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Hard-boiled Detectives of Old Time Radio


Hard Boiled Detectives
Hardboiled Detective dramas as a literary genre gained popularity during the height of the Golden Age of Radio.

Some of the best Hardboiled Detective authors wrote stories which were adapted for old time radio. 

Hardboiled
Hard-boiled Detectives
An OTRCAT Original collection, a hard boiled detective can take a
beating like a manand still have a snarky well-constructed comment.
We've collection the toughest detectives in this mean collection.

Sam Spade
Sam Spade
Created by Dashiell Hammett, Howard Duff appears in this action-packed old time radio show full of dames, wisecracks, adventure, and laughs. 

Marlowe
Philip Marlowe

Raymond Chandler's action-packed hard boiled detective drama starring Vah Heflin and Gerald Mohr!


Pat Novak
Pat Novak
One of Jack Webb's earliest successful attempts at crime drama with enough hard-boiled metaphors to sink a ship!


Jeff Regan
Jeff Regan
The Ladies Love Jack Webb as a Private Eye! An OTRCAT Favorite!


Harry Lime Ad
The Adventures of Harry Lime (The Third Man)
Orson Welles played the lovable scoundrel Harry Lime in the film noir The Third Man, and later brought the role to radio in The Adventures of Harry Lime. Whether he is more lovable more scoundrel is open to debate, but he is always entertaining.


Box 13
Box Thirteen
Alan Ladd in Box 13 found adventures that did not depend on a new corpse every week. Dan Holiday, retired newspaper man turned fiction writer and adventurer extraordinaire. To gain ideas for his books, he places an ad in the paper "Adventure wanted – will go anywhere, do anything – Box 13."


Johnny Dollar
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
"The freelance investigator with the action-packed expense account" was one of the best and final old time radio detective series of the golden age of radio.


Richard Diamond
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Richard Diamond, Private DetectiveThis humorous and fun detective radio show, dealt with tough issue like murder and mystery. This collection also contains scripts, pictures, logs, and three recordings with introductions by Dick Powell.


Bold Venture
Bold Venture
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall appear in this great radio adventure


Big Town
Big Town
This popular crime drama chronicles the stories of diligent, sober champions of justice, Steve Wilson, initially played by Edward G Robinson.


Michael Shayne
The Adventures of Michael Shayne, Private Detective
Michael Shayne, "the reckless, red-headed Irishman" was a popular hard-boiled detective created by American crime novelist Brett Halliday.


Night Beat
Night Beat
Newspaperman Randy Stone finds hard-boiled adventure as he roams Chicago after dark in Night Beat, but he is played with such humanity by Frank Lovejoy that he and his stories generate genuine sympathy


Hammer Guy
That Hammer Guy
Of all of the hard-boiled detectives in fiction, the hardest-boiled was Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. Naturally, That Hammer Guy was going to end up on the radio, as it turned out he was a West Coast sensation over the Don Lee/Mutual network.


Rogue Gallery
Rogue's Gallery
Rogue's Gallery featured detective Richard Rogue (first played by Dick Powell) and his often annoying alter ego, Eugor.

Falcon
Adventures of the Falcon
The Falcon is full of hard hitting detective old time radio action.
Follow the shadowy detective, weary of police, out solving cases!

Looking for More
Searching for more? 
Want more detective old time radio shows?

Grab your magnifying glass and sleuth hat, because it's time to sniff out a slew of
slippery stories of crime, detectivity, and atomic espionage! 


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COMMENTS

I am so happy I found you. I tried to get some dvd’s from the library of Old Time Radio Shows … They do have a few, but not many. Then I began searching the internet and discovered Old Time Radio, your webpage. I love the detective shows and have a lot of them now. I re-cycle them and re-listen to them. I was born in 1936 and the radio was all we had for entertainment. Children growing up today would not know what I was talking about, since they are totally absorbed in their computers, smart phones, etc. I used to read a lot, however, Glaucoma has made it very difficult for my eyes to focus and I find it just doesn’t work for me to even try anymore. I can read short articles, but a whole book is really hard for me . My sleep patterns are not so good anymore and when I can’t sleep and wake up anxious, I turn on my MP3 player and list to a couple of shows. Just the right medicine. Thank you for being there. I am very pleased with the MP3’s

Lorine

I love ORCAT!

Patrick

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