Louis Spence Case: Richard Diamond, Private Detective (March 5, 1950)

“Louis Spence Case” is an episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 5, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Detective Richard Diamond is called to the Fifth Precinct police station where escaped lunatic Lewis Spence has taken Lieutenant Levinson hostage with a bomb containing one hundred sticks of dynamite. Spence demands that the mayor jump from City Hall by noon or he will detonate the bomb, killing everyone in the building. Diamond must find a way to stop Spence before time runs out.

Fifth Precinct police station and surrounding areas of the city, with a clock counting down to noon

Characters: Richard Diamond, Lieutenant Walt Levinson, Sergeant Otis, Lewis Spence, Helen, Dr. George Thacker, Dr. Robert Carroll

Listen for: The tense cat-and-mouse psychological game between Diamond and Spence, Diamond's conversation with the psychiatrist about Spence's condition, and the clever use of music as a distraction device

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.