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If you are listening to this classic case featured on the Hastings Mystery Theater, the audio podcast presentation opens with the signature introductory breakdown by host Randall Schaefer: "While searching the wreckage, Charlie Chan recovers Colby's personal diary, which reveals that multiple attempts had recently been made on the heir's life. Chan travels to the family's San Francisco mansion to investigate. In the meantime, the family matriarch, Henrietta Lowell—a devout believer in 'psychic research'—arranges a séance to determine if her nephew is dead or alive."

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The Girl Who Dared is a fast-paced 1944 film-noir mystery about a group of strangers stranded by a storm in an isolated mansion, where they must survive a shadowy killer while uncovering a secret stash of stolen radium....as presented by our host and mystery master Randall Schaefer

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The Bishop Murder Case is a classic 1930 pre-Code mystery film starring Basil Rathbone as detective Philo Vance tracking a serial killer who stages crimes based on nursery rhymes, and this special presentation will be introduced by Randall Schaefer.

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MYSTERY/THRILLER/WHODUNIT/PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA

French police inspector Maigret investigates the murder of a wealthy Paris widow and her maid and ends up chasing the killer up the girders of the Eiffel Tower.

• Directors
  • Burgess Meredith
  • Irving Allen
  • Charles Laughton
• Writers
  • Harry Brown
  • Georges Simenon
• Stars
  • Charles Laughton
  • Franchot Tone
  • Burgess Meredith

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Hastings Mystery Theater is a Michigan-based vintage cinema program hosted by Randall Schaefer (the "Mystery Master"), who provides historical trivia and context for classic whodunnits and film noir on YouTube

One of the show's featured films is the 1946 British classic "Green for Danger." Directed by Sidney Gilliat, this World War II-era thriller follows the eccentric Inspector Cockrill (played by Alastair Sim) as he investigates a string of murders at a rural emergency hospital, beginning with a postman who dies mysteriously on the operating table. The film is highly celebrated for its clever blend of dark wartime tension and witty suspense.

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As seen on Hastings Mystery Theater (YouTube) with a movie introduction by Randall Schaefer

The Stranger (1946), a relentless United Nations war crimes investigator named Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) tracks an escaped Nazi mastermind, Franz Kindler (Orson Welles), to a sleepy Connecticut town where the fugitive has reinvented himself as a respected prep school professor named Charles Rankin. To solidify his new identity and secure a perfect cover, Kindler marries Mary Longstreet (Loretta Young), the unsuspecting daughter of a Supreme Court Justice. When a former associate arrives begging for spiritual redemption, Kindler brutally murders him to protect his secret, triggering an intense psychological cat-and-mouse game with the suspicious Wilson. As the walls close in and his frantic paranoia escalates, Kindler plots to eliminate his increasingly doubtful wife, culminating in a legendary, deadly showdown atop the town's historic clock tower.

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"The Mad Scientist Caper" (Episode 109), a famous but highly eccentric and slightly unhinged inventor named Raymond Fox hires private eye Sam Spade. Fox claims that a powerful corporate executive, Alfred Grierson of Grierson Enterprises, has stolen his groundbreaking secret formula for "Pentron"—a revolutionary new plastic that is stronger than lead but lighter than aluminum.

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"The Missing Newshawk Caper" (Episode 108 of The Adventures of Sam Spade, July 18, 1948), cantankerous newspaper publisher A. M. Youngblood hires private detective Sam Spade (played by Howard Duff) for a highly confidential assignment. The newspaper's star crime reporter, Ray McCully, has been missing for two days while aggressively pursuing an anti-racketeering exposé targeting underworld syndicate bosses. Instructed to keep the police out of the matter, Spade tracks McCully's trail from the city newsroom deep into the criminal underworld—only to ultimately discover that the missing reporter has been stabbed to death. Spade must then navigate treacherous racketeers and hidden motives to unravel the murder and complete his report for his faithful secretary, Effie (Lurene Tuttle).