The Murdering Cuckoo Clock: Boston Blackie (July 23, 1946)

“The Murdering Cuckoo Clock” is an episode of Boston Blackie, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 23, 1946. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A grandfather clock delivered to Richard Van Horn's home becomes an instrument of murder when it kills two men in succession. Boston Blackie investigates the deaths of young Walter Stone and Van Horn himself, both connected to the deadly timepiece rigged with a poison needle in its winding mechanism. As Blackie races to uncover who orchestrated these murders, suspicion falls on various parties connected to the clock and its victims.

A clock shop and the Van Horn residence in the city, where a deadly grandfather clock becomes the center of a murder investigation.

Characters: Boston Blackie, Mary Wesley, Walter Stone, John Stone, Inspector Pardee, Richard Van Horn, Mrs. Van Horn, Mr. Stone

Listen for: The clever murder method using a poisoned needle hidden in a clock's winding key, Blackie's reasoning about the killer's knowledge of timing, and the revelation of a second victim killed by the same deadly clock.

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.