Radio detectives don't come more hard-boiled than Pat Novak For Hire. Jack Webb stars in one of his first big radio hits as a character who is anything but Joe Friday. We'll hear "Sam Tolliver," originally broadcast on ABC on April 23, 1949.

Ol' Blue Eyes is back! Frank Sinatra stars in Rocky Fortune, as a "footloose and fancy free young gentleman" whose odd jobs always seem to lead to trouble. The Chairman of the Board headlines "Murder on the Aisle," originally broadcast on NBC on November 24, 1953.

Before he itemized an expense account as Johnny Dollar, Bob Bailey solved radio mysteries in Let George Do It. Freelance sleuth George Valentine finds his clients through a newspaper ad, offering to take on the jobs that are too dangerous for regular folks. We'll listen as somebody new writes him about a gig in "Cry Murder," first broadcast on Mutual on July 19, 1948.

Detective Danny Clover patrols the Great White Way in Broadway is My Beat, one of radio's greatest police procedurals and one of the last great dramas of the Golden Age of Radio. Larry Thor is the poetic policeman in "The Case of Charles Crandall," first aired on CBS on May 12, 1951.

In honor of Raymond Chandler's birthday, we'll hear an episode featuring his legendary private eye, Philip Marlowe. Van Heflin stars as Marlowe in an adaptation of Chandler's short story "Red Wind," originally broadcast on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe on NBC on June 17, 1947.

Before he crooned as Richard Diamond, Dick Powell cracked cases as private investigator Richard Rogue on Rogue's Gallery. We'll hear Powell in his first radio detective series with "Where There's a Will, There's a Murder," first broadcast on NBC on July 14, 1946.

We welcome our first female detective to the show - San Francisco-based private eye Candy Matson! Natalie Masters stars as this smart, sassy sleuth - perhaps the most famous lady detective in old time radio - in "The Egyptian Amulet," first broadcast on NBC on September 12, 1950.

J. Scott Smart stars as Brad Runyon, aka The Fat Man - "a fast-moving criminologist who tips the scales at 237 pounds!" This original radio creation of Dashiell Hammett was one of radio's most popular shows, and Runyon is a detective who combines Nero Wolfe's brains and size with Sam Spade's fists. We'll hear "The Black Angel," first broadcast on ABC on July 8, 1946.

It's off to New Orleans for an adventure of one of radio's hardest-boiled private eyes - Brett Halliday's two-fisted red-head Michael Shayne. Jeff Chandler stars in The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, and we'll hear "The Case of the Model Murder," a syndicated episode produced in 1948.

This week, we'll walk the streets of Chicago after dark, tagging along with Frank Lovejoy on Night Beat. Lovejoy stars as reporter Randy Stone, who searches for human interest stories in the darkness and often finds trouble. We'll hear "The Football Player and the Syndicate," first broadcast on NBC on June 12, 1950.