Bill Kirby Murder Case: Richard Diamond, Private Detective (October 29, 1949)

“Bill Kirby Murder Case” is an episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast October 29, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private detective Richard Diamond is hired by Mrs. Kirby to find her son Bill, a fellow detective who has been acting strangely, receiving mysterious money, and then disappearing after leaving her a cryptic package. When Richard discovers Bill has been murdered, he must uncover the truth behind a hidden shoe containing a secret shipping code that connects to a dangerous smuggling operation.

New York City, including Richard Diamond's office, the Kirby house on Amsterdam Avenue, a bar on Columbus Avenue, a shoe repair shop, and Continental Shipping Company at 18 North River.

Characters: Richard Diamond, private detective, Mrs. Lenoa Kirby, Bill Kirby, private detective and her son, Gloria, Mrs. Kirby's daughter, Helen, Richard's secretary and girlfriend, Lieutenant Walt Levinson, police officer, Sergeant Otis, police sergeant, James Willis (James Koslick), criminal turned shipping company employee

Listen for: The mystery of the shoe left in the bread box with suspicious numbers written inside; the connection between Bill Kirby's death and a gold shipment scheme; Richard's tough-guy banter with Helen about her baby picture; and the revelation of James Willis's criminal past as a safe cracker.

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.