Mysterious Set of Books: Pat Novak, for Hire (August 10, 1947)

“Mysterious Set of Books” is an episode of Pat Novak, for Hire, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 10, 1947. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Pat Novak is hired by Jack Lanson to retrieve a sealed envelope of private papers from a safe in a house on Knob Hill, promising $1,000 for the job. When Novak arrives at the address, he encounters a beautiful woman named Blanche who seduces him and then strikes him with a bottle, stealing the papers. Now multiple dangerous men—including gangsters Denver Red and Gong Reynolds, and a former member of Murder Incorporated—are all pursuing the same envelope, and Novak finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly game.

San Francisco waterfront and various locations including a boarding house on Webster Street, a house on Knob Hill, and the Knife and Fork club near Golden Gate Park

Characters: Pat Novak, Jack Lanson, Blanche, Detective Helman, Denver Red, Gong Reynolds, Jacob Matigan, Murphy

Listen for: The interplay between Novak and the cantankerous Detective Helman; Novak's sardonic narration describing the various dangerous characters and situations; the femme fatale Blanche's manipulation of Novak; the mounting tension as multiple gangsters pursue the mysterious envelope

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.