Monsieur Bouchon: Richard Diamond, Private Detective (March 16, 1951)

“Monsieur Bouchon” is an episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 16, 1951. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private detective Richard Diamond accepts a $200 fee from a mysterious woman named Yvonne to pick up a sample jar of face cream from a Frenchman named Monsieur Bouchon arriving on a ship in New York. Diamond soon finds himself caught between competing interests in the cosmetics business when Bouchon's sample turns out to be a booby trap and a valuable sapphire becomes the object of a dangerous treasure hunt.

New York City, including Diamond's apartment, various hotels, and Greenwich Village apartment building

Characters: Richard Diamond, Yvonne, Monsieur Bouchon, Robert Muckler, Berta, Walt

Listen for: Diamond's trademark wisecracking narration and witty banter with the eccentric Frenchman Bouchon; the climactic confrontation involving the hidden sapphire and the revelation of Yvonne and Bouchon's smuggling operation.

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.