The Case of the Phantom Shoplifter: Nick Carter, Master Detective (December 25, 1949)

“The Case of the Phantom Shoplifter” is an episode of Nick Carter, Master Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 25, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Nick Carter investigates a series of expensive fur coat thefts from Warren's Specialty Shop. When a suspected shoplifter named Peggy Matthews is found strangled in her rooming house, the case takes a sinister turn. Nick must uncover who really stole the coats and who murdered the young woman.

A city with Warren's Specialty Shop, cheap rooming houses, and a police precinct, during Christmas Day 1949.

Characters: Nick Carter, Sergeant Matheson, Peggy Matthews, Mr. Dodd, Miss Bowen, Mr. Warren, Bruno Celia, Patsy

Listen for: The discovery of Peggy Matthews' body and Nick's investigation into the mysterious fur coat thefts and her murder.

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.