Lydia Reynolds Case: Pat Novak, for Hire (November 23, 1947)

“Lydia Reynolds Case” is an episode of Pat Novak, for Hire, the old-time radio show, first broadcast November 23, 1947. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to Pat Novak, for Hire free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

Pat Novak is hitchhiking after losing money at the races when wealthy young Lydia Reynolds picks him up and hires him as a bodyguard, claiming she fears something but cannot explain what. After being slugged and finding a dead body in her car, Novak investigates her claims while navigating threats from a man named Two-Spot Post and suspicion from police detective Hellman, who has arrested him for two murders.

San Francisco, including Bay Meadows racetrack, St. Francis Wood mansion, guest house, police station, and the Two-Spot bowling alley

Characters: Pat Novak, Lydia Reynolds, Detective Hellman, Ira, Two-Spot Post, Charles Reynolds, Jocko Madigan, The Butler

Listen for: The hard-boiled noir detective voice of Pat Novak, snappy period dialogue, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding Lydia Reynolds's unexplained fears and the mounting bodies

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.