Death in Herald Square: Pat Novak, for Hire (November 30, 1947)

“Death in Herald Square” is an episode of Pat Novak, for Hire, the old-time radio show, first broadcast November 30, 1947. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private investigator Pat Novak is hired by a mysterious client named Joe Adams to watch an apartment while Adams catches a plane. When police detective Hellman arrives at the apartment searching for evidence related to a year-old unsolved murder of wealthy businessman Thomas Van Dyke, Novak discovers that Adams is actually a woman named Dodo Sandberg. Novak becomes entangled in a dangerous mystery involving a rare book called Death in Herald Square that seems connected to the Van Dyke murder and worth killing for.

San Francisco, primarily on the waterfront and downtown streets; includes Adams' apartment, police stations, library, bookstore, hotel, and Dodo's residence on Vallejo Street.

Characters: Pat Novak, Joe Adams (Dodo Sandberg), Hellman, Pete Crowley, Dodo Sandberg, Jocko Matigan, Thomas Van Dyke

Listen for: The cynical, world-weary narration of Pat Novak as he navigates a complex murder mystery; the tense exchanges between Novak and Detective Hellman; the mysterious warnings from multiple parties about a book that appears central to solving a year-old 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.