There was no shortage of private eyes during the Golden Age of Radio, but only one could carry a tune as well as he could crack a case. Dick Powell starred as Richard Diamond, Private Detective - the gumshoe who cracked wise, packed a punch, and crooned a song to his girlfriend every week. We'll hear Powell in three radio mysteries: "The Private Eye Test" (originally aired on NBC on March 19, 1950); "The Hatpin Murder Case" (aka "The Oklahoma Cowboy Murder Case" - originally aired on NBC on September 27, 1950); and "The Red Rose" (originally aired on ABC on March 2, 1951).

It's time to match wits with Ellery Queen! The brilliant amateur sleuth takes a break in the program to give you - and a special guest armchair detective - a chance to solve the crime before he reveals the solution to the mystery. We'll hear three old time radio mysteries starring Sydney Smith as Ellery: "The Adventure of the Vanishing Magician" (originally aired on NBC on November 6, 1943); "The Adventure of Dead Man's Cavern," and "The Adventure of Nick the Knife" (AFRS Rebroadcasts).

There's murder and mystery on the waterfront in San Francisco - "where the best trouble always looks good from the outside" - and Pat Novak is at the center of the storm. Jack Webb stars as the hard-boiled gumshoe in a pair of mysteries: "Find John St. John" (AFRS rebroadcast from May 22, 1949) and "Joe Dineen" (originally aired on ABC on June 19, 1949).

It's time to revisit "the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world" with Detective Danny Clover. Larry Thor stars as the cop with the heart of a poet in Broadway is My Beat - the police procedural drama with lyrical dialogue and Runyonesque characters. We'll hear two of his cases from the Great White Way - "The Joe Gruber Murders" (originally aired on CBS on July 8, 1951) and "The Alice Mayo Murder" (AFRS rebroadcast from May 24, 1952).

Whether he was thwarted by Rocky and Bullwinkle or leading visitors on a tour of the Haunted Mansion, Paul Frees' rich voice has been a part of pop culture for generations. But before all of that, he was a versatile voice actor on radio - one of the era's men of a thousand voices. We'll hear him starring as Jethro Dumont in "The Man Who Never Existed" from The Green Lama (originally aired on CBS on June 5, 1949). Then he's an impressionist roped into a scheme in "Fatal Fraud" from The Whistler (originally aired on CBS on May 22, 1949).

He dueled on screen with Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, and Danny Kaye, he was twice nominated for Oscars, and for 14 films and hundreds of radio episodes, Basil Rathbone brought Sherlock Holmes to life. We'll celebrate one of the best actors to wear the deerstalker cap with two of his radio mysteries: "Murder Beyond the Mountains" (originally aired on Mutual on January 14, 1946) and "The Waltz of Death" (originally aired on Mutual on April 29, 1946). Plus, Rathbone teams up with Fred Allen to solve a comedy mystery in an episode of The Fred Allen Show (originally aired on NBC on April 11, 1948).

For radio detective fans, it doesn't get much better than Bob Bailey as "the man with the action-packed expense account." In honor of the actor's birthday, we'll hear him in a complete five-part adventure of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: "The Long Shot Matter" (originally aired on CBS between June 25th and June 29th, 1956).

Gerald Mohr lent his voice to hundreds of radio episodes, but he's best remembered today for his run as Philip Marlowe. Mohr's voice was perfect for the hard-boiled narration and rough and tumble action, and his Marlowe stands out as one of the best gumshoes of the era. We'll hear Mohr as Marlowe in "The Last Laugh" (originally aired on CBS on April 2, 1949) and "The Last Wish" (originally aired on CBS on July 19, 1950). We'll also hear him as Archie Goodwin in "The Case of the Vanishing Shells" from The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe (originally aired on NBC on February 2, 1951), and as an amorous French teacher in a December 5, 1948 episode of Our Miss Brooks.

Seventy years ago this week, Dragnet made its radio debut and changed the face of crime drama forever. That first episode launched a franchise that stretched into the 21st century and made its creator and star Jack Webb a household name. We'll celebrate the anniversary with four cases pulled from the files of the LAPD: "Homicide" (originally aired on NBC on June 10, 1949); "The Big Fake" (originally aired on NBC on June 1, 1950); "The Big Bible" (AFRS rebroadcast from 9/28/1954); and "The Big No Tooth" (AFRS rebroadcast from 4/5/1955).

We're saluting Dashiell Hammett - born May 27, 1894 - with three old time radio adventures of his famous private eye Sam Spade. Spade's adventures made for one of the best radio detective shows of the era - a hard-boiled mystery that poked gentle fun at the conventions of the genre. Howard Duff stars as the gumshoe in "The Wheel of Life Caper" (originally aired on CBS on July 11, 19498) and "The Battles of Belvedere" (AFRS rebroadcast from May 1, 1949). Then Steven Dunne stars as Spade in "The Spanish Prisoner Caper" (originally aired on NBC on