The Adventures of Philip Marlowe was a radio series featuring Raymond Chandler's private eye, Philip Marlowe. Robert C. Reinehr and Jon D. Swartz, in their book, The A to Z of Old Time Radio, noted that the program differed from most others in its genre: "It was a more hard-boiled program than many of the other private detective shows of the time, containing few quips or quaint characters."

"The Tail of the Mermaid" & "The Open Window"

Philip Marlowe is pulled into a strange case involving a nightclub dancer known as "The Mermaid," whose shimmering act hides a dangerous secret. When a valuable item disappears and bodies begin to fall, Marlowe must navigate a world of backstage rivalries, jealous lovers, and a killer who uses misdirection as skillfully as any performer. The deeper Marlowe digs, the clearer it becomes that the Mermaid's "tail" is only the beginning of a much darker story.

• Marlowe is hired to recover a missing item tied to a nightclub performer.

• Backstage tensions reveal grudges, hidden relationships, and a motive for murder.

• A suspicious "accident" pushes Marlowe to dig deeper into the dancer's past.

• Clues point to a setup involving jealousy, greed, and a carefully planned double‑cross.

• Marlowe confronts the killer in a tense showdown that exposes the truth behind the Mermaid's glittering façade.

• The danger behind glamour and performance

• How jealousy can twist into violence

• Marlowe's ability to see through illusion and uncover the truth

A quiet evening turns deadly when Marlowe witnesses a murder through an open window — or so it seems. What follows is a tightly wound mystery involving a missing woman, a staged crime scene, and a cast of suspects who all have something to hide. As Marlowe pieces together the fragments of the case, he discovers that the "open window" is both a clue and a trap, designed to mislead anyone who looks too quickly. Only Marlowe's persistence and sharp instincts can reveal what really happened that night.

I 1948, the series moved to CBS, where it was called The Adventure of Philip Marlowe, with Gerald Mohr playing Marlowe. This series also began with an adaptation of "Red Wind", using a script different from the NBC adaptation. By 1949, it had the largest audience in radio. The CBS version ran for 114 episodes. That series ran 26 September 1948 – 29 September 1950..

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices