400 acres of prime real estate at Della Vista, and he's determined to move forward with plans to subdivide and sell the property. As Harry Newton arrives at the Carr family home to survey the land, Evangeline's suspicions deepen, even as she finds herself unexpectedly drawn to this enigmatic promoter who contributed nothing but himself to the partnership. Her younger sister Susie boldly accuses Newton of murder, while Aunt Martha demands character references. The plain-spoken real estate man deflects their concerns with charm and legal contracts, but the question remains: was Pinkton Carr's death really just another accident, or the beginning of something far more sinister?

Originally Aired: February 14, 1948 In Suspense #284, "The Lodger," Robert Montgomery stars in this chilling adaptation of Marie Belloc Lowndes's novel set in 1888 London during the reign of terror known as Jack the Ripper. Ellen and Robert Bunting, a struggling middle-aged couple living in the Whitechapel district, desperately need a lodger to make ends meet. As they discuss the latest gruesome murder by the killer the newspapers call "The Avenger," a mysterious stranger arrives at their door seeking rooms. The man who calls himself Mr. Sleuth seems peculiar from the start, with his nervous manner, his protective attitude toward his mysterious bag, and his insistence on absolute quiet and privacy for his scientific studies. Ellen Bunting finds herself both relieved to have a paying tenant and increasingly unsettled by the strange lodger's behavior. Mr. Sleuth's cryptic references to precious and dangerous contents in his bag, his obsessive quoting of Scripture, and his arrival on the very night of another murder create an atmosphere of mounting dread. As the lodger settles into the rooms upstairs, Ellen must wonder whether she has found the answer to her financial prayers or invited something far more sinister into her home.

Originally Aired: February 7, 1948 Suspense #283, "Donovan's Brain," Dr. Patrick Corey becomes dangerously consumed by his obsessive experiments to keep brain tissue alive outside the body. Working tirelessly in his laboratory, Patrick has successfully sustained a monkey's brain in a jar using a sophisticated circulation system, demonstrating that it can still react and possibly think independently of its host body. His wife Janet and son David, a medical student, grow increasingly alarmed by his fanatical devotion to work that seems to violate the natural order. Dr. Schrott, a colleague, confronts Patrick about the moral implications of his research, arguing that he's attempting to discover things no man should know and profaning life itself by reducing it to mere chemistry. As Patrick documents his experiments in his case book, beginning with that fateful December 5th entry, he establishes a chilling framework that suggests something terrible lies ahead. The episode opens with Patrick writing what he knows will be his final entry, asking neither forgiveness nor offering explanation beyond the case book itself, hinting that his breakthrough experiment will lead him down a dark and irreversible path that destroys his psychological fiber.

Originally Aired: January 24, 1948 Suspense #281, "The Black Angel," presents a Hollywood murder mystery where a woman's life unravels after a disastrous evening. Eve finds herself caught in a web of circumstantial evidence when what begins as a canceled dinner party spirals into a nightmare. Her husband Frank rushes off to see Lorna Moore, a famous actress and former friend, leaving Eve humiliated and alone. When Eve impulsively drives to confront the situation, she stumbles upon a horrifying discovery - a silk-clad leg and a body, leading to her conviction for first-degree murder. Now facing the consequences of someone else's crime, Eve must navigate her new reality while maintaining her innocence. With the help of Lieutenant Trout and others, she searches desperately for overlooked evidence that could exonerate her. The story weaves through Hollywood's glittering surface to expose the darker passions beneath, as Eve attempts to uncover the truth about what really happened that fateful night. The question remains whether she can find the real killer before it's too late, or if she'll remain trapped by the circumstantial evidence that convicted her.

Originally Aired: January 17, 1948 Suspense #280, "Love's Lovely Counterfeit," presents James Cagney as Ben Grace, a tough driver working for Sal Caspar, the crime boss who runs Lake City through bookies, gambling, and sheer intimidation. When a reform candidate named Jansen and his campaign manager, the intriguing June Lyons, threaten Sal's political machine, Ben finds himself caught between loyalty to his dangerous boss and a risky attraction to the woman on the other side. After Sal forces Ben into a violent collection job involving bank robbers hiding in Sal's hotel, Ben makes a dangerous decision to contact June with information that could change the election. As Ben arranges a secret meeting with June, he knows he's playing with fire. Working for Sal while dealing with the opposition isn't just risky, it's potentially deadly, especially in a town where Sal owns half the police force and isn't afraid to use violence to maintain control. With Sal's temper growing shorter and his grip on the city tightening, Ben must navigate treacherous waters where one wrong move could mean the difference between freedom and a shallow grave.

Originally Aired: August 13, 1935 In Lum & Abner #172, "Having Contest to Name New Grocery Store," Lum and Abner eagerly await the completion of their latest business venture: a grocery store on wheels. With local blacksmith Caleb Weehunt hard at work building a store body onto Abner's old car chassis, the partners have launched a contest over the party line for folks to suggest a name for their mobile enterprise. The announcement has generated considerable excitement around Pine Ridge, with neighbors like Sister Simpson submitting entries such as "Pine Ridge Runabout" and Dick Huddleston suggesting "The Servidor." At Dick Huddleston's store, the partners discuss their innovative concept with enthusiasm, explaining how their rolling grocery will bring merchandise directly to customers' front doors across Pine Ridge and neighboring towns. While Dick worries about the competition, Lum and Abner assure him they'll avoid his regular customers. The partners debate potential names, with Lum's suggestion of "Lum's Limousine" already rejected by Abner, who insists on something more fitting for their unique enterprise. As they study Lum's drawings and discuss the store's design, their excitement builds about this new venture that promises to revolutionize shopping in their community.

Originally Aired: January 10, 1948 Suspense #279, "The Kandy Tooth," brings back Sam Spade in a new adventure that rivals the infamous Maltese Falcon case. Private detective Sam Spade finds himself entangled in an international mystery when the notorious fat man, Caspar Gutman, reappears with another elaborate scheme. This time, Gutman seeks a priceless Buddhist relic—a tooth of Buddha—which he believes is hidden in the bridgework of a man named Herman Julius. Spade is hired to track down Julius, but the case quickly grows complicated when a woman named Miss Laverne arrives searching for her troubled brother Larry, whose strange behavior seems connected to the mysterious tooth. As Spade investigates, he encounters Joel, young Marvin, and a web of deceit involving sacred relics, Portuguese viceroys, and desperate treasure hunters. The investigation leads Spade through San Francisco's foggy streets as he uncovers a conspiracy involving switched identities, hidden fortunes, and fanatics willing to kill for possession of the legendary candy tooth. With bodies piling up and Gutman's charming yet sinister presence looming over everything, Spade must navigate between truth and deception to solve the case before more blood is shed.

Originally Aired: January 3, 1948 Suspense #278, "The Black Curtain," begins with a terrifying mystery. Frank Townsend regains consciousness on an icy street after being knocked down, only to discover that the year is December 1944—three years later than the July 1941 day he last remembers. A black curtain of amnesia has erased three entire years of his life, and the evidence suggests he's been living as someone else entirely. A cigar case and hat in his possession bear the initials D.N., not his own. As the dazed Townsend tries to piece together what happened, a menacing stranger with gray eyes spots him, calls him by a different name—Thompson—and chases him with a gun. Frank flees in terror and eventually makes his way to the office building where he and his partner Johnny once ran their advertising business, desperate for answers from the one person he trusts. But the building is now heavily guarded by security police requiring passes, and Frank quickly realizes that everything about the world—and his place in it—has changed during those missing three years. Who has he been, what has he done, and why does someone want him dead?

Originally Aired: December 26, 1947 Suspense #277, "Too Little to Live On," presents Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard in a dramatic departure from their usual comedy roles. Dave, a struggling dentist, and his wife Myra live in grinding poverty while caring for Dave's elderly, wheelchair-bound Uncle Ed. The couple endures constant humiliation and abuse from the cantankerous old man and his vicious dog Willie, clinging to the hope of inheriting Uncle Ed's $30,000 estate. Their precarious situation grows more desperate when Uncle Ed summons his lawyer, hinting at changes to his will and taunting them about leaving his fortune to an orphanage instead. As tensions escalate in their claustrophobic household, small incidents pile up into unbearable pressure. The morning everything comes to a head begins ordinarily enough, but each petty cruelty and humiliation pushes Dave and Myra closer to the edge. When Uncle Ed berates Myra for accidentally breaking his glasses and threatens to withhold their inheritance over Dave's attempts to defend her, the couple faces a terrible choice. Their years of patient suffering may be for nothing, and desperate circumstances drive them toward contemplating the unthinkable—a solution that would end their torment permanently.

Originally Aired: December 12, 1947 Suspense #275, "The Man Who Couldn't Lose," presents Leonard Snell, a down-on-his-luck insurance salesman and compulsive gambler whose wife Celia constantly berates him for his failures and broken promises. Leonard's fortune suddenly changes when he discovers he's won $40,000 in the Irish Sweepstakes, an incredible stroke of luck that seems to answer all his problems. However, there's a complication: desperate for gambling money, Leonard had previously borrowed $1,800 from his wife's safe deposit box without her knowledge, and he needs to return it before she discovers the theft. As Leonard rushes around the city trying to settle his affairs and claim his winnings, his extraordinary day of luck takes increasingly dark and twisted turns. What begins as a miraculous reversal of fortune spirals into a nightmare of coincidences, accidents, and desperate decisions. Leonard finds himself caught up in a mail truck robbery, a suspicious death, and a web of circumstances that seem almost impossibly interconnected. As bodies pile up and the police close in, Leonard clings to his belief that his luck will hold, that a man who can't lose will somehow escape the consequences of his actions. But in this tale of fate and fortune, the question becomes whether Leonard's incredible luck is a blessing or a curse leading him inexorably toward justice.

Originally Aired: December 5, 1947 Suspense #274, "The Clock and the Rope," young Henry Guildford finds himself trapped in a nightmare he never saw coming. Working nights at a gas station, the shy Hank finally works up the courage to ask out an attractive customer who's been dropping hints for weeks. They arrange to meet at the Owl Inn after midnight, but when Hank arrives early, he stumbles upon the girl arguing with a man named Joe in the grove outside. The confrontation turns violent when Joe pulls a blackjack, and in the struggle, Hank strikes him down. The girl insists Hank leave while she takes care of things, but within hours, the police arrive at Hank's door with terrible news: Joe is dead, and they're charging Hank with murder. Now Hank faces the nightmare of an innocent man condemned. The police don't believe his story about self-defense or the mysterious girl who seems to have vanished without a trace. They claim Joe's pockets were turned inside out, suggesting robbery. With a court-appointed lawyer who seems to be merely stalling for time and a case built entirely on circumstantial evidence, Hank's situation grows increasingly desperate as he faces the ultimate penalty: the hangman's rope.

Originally Aired: November 28, 1947 Suspense #273, "The Pit and the Pendulum," stars José Ferrer as Captain Jean Dalbray, a French artillery officer imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition during the Napoleonic Wars. Accused of destroying the Holy Church of Saint Martha the Innocent with cannon fire, Dalbray defends his actions as military duty, insisting the church was being used as an enemy powder magazine. The Grand Inquisitor, Fra Pedro de Spiglia, shows no mercy. Dalbray's marriage to the Spanish noblewoman Donna Beatrice Valdez cannot save him, and he faces a terrible choice between two horrific methods of execution. Alone in absolute darkness in his dungeon cell, the weakened captain struggles to maintain his sanity. He hears the voice of his wife Beatrice comforting him, though he knows she exists only in his fevered imagination. As she encourages him to measure the limits of his cell and take courage, Dalbray must confront both his physical imprisonment and the psychological torment that awaits him. The Inquisition's sentence stalks him "like a tiger," forcing him to face an unknown horror that will slowly reveal itself in the darkness.

Originally Aired: November 20, 1947 In Suspense #272, “One Hundred in the Dark,” a group of sophisticated clubmen debate the nature of crime and storytelling over after-dinner coffee. To illustrate his point, their mysterious guest, Mr. Peters, recounts a remarkable incident involving the alluring New York hostess Rita Kildare and a glittering dinner party of fashionable guests. When Kildare’s priceless sapphire ring suddenly disappears, she locks the doors, extinguishes the lights, and announces a chilling ultimatum: she will count to one hundred in total darkness, giving the thief a single chance to return the jewel unseen—otherwise, everyone will face a humiliating police search. As the tense seconds tick away in the pitch-black room, suspicion falls on every guest: gamblers, socialites, desperate opportunists, and old friends alike. The ring is returned… but the true identity of the thief remains forever hidden, leaving behind a tantalizing mystery about guilt, courage, and human nature. A brilliantly structured psychological puzzle adapted from Owen Johnson, this episode of Suspense turns a simple theft into a haunting riddle with no solution. Cast: Howard Duff, Joseph Kearns, Frank Albertson, John McIntyre, Dick Ryan, Horace Willard, Teresa Marshall, Jeanette Nolan, Wally Mayer, Mary Jane Croft, Jerry Hausner, Grace Gillern Tags: Suspense, thriller, mystery, whodunit, psychological, HowardDuff, OwenJohnson, hundredinthedark, oldtimeradio, radiodrama, classicradio, vintageradio, 1940sradio, suspensepodcast, crimemystery, dinnerparty, lockedroom, unsolvedmystery