Uncle Erich Presents™ - Classic Radio Shows, Crime, Suspense, Murder Mysteries · Uncle Erich

Uncle Erich Presents™ - Richard Diamond - Private Detective - "Death and The Package" (1950)

·30 min·1 clip

Titus explains that Kali is tied to the Tugs, an assassin cult led by Mother Kali.

1. Uncle Erich Presents™ airs Richard Diamond, Private Detective, in the 1950 episode "Death and the Package." 2. Dick Powell voices Richard Diamond, a wisecracking former police officer turned private detective, while Helen and Lieutenant Walt appear as recurring contacts in the case. 3. The episode asks why a man would die delivering a package and why a carved ivory statue called Kali is worth killing for. 4. William Logan rushes into Diamond's office, says he is being followed, and leaves a package before collapsing dead with a bullet hole in his back. 5. Lieutenant Walt arrives, checks the scene, and treats the package as evidence while Diamond keeps control of the office door. 6. A young man with red hair, freckles, and black-rimmed glasses forces his way in, and Diamond disarms him after a struggle. 7. Diamond later identifies the dead man as William Logan, and Walt says Logan was a merchant seaman. 8. Diamond keeps the carved ivory figure, describing it as a woman with six arms, then hides it inside the piano in his apartment. 9. Leopold Titus enters Diamond's apartment, offers $10,000 for Kali, and says Logan came to Diamond with the statue earlier that day. 10. Charles, Titus's associate, follows Titus's instructions, points a gun at Diamond, and presses him for the statue's location. 11. Ahmed Beneef appears later, wearing a white turban, and says he has been following Titus because the statue was stolen from him. 12. Beneef ties himself to a group he calls the Tugs and says he will kill Diamond if Kali is not returned. 13. Walt later tells Diamond that the gun taken from Charles was the one that killed the man in Diamond's office. 14. Walt also says the dead man, William Logan, landed yesterday on the Queen of India out of Calcutta. 15. Diamond checks the East India Steamship offices, finds Titus and Charles listed on the passenger list, and then tracks Titus to Kew Gardens, Long Island. 16. At Titus's house, Diamond finds Titus wounded, Charles dead on the floor, and Beneef in control of the room. 17. Titus explains that Kali belongs to the Tugs, a cult of assassins once suppressed by the British in 1830. 18. Titus says Kali is the symbol of the Tugs' leadership and that he would do anything to keep its possession. 19. The episode uses fast verbal sparring, threat-heavy confrontations, and Diamond's repeated wisecracks to keep the pace moving. 20. Listeners who like classic radio detective stories with stolen artifacts and gangland pressure should enjoy this; listeners wanting subtle pacing or minimal banter may skip it.

As heard by us

A brisk detective case built around a missing ivory statue and sharp banter.

Richard Diamond is drawn into a case built around a missing small hand-carved ivory statue called Kali, a demanding client, and a chain of clipped exchanges that keep the mystery moving.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a wisecracking private detective, a missing small ivory statue, and a case that turns stubborn fast.

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