Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: August 9, 1945   In Suspense #153, “Murder for Myra,” Ernie Cobb falls under the spell of the alluring and volatile Myra Blair, a housewife trapped in a loveless marriage. When she confides her dreams of freedom—and hints that murder is the only escape—Ernie finds himself lured into a dark and deadly plot. As a plan to kill her husband unfolds with chilling precision, Ernie’s mor...

Originally Aired: August 2, 1945   In Suspense #152, “A Man in the House,” a dutiful daughter named Emily Barrett finds her quiet, dutiful life overturned when a scarred and dangerous intruder breaks into her home and refuses to leave. Trapped in a decaying house with a domineering invalid mother and a madman with a gun, Emily must maintain a façade of normalcy at work while secretly enduring a te...

Originally Aired: July 19, 1945   In Suspense #150, “Bank Holiday,” junior bank teller Jane Evans thinks the biggest challenge to her engagement with assistant manager Harold Osborne is the bank’s no-romance policy—until a routine Friday morning turns into a harrowing ordeal. When two armed robbers burst in and take her hostage, Jane is plunged into a day of blindfolded getaways, desert chases, an...

Originally Aired: July 12, 1945   In Suspense #149, “Footfalls,” blind cobbler Boaz Negro lives a quiet life with his delicate son, Manuel—until a charming bank clerk named Campbell Wood rents a room in their home. When a fire destroys the house, Wood is presumed dead, government funds vanish, and Manuel disappears, accused of murder and theft. Boaz insists his son is innocent and waits nine long...

Originally Aired: July 5, 1945 In Suspense #148, “The Last Detail,” George Coulouris stars as Professor Leland Moffat, a psychology expert who is lured from his quiet life into a bizarre underworld plot. A mysterious letter from Los Angeles invites him to review a groundbreaking experiment—but the “experiment” becomes a deadly game. Trapped by ruthless gangsters, a fake census taker, and a diaboli...

Originally Aired: June 28, 1945 In Suspense #147, “The Dealings of Mr. Markham,” Henry Daniell stars as the sinister and enigmatic Charles Markham, an antique dealer who has turned blackmail into a fine art. When desperate Judith Ray and her fiancé Ronald Gilbert confront Markham in his shadowy shop to end his threats, the night spirals into murder. But in a world of doubles and hidden motives, th...

Originally Aired: June 21, 1945 In Suspense #146, “The Story of Ivy,” Anne Richards stars as Ivy Lexton—a dazzling beauty driven by desperation, pride, and an unyielding hunger for luxury. Ivy’s charm masks her cold ambition as she leaps from the poverty of Soho into a marriage of convenience, only to find herself penniless, entangled with lovers, and consumed by envy. When an opportunity presents...

Originally Aired: June 14, 1945 In Suspense #145, “The Burning Court,” Clifton Webb stars in John Dickson Carr’s celebrated mystery, weaving a web of gothic intrigue, murder, and supernatural echoes from centuries past. When Ted Covington discovers a portrait of an infamous poisoner who is the spitting image of his young wife Marie, he’s drawn into a chilling conspiracy after his wealthy uncle die...

Originally Aired: June 7, 1945 In Suspense #144, “Two Sharp Knives,” a late-night poker game leads Chief of Police Scott Anderson and his loyal assistant Wally Shane straight into a tangled web of deceit, murder, and betrayal. When a wanted man from Philadelphia steps off the train in Deerwood, Anderson thinks he’s just doing his job. But the man—Lester Furman—is dead by morning, an apparent suici...

Originally Aired: May 31, 1945 In Suspense #143, “August Heat,” Ronald Colman stars as James Clarence Withencroft, a solitary artist who is struck by a sudden, inexplicable urge to sketch the face of a stranger. On an oppressively hot day, Withencroft wanders aimlessly through the city—only to stumble upon a monumental mason whose appearance matches his sketch exactly. When the mason reveals a gra...

Originally Aired: May 24, 1945 In Suspense #142, “My Own Murderer,” Herbert Marshall stars as Richard Sampson, a reserved solicitor whose world is upended when his old acquaintance Alan Rennick confesses to murder and begs for help. As Richard weaves a clever plan to save Alan—hiding him, faking a death, enlisting two women, and risking his own neck—he finds himself drawn deeper into a web of blac...

Originally Aired: May 17, 1945 In Suspense #141, “Two Birds with One Stone,” Dana Andrews stars as Walter Faber, a struggling playwright whose marriage has curdled into bitterness, suspicion, and emotional isolation. When his wife Eleanor vanishes during a rainy night after leaving a cryptic recorded message—and her faithful dog Tracy becomes the only silent witness—Walter’s world unravels into a...

Originally Aired: May 10, 1945 In Suspense #140, “Reprieve,” John Garfield stars as Steve Hannibal, a convicted killer waiting for execution—his only hope a last-minute legal reprieve. As he writes out his confession, Steve looks back on a life of crime, a fateful payroll heist, and the woman reporter who believed in his innocence and changed the course of his fate. Torn between old loyalties and...

Originally Aired: May 3, 1945 In Suspense #139, “Fear Paints a Picture,” Lana Turner stars as Julia Powell, a young heiress isolated in her family’s dark San Francisco mansion, tormented by strange dreams, sinister guardians, and a chilling portrait that seems to change each night. As her 23rd birthday—and her inheritance—draws near, Julia’s grip on sanity is tested by ghostly footsteps, whispered...

Originally Aired: April 19, 1945 In Suspense #138, “Pearls Are a Nuisance,” William Bendix and Alan Joslyn star in Raymond Chandler’s slyly comic tale of bumbling detectives, fake pearls, and one very inconvenient romance. When Mrs. Penruddock’s “priceless” pearl necklace vanishes, mild-mannered Walter Gage and the tough ex-chauffeur Henry Eichelberger form an unlikely duo to recover the loot. The...

Originally Aired: April 5, 1945 In Suspense #137, “A Guy Gets Lonely,” Dane Clark stars as Eddie Lewis—a lonely, struggling actor who falls for a beautiful stranger named Jolly after a chance meeting in a penny arcade. What starts as a whirlwind romance quickly turns into a nightmare of lies, mistaken identity, and murder. When Jolly disappears and Eddie is told she’s dead, he plunges into a web o...

Originally Aired: March 29, 1945 In Suspense #136, “The Taming of the Beast,” Nancy Kelly stars as Nora Van Ostrand, a beautiful and volatile heiress locked in a toxic marriage with Mark—and later, with the scheming Dr. Paul Ferrari (Helmut Dantine). When a violent argument leads to Mark’s supposed suicide, Nora quickly remarries her new lover, only to discover a fatal medical diagnosis is driving...

Originally Aired: March 22, 1945 In Suspense #135, “Heart’s Desire,” Lloyd Nolan stars as Henry Doyle, a man who spends his life chasing success and respectability, only to find himself lost in mediocrity and regret. After twenty years as a bank messenger, Henry’s dreams collapse—along with $50,000 in bank money that mysteriously disappears. Imprisoned for the crime, Henry clings to the memory of...

Originally Aired: March 15, 1945 In Suspense #134, “Cricket,” Margaret O’Brien stars as Florence, a lonely young girl haunted by memories of her brave dog Cricket, who gave his life to save her during a wartime bombing. Now living in a house rumored to be cursed, Florence refuses to leave—even as mysterious noises, burning smells, and the howls of an unseen dog unsettle everyone around her. Dame M...

Originally Aired: March 8, 1945 In Suspense #133, “Love’s Lovely Counterfeit,” Humphrey Bogart stars as Ben Grace—a tough, streetwise operator caught between rival gangsters, a crooked political machine, and a woman whose love might be his only hope for redemption. Adapted from the hardboiled novel by James M. Cain, this tale plunges deep into the seedy world of Lake City, where betrayal lurks beh...

Originally Aired: March 1, 1945 In Suspense #132, “My Wife Geraldine,” Edward G. Robinson stars as Mr. Graham—a mild-mannered bachelor whose imaginary wife, Geraldine, becomes a full-blown presence in his life and in the minds of everyone around him. When a series of innocent lies about his marital bliss snowball into a web of suspicion, Graham finds himself accused of being the notorious “Black W...

Originally Aired: February 22, 1945 In Suspense #131, “John Barbie and Son,” Thomas Mitchell stars as John Barbie, a grief-stricken father determined to keep a heartbreaking promise to his late wife: never to let their troubled son, Carl, be taken away to an institution. When a tragic accident brings authorities to their door, John and Carl go on the run, desperate to escape a system that neither...

Originally Aired: February 15, 1945 In Suspense #130, “Sell Me Your Life,” Lee Bowman stars as Joe Bland, a desperate ex-con standing on the brink of suicide—until a mysterious woman intervenes, offering him a second chance… for a price. But when Bland is swept into the mansion of a wealthy banker, he soon finds himself at the center of a murder, a missing fortune, and a web of lies involving the...

Originally Aired: February 8, 1945 In Suspense #129, “Tale of Two Sisters,” Claire Trevor and Nancy Kelly star as Clara and Adele, siblings bound by a childhood promise of eternal togetherness. As adults, jealousy and tragedy twist their lives—when Clara’s marriage drives a wedge between them, and a murder trial leaves Adele isolated and unstable. Years later, the sisters’ final, fevered confronta...

Originally Aired: February 1, 1945 In Suspense #128, “The Most Dangerous Game,” Joseph Cotten stars as Sanger Rainsford, a renowned hunter shipwrecked on the infamous Ship-Trap Island—where he discovers his host, the urbane General Zaroff (J. Carrol Naish), has devised the ultimate sport: hunting human beings. With every trick and trap at his disposal, Rainsford must survive a harrowing three-day...