Little Chiva: Richard Diamond, Private Detective (March 23, 1951)

“Little Chiva” is an episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 23, 1951. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private detective Richard Diamond is hired by a dying Haitian farmer, Abel Gunther, to investigate mysterious illnesses and crop failures on his farm that he suspects are connected to a wealthy planter named Arthur Cotswold rather than voodoo. When Gunther dies in Diamond's New York office, the detective travels to Haiti to continue the investigation, discovering that Cotswold may be deliberately sabotaging the local farmers' livelihoods.

Haiti and New York, primarily on the Gunther farm and Cotswold plantation in the West Indies

Characters: Richard Diamond, Abel Gunther, Little Chiva, Inspector La Planche, Arthur Cotswold, Jocelyn, Walt Levinson, Big Chiva

Listen for: A dramatic voodoo ceremony performed to honor the dead, and a shocking revelation involving two brothers with supernatural connections to the case

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.