This radio drama uses AI-generated writing, voices, music, sound effects and artwork. All spoken performances in this edition use ElevenLabs V4.

Who emptied the embassy's code room while smoke filled the upper floors?

Listen as a podcast, with full transcripts: https://mono-noir.transistor.fm/

London, October 1979. On a wet Tuesday night a cipher clerk from the American Embassy in Moscow pushes her way up to Baker Street. In August a fire swept the embassy's upper floors; when the smoke cleared, a code cabinet she had left open was found empty, and a State Department board sitting in London on Monday means to send her home in disgrace. The officer who had the watch that night has a suspect of his own in mind, and the only clue is a single black kid glove from a Bond Street maker, found beside the cabinet.

From the series Sherlock Holmes — The New Cases: a real Cold War case of the 1970s reimagined as a classic Sherlock Holmes radio mystery, performed by a full multi-voice AI cast, with sound design and a light score that stays under the story.

Loosely inspired by real events. All names, characters, dialogue and events are fictional; the words, actions, motives and private lives of every character — including the embassy staff, the diplomats, the Soviet officials and the police — are invented for drama, and so is the solution of the mystery. This is a work of fiction, not a factual account of any real person or institution. No real person is portrayed, and no real individual or organisation is accused of any act shown here.

Setting: London — autumn 1979.

Directed Edition: the same story, newly performed line by line with a directing pass for every voice: each actor's delivery is chosen for the moment, from a dry aside to a held breath.

Writer v2.7 — the studio's newest writing process: the plot is planned and checked by an AI story editor, then each act is drafted with the whole story in view and edited before a word is voiced.

Chapters:
0:00 A Final Demand at Baker Street
2:54 The Door on the Chain
4:29 Four Flights of Back Stairs
5:52 A Creased Yellow Sheet
7:30 The Green Safe
9:18 A Fresh Ribbon on the List
10:46 The Interpreter's Answer
12:25 Fogged Windows on the Hill
13:43 A Hand of Patience
14:40 News Off the Moscow Plane
16:28 A Coat Worn Indoors
18:07 Friday's Aerovost
19:17 The Interview Room
20:52 The Late Yes
22:23 The Station Yard at Five
23:16 First Light, Engine Running
24:44 Rain in Her Hair
26:02 A Gas Fire Without a Quarrel

#MonoNoirRadioDrama #AudioDrama