The Case of the Unwritten Letter: Nick Carter, Master Detective (July 29, 1945)

“The Case of the Unwritten Letter” is an episode of Nick Carter, Master Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 29, 1945. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Nick Carter investigates the murder of Joe Cain, found shot on the stairs of a loft building at 23 Blaine Street. The dead man clutches a blank envelope with an unwritten letter inside. Three building residents claim they never saw Cain before, and the building's supposed janitor is found dead in an apparent suicide. Nick must untangle a web of lies and false identities to discover which tenant is the real killer.

A loft building at 23 Blaine Street in the city, and the town of Taunton upstate.

Characters: Nick Carter, master detective, Patsy, his secretary, Sergeant Matheson, Madame Cyr, a medium, Charles Dower, a gambler, Hal Trask, a printer, Olsen, posing as the janitor, Joe Cain, the murder victim

Listen for: Nick's deduction about fingerprints on the murder weapon revealing the true nature of Olsen's death, and his clever use of a fake séance with an actor to catch the liars among the suspects.

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.