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Dick Powell starred in the Richard Diamond, Private Detective radio series as a wisecracking former police officer turned private detective. Episodes typically open with a client visiting or calling cash-strapped Diamond's office and agreeing to his fee of $100 a day plus expenses, or Diamond taki…

The series is one of the earliest nationwide programs to feature Jack Webb.

Friday had joined the police shortly before World War II; Ben Romero was his first partner. After Friday was discharged from the U.S. Army, he returned to the police and the pair eventually reunited in the Detective Division, prior to the events of the series. Joe Friday is a fictional character…

Like the Falcon film series, the radio plots mixed danger, romance and comedy in equal parts. Each show began with a telephone ringing and Michael Waring, the Falcon, answering the phone. Speaking with a woman whose voice was never heard, Waring would explain that he had an urgent situation in whic…

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar is a radio drama that aired on CBS Radio from February 18, 1949 to September 30, 1962. The first several seasons imagined protagonist Johnny Dollar as a private investigator drama, with Charles Russell, Edmond O'Brien and John Lund portraying Dollar in succession over …

The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon. The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946–1949, and finally for 75 episodes on NBC in 1…

Night Beat, sometimes spelled Nightbeat, is an NBC radio drama series that aired February 6, 1950 – September 25, 1952, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Wheaties. Frank Lovejoy starred as Randy Stone, a reporter who covered the night beat for the Chicago Star, encountering criminals, eccent…

The Adventures of Father Brown is an American radio crime drama that aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System, adapted from G. K. Chesterton's stories of Father Brown. It debuted on June 10, 1945, and ended on July 29, 1945. Each episode began with commission of a crime, after which Father Brown's …

Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator was a detective drama heard on NBC Radio from October 3, 1951 to June 30, 1955. Detective Barrie Craig (William Gargan) worked alone from his Madison Avenue office. Unlike his contemporaries Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, Craig had a laid-back personality, so…

The Adventures of Philip Marlowe was a radio series featuring Raymond Chandler's private eye, Philip Marlowe. Robert C. Reinehr and Jon D. Swartz, in their book, The A to Z of Old Time Radio, noted that the program differed from most others in its genre: "It was a more hard-boiled program than many…

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe is a 1950–51 American radio drama series starring Sydney Greenstreet as Rex Stout's fictional armchair detective Nero Wolfe. Based on Stout's principal characters but not his stories, the series aired October 20, 1950 – April 27, 1951, on NBC. It is regarded as the …

The Shadow was a popular American radio show that aired from 1930 to 1954, featuring Lamont Cranston, a wealthy young man who used a hypnotic power to "cloud men's minds" and become invisible as he fought crime. The character originated as the mysterious, sinister narrator on the 1930 radio show De…

Pursuit was an American radio crime drama on the CBS network from 1949 to 1952, featuring the investigations of Inspector Peter Black of Scotland Yard. The series was produced by Elliott Lewis and featured actors like Ted de Corsia, John Dehner, and Ben Wright as Inspector Black.

Pete Kelly's Blues was an American crime-musical radio drama which aired over NBC as an unsponsored summer replacement series on Wednesday nights at 8 pm (et) from July 4 through September 19, 1951. The series starred Jack Webb as Pete Kelly and was created by writer Richard L. Breen, who had previ…

The Saint was a radio adventure program in the United States that featured a character ("a swashbuckling, devil-may-care Robin Hood type who, in his attempt to help people, remained just one step ahead of the police and crooks—both of whom he combatted") created by author Leslie Charteris. As the p…

Box 13 is a syndicated radio drama about the escapades of newspaperman-turned-mystery novelist Dan Holiday, played by film star Alan Ladd. Created by Ladd's company, Mayfair Productions, Box 13 aired in different cities over different dates and times. It first aired in several United States radio m…

Dangerous Assignment was an NBC Radio drama starring Brian Donlevy broadcast in the US 1949–1953, a syndicated television series distributed in the US 1951–52 (also starring Brian Donlevy), and an Australian radio series broadcast in 1954-56 as remakes of the original American radio scripts.

Gang Busters is an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered on January 15, 1936 and was broadcast for more 21 years through November 27, 1957.

The Whistler is an American radio mystery drama which ran from May 16, 1942, until September 22, 1955, on the west-coast regional CBS radio network. The show was also broadcast in Chicago and over Armed Forces Radio. On the West Coast of the United States, it was sponsored by the Signal Oil Company…

Pat Novak, for Hire is an old-time radio detective drama series which aired from 1946 to 1947 as a West Coast regional program (produced at KGO in San Francisco) and in 1949 as a nationwide program for ABC.

Mr. and Mrs. North are fictional American amateur detectives. Created by Frances and Richard Lockridge, the couple was featured in a series of 26 Mr. and Mrs. North novels, a Broadway play, a motion picture and several radio and television series.