The Whistler: Classic Radio Drama

Episode 615: Incident at Pebble Cove

In “Incident at Pebble Cove,” corporate intrigue, a secret metals deal, and a love affair collide at a heavily guarded lodge where industrialist Elliot Bradley hopes to secure a rare mineral vital to national defense. But when his guest—Middle Eastern Metals executive Bernardo Nagashi—is seemingly killed in a hunting accident, panic erupts. Bradley fears the death will spark an international scandal and destroy the crucial Britannium negotiations. His ambitious secretary, Charles Reeves, seizes the moment, blackmailing Bradley for a promotion and a fortune in stock in exchange for “confessing” to the shooting. As the pressure mounts, a mysterious messenger arrives… followed by the real Nagashi himself, very much alive. The dead man was an impostor—an agent sent to assassinate Nagashi and frame Bradley. In a single jolt, Reeves’ scheme disintegrates, Bradley is vindicated, and the deception that threatened to topple the deal collapses under its own weight.

Episode 285: The Stolen Chance

In “The Stolen Chance,” Charles Vaughn is a draftsman with champagne dreams and an eight-dollar-a-week reality, desperately trying to win the heart of wealthy socialite Edith Settle. When his brilliant mentor Alex Gerber unveils a breakthrough in supersonic aviation—a pressurized pilot’s compartment—Charles sees his escape route. He claims the invention as his own, pitching it to industrial titan Martin Cross, but that lie traps him on a path he can’t walk back from. To pull it off, Charles murders Gerber and then races to Williston to silence Dr. Fisher, the only person who knows Gerber was the true inventor. But in a cruel twist, the “doctor” Charles kills is actually Fisher’s husband, and the real Dr. Fisher is very much alive—an unassuming woman who calmly tells police exactly who Charles is and why he killed. In the end, the opportunity Charles tried to steal becomes the evidence that destroys him.

Episode 288: Professor and the Fox

In “The Professor and the Fox,” attorney John Strickland is cornered both professionally and financially when a seemingly trivial negligence lawsuit threatens to expose the $80,000 he has secretly embezzled from his wealthy, long-time client, Mrs. Fremont. His only hope lies in Professor Greer, a mild-mannered chemist whose expert testimony could dismiss the suit instantly. But when Greer unexpectedly discovers the real cause of the caretaker’s wife’s death—a finding that would lose Strickland the case and expose his crimes—Strickland panics and murders him, staging the professor’s car crash as an accident. Moments later, police arrive with stunning news: the caretaker, Benson, has confessed not only to killing his own wife but also to murdering Professor Greer. Strickland relaxes, believing he’s safe, until one final detail drops the floor out from under him—Benson planted a bomb inside Greer’s briefcase, meaning the professor died before Strickland ever touched him. The man Strickland thought he killed was already dead, and the explosion Benson describes proves Strickland is lying, trapping him in the very confession he never made.

Episode 310: Lady in Waiting

In “Lady in Waiting,” gifted violinist Victor Carroll returns from the war carrying a secret far darker than the one his wife fears. Hidden in his black box is a priceless Del Gesù violin he murdered an old Italian maestro to steal, and the guilt and obsession have been eating at him ever since. As Victor prepares for the most important audition of his life, the strain pushes him to the edge—he isolates himself, lashes out at Peggy, and guards the violin with a paranoid, violent fervor. When Peggy accidentally tampers with the box, Victor snaps and confesses the killing she never imagined he could commit. Still, he clings to the hope that playing under the great Dr. Krueitz will redeem him. But the moment he steps onstage for his triumphant debut, detectives waiting in the wings move in. The concerto he thought would launch his career becomes his final performance, as the past he tried to bury finally claims him in front of a packed concert hall.

Episode 446: Flee From Evil

In “Flee from Evil,” Uncle Bert Macklin believes he’s finally freed himself from a blackmailer—until a private investigator named Sid Hawker shows up to reveal the “murder” Bert paid his nephew Freddy to commit was actually staged. Now Hawker demands even more money, claiming to represent the real blackmailer who knows Bert killed a former associate. As paranoia spreads through the household, Freddy realizes Bert’s fear threatens his own promised inheritance, and he hatches a ruthless plan: learn the blackmailer’s phone number by counting the clicks on Hawker’s dial, then kill Hawker and force a profitable partnership with the blackmailer himself. But when Bert confronts Freddy at Hawker’s office, convinced his nephew is behind everything, Freddy makes the fatal mistake of dialing the number to prove his innocence. The call reaches the time service—not a person—proving Hawker was the blackmailer all along. Bert mistakes Freddy’s desperation for betrayal, pulls the trigger, and ends the scheme, leaving Freddy destroyed by the very trap he tried to manipulate.

Episode 447: Three Wise Guys

In “Three Wise Guys,” ticket scalper Al recalls a Christmas Eve adventure that forever changed him, Blandy Swanson, and the Dutchman. What began as a simple plan to dig up a hidden $50,000 payroll stolen in a factory job turns into something entirely different when the trio follows a “guiding star” to a lonely Pennsylvania barn. Inside they find Blandy’s old flame, Clarabelle Cobb, in labor and alone, abandoned while her innocent husband sits in jail for the Dutchman’s crime. As the Dutchman delivers the baby and Blandy learns the truth, the three crooks are unexpectedly moved to compassion. Instead of grabbing the hidden cash and running, they secretly hand every dollar to the local doctor to free Clarabelle’s husband and give the new family a fresh start. On their way out of town, a near arrest makes them realize just how narrowly they escaped disaster. By the end of the night, the “three wise guys” choose to straighten out their lives—touched by a small miracle in a Bethlehem far different from the one in scripture.

Episode 450: The Little Things

In “The Little Things,” ex-con Johnny Larson steps out of prison determined never again to overlook the small details that once got him caught. He falls in with Eddie—an old acquaintance planning a $200,000 bank heist—and immediately senses the setup: Johnny is meant to be the fall guy. With the help of Eddie’s uneasy girlfriend Laura, Johnny uncovers the double-cross and quietly prepares his own. After using Laura’s covert photos to crack the bank’s ancient alarm system, Johnny locks Eddie and his men inside the vault, sealing their fate. Then, deciding Laura can’t be trusted either, he murders her on a deserted highway and drives off with his cut. But the one “little thing” he never counted on is the tiny camera hidden in Laura’s purse. She snapped a picture at the exact moment he pulled the trigger, and that single photograph leads authorities straight to him—an ironic end for a man who built his entire escape on paying attention to the details.

Episode 451: Treasure Hunt

In “Treasure Hunt,” drifter Robert Bolton steps off a train in the tiny town of Redmond and immediately sees opportunity in the Randolph sisters, two reclusive women rumored to be sitting on a hidden $200,000 fortune left behind by their eccentric grandfather. He charms the lonely, eager Martha and convinces her to steal the cryptic verse supposedly pointing to the money’s location. Together they follow the riddle to an old cooling shed—only for Robert to discover too late that the treasure is nothing but worthless securities. When Evie, the domineering sister, exposes the truth and orders him out, Robert panics, leaving behind both Martha and the plan he thought would make him rich. But before he can flee town, Evie dies after taking the rat poison Robert purchased earlier, and Sheriff Conway corners him with a brutal ultimatum: face a murder charge built on ironclad circumstantial evidence, or stay in Redmond for life as Martha’s devoted husband. Trapped by his own scheme, Robert chooses the only future left to him—a prison without bars.

Episode 573: Blue Alibi

In “Blue Alibi,” city treasurer John Sheridan is drowning in corruption, stuck in a payoff racket with mob-connected contractor broker Frank Devon and suffocating under his ambitious wife Edith’s political expectations. When Edith discovers the scheme and threatens to expose everything unless John cuts ties with Devon and ends an affair, she unknowingly seals her fate. Devon refuses to let John walk away—and makes it clear Edith will have to be silenced. Cornered by both his wife’s ultimatum and Devon’s threats, John crafts a meticulous murder plan. He stages a clay-sculpting alibi in the beach cottage, times Edith’s solitary evening swim, and drowns her in the tub before dumping her body in the ocean. The autopsy confirms drowning with no struggle, and the police accept the death as accidental. But John doesn’t realize the small detail that will undo him: the wet, blue fingerprint he left on his sculpture during the murder window. When the police return with questions, that tiny smear becomes the loose thread that will unravel his perfect alibi.

Episode 679: Two Lives of Colby Fletcher

In “The Two Lives of Colby Fletcher,” ambitious chemist Colby Fletcher builds his entire life around a single scheme: fake his own death in a laboratory explosion, let his wife collect the $100,000 insurance payout, then reunite with her somewhere far from East Riverton. To pull it off, he carefully cultivates a reputation for dangerous experimental work, pressures his wealthy backers into temporary high-value insurance, and begins hunting for the perfect patsy—an unknown young man who could die in the blast and be mistaken for him. As the deadline on his temporary coverage ticks down, panic drives Colby to reckless improvisation: he runs down a stranger on the highway and brings him to the lab as a last-minute substitute. But the plan collapses when the man reveals he’s a fugitive and tries to steal Colby’s car. While he’s dragged outside by police who recognize the stolen vehicle, the phone call Colby wired to trigger the explosion goes through—detonating the lab and killing only the imposter inside. With his car impounded, his alibi shattered, and the insurance payout now impossible, Colby watches the life he planned so meticulously blow apart in an instant.