Simmons Construction Murder: Boston Blackie (November 29, 1945)

“Simmons Construction Murder” is an episode of Boston Blackie, the old-time radio show, first broadcast November 29, 1945. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When a foreman is shot to death on a high-rise construction site, Inspector Faraday has no clear motive. Boston Blackie, bedridden with laryngitis, predicts a second murder will follow at the same building. When another foreman is indeed killed in identical fashion, Blackie works from his sickbed to unravel the truth behind the seemingly motiveless crimes.

New York City: a 36-story building under construction on 50th Street, Blackie's apartment, a hospital, and various locations around the city

Characters: Boston Blackie, Inspector Faraday, John Simmons, Mary Wesley, Shorty, Bill Woods, Jack Barnes, Mrs. Bill Woods

Listen for: The clever deduction that two different killers used the same gun for different motives, connected by inferior concrete in the building materials; Blackie's physical limitation—he has lost his voice to laryngitis—becomes an advantage as he directs others to gather evidence while he observes and reasons

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.