Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: March 3, 1952

Suspense #463, "The Thirty-Nine Steps," Richard Henai returns to London in the spring of 1914 after ten years in Africa, bored with civilian life and longing for adventure. His mundane existence takes a dramatic turn when his American neighbor, Frank P. Scudder, appears at his door in a state of terror. Scudder claims to be a spy who has uncovered a German conspiracy involving the Black Stone, a sinister organization planning to assassinate Greek Prime Minister Carolides during his visit to England. The murder, Scudder insists, will be merely a spark to ignite a greater catastrophe that could plunge Britain into war. Despite his skepticism, Henai agrees to shelter the frightened American.

The next morning, Henai discovers Scudder dead in his guest room, murdered with a knife in his back. With his dying breath, Scudder gasps cryptic clues about "the thirty-nine steps" and "low tide on the fifth." Now in possession of dangerous information and with a dead body in his flat, Henai finds himself thrust into a deadly game of international espionage, hunted by the very assassins who killed his guest.

Originally Aired: February 25, 1952

Suspense #462, "A Killing in Las Vegas," features Dixie Evans, a dancer who walks into a Las Vegas police station with a terrifying claim: her husband Charlie is trying to kill her. She recounts how the previous night, while waiting for Charlie outside the Oasis Club where she performs, someone attacked her from behind and choked her until she lost consciousness. When she returned to their hotel room, Charlie was calmly waiting in bed, claiming he'd called the club to tell her to take a cab home but the message never reached her. He convinces her the attack was likely a robbery attempt gone wrong, not a murder attempt.

Despite her restless night, Dixie begins to believe Charlie's explanation. The next day they spend time together around town, and Charlie suggests she rest while he collects his gambling winnings from the club. But Dixie's unease lingers, and she finds herself reporting to the police that there have been two attempts on her life in twenty-four hours. As she tells her story to the officer, the question remains: is Charlie really trying to murder his wife, or is Dixie's fear getting the better of her?

Originally Aired: February 18, 1952

Suspense #461, "The Track of the Cat," rancher Kurt decides to hunt down a mountain lion that's been terrorizing his family's cattle in the Nevada mountains, despite warnings from his mother and the family's aging Native American worker, Joe Sam. The old man is convinced the predator isn't an ordinary cat but a supernatural black panther that appears with the first snow each year, a creature that cannot be killed. Kurt dismisses these warnings as superstitious nonsense and heads into the gathering blizzard with his younger brother Arthur, leaving behind their brother Hal, their mother, and Hal's visiting sweetheart Gwen.

Now Kurt finds himself alone in the frozen wilderness, desperately trying to maintain a fire as night falls and the mysterious cat circles in the darkness. Exhausted and fighting sleep, he struggles to convince himself it's just an ordinary mountain lion while the creature waits patiently beyond the firelight. As hypothermia threatens and his supplies dwindle, Kurt must confront whether Joe Sam's supernatural warnings hold terrifying truth.

Originally Aired: February 11, 1952

Suspense #460, "Odd Man Out," stars James Mason as Johnny, the leader of a desperate gang attempting a payroll robbery. When the carefully planned raid goes catastrophically wrong, Johnny shoots a security guard in self-defense but takes a bullet himself. As alarm bells ring and police swarm the area, his companions Murphy, Nolan, and getaway driver Pat attempt to drag the badly wounded Johnny to safety. In the chaos, Johnny falls from the running board of the escape car and is left behind. Murphy stays with him, helping Johnny to a nearby shelter as the police close in, but their situation grows increasingly dire.

Wounded and feverish, Johnny drifts in and out of consciousness while Murphy desperately tries to decide whether to stay or seek help from Dennis and the rest of the organization. As police search the shadows around them and rats scuttle in the darkness, Johnny grapples with his fate, thinking of Agnes, the woman he loves but has never truly committed to because of his devotion to the cause. The net tightens as Johnny realizes he may be finished, and unexpected visitor Shell appears with uncertain intentions.

Originally Aired: February 4, 1952

Suspense #459, "The Treasure Chest of Don Jose,"

When a devastating hurricane destroys Jose Gasparia's ancestral home on Black Key in the Gulf of Mexico, his friend Pedro saves his life. As they clear the rubble of the demolished chimney built by Jose's great-grandfather, Pedro discovers a small iron box containing an old parchment. Jose quickly lies to Pedro, claiming it's just a childhood nursery rhyme, but the document is actually a treasure map leading to the buried gold of his notorious pirate ancestor, Don Jose Gasparia. The map directs him to Dog Body Island near Cape Cod, where the treasure lies thirty-three yards south-southeast of the Rocky Guards.

Consumed by greed and dismissing the legendary curse placed on his family by the virtuous Dona Margarita, Jose secretly abandons Pedro and travels north to Massachusetts. He rents an isolated cottage on the windswept island and prepares to claim his inheritance. But as Jose begins his search, armed with shovel and parchment, suspicious locals and the weight of his ancestor's dark legacy close in around him, and the curse he so easily dismissed may prove all too real.

Originally Aired: January 28, 1952

In Suspense #458, "Carnival," Joseph Cotton stars as Renee Orlando, a sideshow performer known as "Renee the Robot" who presents himself as a man without emotion, moving mechanically like a living automaton. But beneath this cold exterior, Renee is consumed by powerful passions, particularly his obsessive love for his wife Gabrielle and his hatred for O'Mara, the carnival barker who controls his act. When Renee confronts O'Mara about ending their fifteen-year arrangement, the sinister showman refuses to let him leave, holding a dark secret over Renee's head: he witnessed Renee strangle a woman named Celia Barton years ago. O'Mara's constant proximity to Gabrielle feeds Renee's jealousy to dangerous levels.

Trapped by his past crime and tormented by suspicions about his wife's relationship with O'Mara, Renee walks through the empty carnival grounds on a misty night, caught between the emotionless facade he presents to the world and the violent passions churning within him. As tensions mount, Renee declares his intention to kill O'Mara, setting the stage for a deadly confrontation in the shadowy world of the traveling carnival.

Originally Aired: January 21, 1952

Suspense #457, "The Perfectionist," follows an unnamed narrator who has committed what he believes to be the perfect murder. After meticulously planning each step, including transporting his victim's body in a specially designed trunk to a city 90 miles away, his flawless scheme begins to unravel due to a baggage clerk's error at the train station. The trunk containing the body has been mistakenly delivered to another family, the Granicks, while their trunk was given to him.

Desperate to recover his trunk before the body is discovered, the narrator poses as Mr. Christensen, a social worker conducting a follow-up interview from a rehabilitation hospital. He visits the home of William Granick, a former civil engineer now paralyzed from the waist down, and his wife Betty. As he subtly probes for the trunk's location while maintaining his false identity, the narrator wrestles with his dependence on others and his need to reassert control over the situation. The perfectionist finds himself at the mercy of imperfect circumstances, racing against time to locate the trunk containing his dark secret before the Granicks discover what they truly possess.

Originally Aired: January 14, 1952

Suspense #456, "The Fall River Tragedy," stars Agnes Moorhead as Lizzie Borden, the infamous woman accused of brutally murdering her father and stepmother with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts. Years after her trial and acquittal, Lizzie receives Mr. Lippitt, a magazine writer, in her home to tell her side of the story. As children outside chant the notorious rhyme about her crimes, Lizzie insists on her innocence while recounting the terrible day her father was found slain on the couch and her stepmother discovered upstairs. Through her narration, the trial unfolds again.

The prosecution, led by the relentless Mr. Moody, calls witness after witness to build its case against Lizzie. Dr. Bowen, the family physician and neighbor, testifies about discovering the bodies and his conversation with Lizzie that morning. The maid Bridget Sullivan and neighbors Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Churchill are brought forward, their testimonies suggesting that no outsider could have entered the locked house undetected. As the evidence mounts and Lizzie's account is questioned, she faces the weight of public suspicion and a trial that will determine whether she lives or dies.

Originally Aired: January 7, 1952

Suspense #455, "The Case Against Loo Doc," presents a gripping tale of San Francisco's Tong Wars, where District Attorney Red Mucia is determined to bring down Loo Doc, a silk merchant he believes leads a double life as a ruthless tong leader. Newspaper reporter Dan Glasgow accompanies the DA on a nighttime stakeout in Sporfoot Alley, where rival tongs—the Hop Yings led by Loo Doc and the On Sings led by Kumji Ho—are expected to clash over a sing-song girl named A Toy. As Captain Wilburne and Lieutenant Sonjak position their men, a violent battle erupts at midnight with fifty Chinese fighters wielding hatchets and daggers. Despite the police rounding up the survivors, Loo Doc mysteriously vanishes from the melee, leaving only the captured Kumji Ho, who refuses to cooperate.

The case becomes more complicated for Glasgow, who considers Loo Doc a friend and man of principle despite the DA's accusations. When Glasgow visits Loo Doc's shop the next morning seeking answers, he encounters the enigmatic merchant and his brother Tommy, setting the stage for a conflict between loyalty and justice in the shadowy world of Chinatown's secret societies.

Originally Aired: December 31, 1951

Suspense #454, "Rogue Male," follows an English big game hunter who undertakes what he claims is merely a "sporting stalk" of the most dangerous quarry imaginable: a dictator with a familiar toothbrush mustache. Captured before he can pull the trigger, the hunter insists to his half-English interrogator that he never intended to actually fire, but the brutal consequences are swift regardless. After severe torture and a staged execution that leaves him broken and bleeding, he's thrown from a cliff in what's meant to look like a sporting accident. Against all odds, he survives the fall and begins a desperate escape through enemy territory.

Helped by a courageous fisherman and a sympathetic ship's mate named Mr. Vayner, the hunter manages to return to London, but his ordeal is far from over. Even in England, mysterious watchers lurk outside his lawyer Saul's office, suggesting that his pursuers have followed him home. Now the hunter must disappear completely, unable to involve friends or family, as he realizes the hunt has only just begun—and this time, he's the prey.