The Peters Mix-up: Boston Blackie (February 4, 1947)

“The Peters Mix-up” is an episode of Boston Blackie, the old-time radio show, first broadcast February 4, 1947. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Police fish a dead body from a lake with an identification card bearing Boston Blackie's name as the emergency contact. The body is identified as Walter Peters, a man Blackie claims never to have met. When a mysterious woman named Beth who runs a tugboat summons Blackie to her vessel, he discovers Peters alive and working on the boat, creating a bewildering mystery of doubled identities.

A lake, police headquarters, Boston Blackie's apartment, and a tugboat at the waterfront

Characters: Boston Blackie, Inspector Faraday, Mary, Beth, Walter Peters, Joe, Donnie, Dick Palmer

Listen for: The puzzle of Walter Peters appearing both dead and alive, and the cryptic warnings about what will happen if Peters shows up at Blackie's apartment at four o'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.