Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: February 1, 1951 Suspense #414, "Fragile-Contents Death," Postmaster Jordan receives a chilling anonymous phone call that transforms an ordinary morning into a desperate race against time. The caller warns that a time bomb has been mailed to someone in town, set to detonate at 2:30 that afternoon—just five hours away. The deadly package will also explode if opened. When Jordan pr...

Originally Aired: January 25, 1951 Suspense #413, "Aria from Murder," opens with renowned opera baritone Niccolò Mazzini calling police headquarters from his dressing room at the Grandier Opera House between acts of Don Giovanni. He confesses to Lieutenant Morgan that he has committed murder, then proceeds to explain the events that led to his crime. Mazzini reveals his fatal weakness: his affair...

Originally Aired: January 18, 1951 Suspense #412, "The Well-Dressed Corpse," Ruth Franklin, a successful advertising executive and one of the ten best-dressed women in America, is found disheveled and incoherent in a Hell's Kitchen alley, wearing only a policeman's overcoat. When Captain Rourke questions her at the station, she confesses to murder. Through her account, Ruth reveals how her polishe...

Originally Aired: January 11, 1951 Suspense #411, "Vamp Till Dead," stars Ginger Rogers as Amy Watkins, a secretary who travels from New York to work for the brooding writer Paul Gentry at his isolated estate. From the moment she arrives, Amy finds herself drawn into an unsettling atmosphere. Gentry openly tells her that people believe he murdered his wife Isabel, whose body was found with a broke...

Originally Aired: January 4, 1951 In Suspense #410, "Alibi Me," small-time hustler Georgie finds himself in desperate trouble after a confrontation with his childhood rival Julie goes horribly wrong. When Julie muscles in on Georgie's punch board territory in their old Brooklyn neighborhood, Georgie storms into Julie's office for a showdown. Their lifelong hatred is well known to the police, parti...

Originally Aired: December 28, 1950 Suspense #409, "A Ring for Marya," John, a struggling immigrant store owner, presents his wife Maria with a beautiful diamond ring as part of his carefully orchestrated plan. Burdened by business failures and trapped in a loveless marriage to a woman he wed only for her father's money, John convinces Maria to commit insurance fraud by burning down their failing...

Originally Aired: December 28, 1950 Suspense #409, "A Ring for Marya," John, a struggling immigrant store owner, presents his wife Maria with a beautiful diamond ring as part of his carefully orchestrated plan. Burdened by business failures and trapped in a loveless marriage to a woman he wed only for her father's money, John convinces Maria to commit insurance fraud by burning down their failing...

Originally Aired: December 21, 1950 Suspense #408, "Christmas for Carole," Paul, a bank teller earning $48.50 a week, faces a desperate crisis when his pregnant wife Carol must stay bedridden for two months with round-the-clock nursing care costing more than his entire salary. As Christmas approaches, Paul watches money pass through his hands daily at the bank, feeling the mounting pressure of deb...

Originally Aired: December 14, 1950 Suspense #407, "A Killing in Abilene," stars Alan Ladd as Jeff Mander, a man who has traveled 300 miles from Abilene to find Lee Burridge, the man who murdered his brother Seth two years ago. Jeff arrives in Pleasant Valley just as the townspeople unearth the body of Fred Coston, beaten to death in the same brutal manner as Jeff's brother. The angry citizens, le...

Originally Aired: December 7, 1950 Suspense #406, "After the Movies," stars Ray Milland as Al Benig, a juror sequestered during a sensational trial. When Al and his wife Ann go to the movies during a brief recess, they stop at a local drugstore for ice cream. There, Al discovers an envelope containing ten thousand dollars and a cryptic, threatening note. The message reads: "This is your first half...

Originally Aired: November 30, 1950 Suspense #405, "The Lady in the Red Hat," features Van Heflin as Mitch Mitchell, a columnist whose provocative articles about a serial killer known as the Avenger have attracted unwanted attention. The Avenger has murdered five women in three months, each victim wearing something red. When Mitch receives an anonymous note inviting him to meet the Avenger at midn...

Originally Aired: November 23, 1950 Suspense #404, "Going, Going, Gone," finds married couple Wally and Jan Pindell caught up in an increasingly dangerous situation after a routine auction visit turns extraordinary. When Jan insists on bidding for a mysteriously sealed old trunk, Wally reluctantly agrees, thinking it's just another impulse purchase. They secure it for three dollars, but immediatel...

Originally Aired: November 16, 1950 Suspense #403, "On a Country Road," stars Cary Grant as David, who makes a fateful decision to take a shortcut with his wife Dorothy during a violent storm. As they drive through the desolate woods of Long Island, radio bulletins warn that Nellie Galler, a dangerous escaped mental patient who has already murdered multiple people with a meat cleaver, is loose in...

Originally Aired: November 9, 1950 In Suspense #402, "Blood on the Trumpet," Victor Roberts, a talented jazz trumpeter in New Orleans, finds himself under arrest for the brutal murder of his wife Sarah. As Sergeant Juno interrogates him, Vic recounts the deteriorating marriage that led to tragedy. Sarah constantly belittles his musical dreams, calling him a second-rate horn blower and a has-been,...

Originally Aired: November 2, 1950 Suspense #401, "The Victoria Cross," finds Captain Vale, a housemaster at the prestigious Hoxley School, trapped in a nightmare of his own making. Tormented by war memories and dependent on medication to escape his dreams, Vale struggles to maintain his position of authority and respectability. When he catches student Francis Aud passing exam answers to Giles Bat...

Originally Aired: October 26, 1950 Suspense #400, "Too Hot to Live," Jefferson Casey, an ex-Air Corps captain still wearing his old uniform, jumps off a freight train near Marcus Junction with nowhere to go and nothing to lose. When his worn boot starts falling apart on the hot tar road, he encounters Benjamin Maxwell, the local sheriff, who proves surprisingly friendly and helps him find a shoe r...

Originally Aired: October 19, 1950 Suspense #399, "The Wages of Sin," stars Barbara Stanwyck as Ruby Miller, a woman with a questionable past who returns to her apartment to find a murdered man bleeding on her rug. The victim is David Madlock, a man Ruby claims she's never met, yet he was shot to death in her living room and had a key to her apartment on his body. Captain Salvador doesn't believe...

Originally Aired: October 12, 1950 Suspense #398, "Rave Notice," presents Milton Berle as Sam, a passionate actor whose world crumbles when director Norman replaces him in the role of the bell ringer during rehearsals. After five days of work, Norman coldly dismisses Sam from the part that he believes carries the entire production, citing only that Sam isn't right for it and brutally telling him h...

Originally Aired: October 5, 1950 Suspense #397, "The Rose Garden," stars Miriam Hopkins as Mrs. Trimble, a recently widowed woman who arrives at her cousin Amy Hansen's home seeking refuge and a new start. With no family or friends left after her husband George's death, Effie hopes to find comfort in the quiet household. However, her arrival is met with immediate hostility from Amy's other lodger...

Originally Aired: September 28, 1950 Suspense #396, "Fly by Night," stars Joseph Cotten as Mickey Manning, a desperate man trapped in a nightmare of his own making. After being held without sleep for 72 brutal hours by Lieutenant Driscoll and Sergeant Cogan, Manning signs a confession to the murder of Leo Garvin just to be allowed to rest. But Manning didn't kill anyone. When he wakes, he realizes...

Originally Aired: September 21, 1950 Suspense #395, "The Crowd," Lieutenant Johnny Stilano investigates the murder of Edgar Dale, an ordinary man found stabbed to death on a New York City street in broad daylight. Within minutes of the killing, a mysterious crowd has gathered around the body, their faces pressed in to witness death. As Stilano begins his investigation, speaking with Dale's landlad...

Originally Aired: September 14, 1950 Suspense #394, "Over the Bounding Main," stars Dan Daly as Martin Evans, a down-on-his-luck husband whose strained marriage to his wife Claire reaches a breaking point. Claire constantly reminds Marty of his joblessness and compares their shabby life to the prosperity of their wealthy friends, the Warrens. She even throws barbs about her ex-husband Lou Barris,...

Originally Aired: August 31, 1950 Suspense #392, "True Report," Lieutenant Ben Kennedy receives what seems like a routine assignment from Captain Zoste: investigate a fatal hit-and-run accident that occurred at 3:30 in the morning on Center Street. A victim lies dead, struck by a dark-colored sedan that never stopped. Kennedy begins his investigation with the only witness, Jenny Thurston, a neighb...

Originally Aired: June 29, 1950 Suspense #391, "Love, Honor, or Murder," Helen and Harry Lewis face a life-changing decision when Harry, a struggling cab driver, discovers $12,000 in cash left behind by one of his regular passengers, Sidney Walker, a prominent news commentator. After seven years of disappointing marriage and financial hardship, Helen sees this as their chance to escape their miser...

Originally Aired: June 22, 1950 Suspense #390, "The One Millionth Joe," features Jack Carson as Al Gerzant, a public relations man who orchestrates a Fourth of July promotional stunt for the Bureau of Better Business Promotion. At the airport, Gerzant and his team wait to surprise the one millionth passenger through the gates with a lavish prize package including hotel accommodations, tickets, gif...