What happens
Detective Lieutenant Mark McPherson investigates the shotgun murder of Laura Hunt, a glamorous advertising art director in New York. He questions Paul Lydecker, a cynical Broadway columnist who once championed Laura's career, and her cousin Anne Treadwell, whose finances and affections raise questions. McPherson also meets Shelby Carpenter, Laura's fiance, whose account of his whereabouts on the night of the crime does not quite hold up. Lydecker's account of Laura's final days and their troubled relationship fills in the background. The Lux Radio Theatre production, based on the 20th Century Fox film, stars Jean Tierney as Laura and Victor Mature as McPherson, and this portion of the drama follows the detective's early inquiries into the case.
New York City, 1940s
Characters: Lieutenant Mark McPherson, Laura Hunt, Paul Lydecker, Anne Treadwell, Shelby Carpenter, Sergeant Crane, Bessie, Diana Redfern
Listen for: McPherson's first interview with Paul Lydecker in the columnist's Roman-bath apartment, where Lydecker describes how he first met Laura.
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.