Softboiled Detectives

We like to assume that Old Time Radio fans are salt-of-the-earth types, hard-working and honest sorts who would never consider short-changing a customer, let alone more nefarious crimes like robbery, embezzling, burglary, or, heavens forbid, murder!

However, all the evidence points to the fact that Crime Dramas are one of the most popular forms of the Old Time Radio experience. Of course, it is not the crimes that listeners tune in to hear, it is the exploits of the heroic (if sometimes flawed) crime fighters, the detective. When we mention Radio Detective stories, the first image that comes to mind is the gum-shoed refugee from pulp magazines, the Hard-Boiled Detective.

Softboiled Detectives are also known as golden age detectives and the term "softboiled" is in response to Hardboiled detectives though some detectives don't neatly fit in either category.  Softboiled Detective fiction tends to focus more on plot twist and development sometimes called a whodunit as the audience solves the crime along with the detective. 

An important feature of hard boiled detectives is the boilerplate conditions that made them so Hard-boiled in the first place. It may have been a series of tough breaks, perhaps time in the military, or a fall from fortune, but most likely there was a dame involved. Although the process of hard-boiling has taken a lot from our noir-ish hero, it has left behind an admirable toughness which is only matched by the gumshoe's code of honor and justice.

As heroic (or anti-heroic) as Hard-Boiled Detectives are, the rough-and-tumble (not to mention often blatantly sexual) nature of the genre is hardly the sort of fare sponsors of Network Radio would want their names attached to. In comparison, however, a Softboiled Detective would come off as hopelessly milquetoast, or would he?

In recent years, the Softboiled Detective story has been reimagined as the "Cozy Mystery". "Cozies" eschew many of the troupes found in Hard-boiled stories; the investigator is usually an amateur, and even though he is hunting for someone guilty of murder-most-foul, even the crook is usually a sympathetic character who will, when his or her guilt is proven, give up willingly to the authorities. This means no gunplay, little or no fisticuffs, and is reduced to perhaps a hug and a peck-on-the-cheek.

This begs the question: without violence and sex, why would anyone tune in to hear a Softboiled "Cozy" Mystery? The answer lies in the Whodunit puzzle that makes mystery stories such a mystery. It is a contest of wits between gentlefolk, and if there was any premeditation then the murderer has done their best to have created "the perfect crime". Only the intelligence, powers of observation, and deductive energy of the investigator could hope to stop them.

Is a Softboiled Investigator always going to be milquetoast? In comparison to a scruffy-cheeked hombre with his fedora pulled down low, eternally bruised knuckles, and a .38 snub-nosed revolver tucked under his jacket, maybe. However, the "Cozy" Detective still observes a code which dictates that bad men should be punished.

The Softboiled genre can be even more complex than the Hard-boiled. The most celebrated Softboiled Detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes, could be described as more "prickly" than "Cozy", although he definitely uses his brain more than his fists. Nero Wolfe leaves the action to his assistant, Archie, but still engages his intellect to bring down the crooks. In The Thin Man, Nora does the snooping while Nick does the brain work. Mr. Keen is another investigator who leans more on his wits than his fists.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is considered the archetype of the classic detective using his keen mind and deductive reasoning skills to solve crime.  The Softboiled Detective is often cultured and not in need of physical domination to defeat his opponent.  Nero Wolfe used only his mind and his assistant to solve crime and could even tackle cases without leaving his office or his orchid collection.  Vincent Price as The Saint kept fighting to a minimum and relied on "Louie" the Brooklyn Cab Driver to keep him street smart.  Other Softboiled Detectives include: Hercule Poirot, Thin Man, Nick Carter, Mr. Keen, and Adventures of the Abbotts. 

For a change of detectives, see also: Hardboiled Detectives and Defective Detectives,