Lawless Caper: The Adventures of Sam Spade (August 29, 1948)

“Lawless Caper” is an episode of The Adventures of Sam Spade, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 29, 1948. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private detective Sam Spade is hired by Johnny Lawless, recently paroled after three years in prison, to investigate a murder. Joe Morales, the man Lawless claims he took the rap for, is found dead in Lawless's apartment with four bullet wounds. When Spade agrees to help Lawless cover up the body temporarily, the corpse mysteriously disappears, forcing Spade to uncover the truth behind the killing and expose the web of betrayal connecting Lawless, his former fiancée Virginia Vale, and lawyer Sally Morales.

San Francisco, three years after the end of World War II, including Lawless's apartment, a nightclub called the Iberia, and various city locations.

Characters: Sam Spade, Johnny Lawless, Joe Morales, Virginia Vale, Sally Morales, Porky Grodd, Effie

Listen for: The clever plot mechanics of how Spade uses a disappearing body and accusations to manipulate suspects into revealing the truth; the explanation of the original hit-and-run frame-up from three years prior; the confrontation scene at the nightclub and police station.

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.