Battles Of Belvedere Afrs: The Adventures of Sam Spade (May 14, 1949)

“Battles Of Belvedere Afrs” is an episode of The Adventures of Sam Spade, the old-time radio show, first broadcast May 14, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Sam Spade is hired by artist Jonathan Battle to warn off a mysterious enemy living on the neighboring property of Belvedere Island. When Battle is found murdered in his locked studio, Spade discovers that the weapon was an old rifle aimed at Battle's usual painting position, and that Captain Theophilus Sherry—a sinister figure from Spade's past who is now pursuing Battle's beautiful foster daughter Chandra—may be involved in the crime.

Belvedere Island, a small island near San Francisco connected to the mainland by a causeway, and the surrounding area including the mainland and a neighboring property.

Characters: Sam Spade, Jonathan Battle, Chandra Leslie, Captain Theophilus Sherry, Bob Battle, Deputy Sheriff Bill Whittington, Marcus

Listen for: A clever locked-room murder mystery involving a crystal that refracts sunlight onto a rifle's trigger, and the revelation of a secret love and a hidden fortune in gold from a Himalayan monastery.

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.