Dan Holiday, the newspaperman-turned-novelist of Box 13, runs an ad promising to go anywhere and do anything for a good story -- and the letters that land in Box 13 never disappoint. In "The Professor and the Puzzle," a deceptively academic riddle pulls Holiday into real danger, where solving the puzzle and solving the crime turn out to be one and the same. Movie star Alan Ladd both produced this syndicated 1948-49 adventure series and starred as Holiday himself.

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Sydney Greenstreet is Rex Stout's brilliant, orchid-loving armchair detective Nero Wolfe, who solves crimes without ever leaving his New York brownstone while legman Archie Goodwin does the footwork. In "The Case of the Lost Heir," a fortune rides on a missing heir, and Wolfe must sort the genuine claimant from the fraud amid greedy relations and convenient corpses. Aired April 20, 1951 on NBC.

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The gold standard of hardboiled radio detection: Gerald Mohr stars as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, the wisecracking, world-weary private eye of rain-slicked Los Angeles. In "Nether-Nether Land," a frightened woman wakes Marlowe in his own apartment in the dead of night, begs him for help -- and vanishes before she can explain. This is the rare REHEARSAL recording, the cast working through the script before the live 1951 broadcast: a true behind-the-microphone look at how a top network drama was built.

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From one of radio's earliest horror anthologies, the cackling old Hermit beckons you into his cave for a tale of a lonely house high on a windswept point of land. Newcomers arrive at the old place on Lost Lands Bluff only to find it was never truly empty -- and that whatever waits in its dark rooms does not welcome the living. Grisly sound effects, gothic dread, and a trademark twist ending. Turn out your lights -- turn them out!

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From South Africa's Springbok Radio comes Beyond Midnight, Michael McCabe's anthology of madness, murder, and the supernatural. In "40th Birthday" (also known as "The Room"), a bitter man nearing forty grows convinced that murdering his flirtatious young wife is his only escape -- and when he uncovers a hidden bootleggers' room beneath his garage, he believes he's found the perfect place to do it. A slow-burning tale of dread and dark irony from radio's golden age.

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One of old-time radio's most famous and controversial broadcasts. Three days before Christmas 1949, Sergeant Joe Friday is called out when nine-year-old Stanley Johnstone goes missing and bloodstains turn up in the backyard. What Friday uncovers -- a Christmas rifle, two boys at play, and a tragic accident -- makes for one of Dragnet's most quietly devastating stories, and a finale of unexpected grace. Jack Webb's stripped-down realism at its most powerful.

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Our Miss Brooks was radio's best-loved schoolroom comedy, starring Eve Arden as the dry-witted English teacher forever pining for bashful biology teacher Mr. Boynton. In this May 7, 1950 episode, Mr. Boynton plans a barbecue -- and Connie Brooks pulls out every trick in the book to wangle an invitation and a spot at his side. Cue misread signals, good intentions gone sideways, and the meddling Madison High regulars, all served up over a backyard grill with Eve Arden's perfect comic timing.

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Step up to the microphone with the kings of comedy. In this March 30, 1944 broadcast of The Abbott and Costello Program, cool Hollywood tough-guy Alan Ladd drops by -- and that's all it takes for Lou to decide he was born to be a radio announcer. Cue the double-talk, the malaprops, and the mayhem as Bud tries to keep the whole radio station from falling apart. A half-hour of pure wartime escapist laughter from the team that gave the world "Who's on First?"

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Step through the famous creaking door once more. Inner Sanctum Mysteries was Himan Brown's masterclass in radio terror, hosted by the pun-loving Raymond. In "Death Is An Artist," first broadcast January 23, 1945, an artist, his vindictive ex-wife, and a string of grisly discoveries prove that murder can have an eye for composition. A blood-chilling tale from the golden age of radio horror, starring Lee Bowman.

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Step through the creaking door into Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Himan Brown's classic anthology of terror hosted by the sardonic Raymond. In "Death in the Depths," a deep-sea diver alone on the ocean floor lets his mind drift to murder -- fathoms down in the crushing dark, where no one can hear a scream. A claustrophobic tale of suspense from February 1945.

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