Drama - Old Time Audio · Various Authors

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar - The Madison Matter

March 19, 2026·31 min·1 clip

They used a dead girl's body to fake Thelma's death and collect $10,000.

Johnny Dollar takes an expense-account case tied to Thelma Madison. He flies from New York to Los Angeles. After he arrives, he sleeps through part of the day, then gets back to work. Paul Dupre sends a folder with front and side photographs, fingerprints, and handwriting samples for Thelma Walker. The paperwork gives the assignment some shape before Dollar has spoken to anyone. He rents a car so he can move around a very big Los Angeles. His first solid lead comes from a woman named Quincy. He finds her while she is trying to finish dinner in a hurry. Quincy is polite, but clearly pressed for time. Dollar shows her the photo and asks whether she knows the woman. Quincy recognizes the face as Thelma Madison. She says Thelma was Frank Madison's wife. She also says Thelma died suddenly about a year or so earlier. Quincy explains that she used to play bridge with Thelma and go shopping with her. She adds that she once worked for Dr. Madison as a receptionist. Dollar keeps pressing on how well she knew the woman. He wants to know whether she is absolutely sure about the identification. Quincy says she is sure. Dollar then reveals that her name was on a list. He tells her someone expected her to recognize the picture. That turns the interview into a more guarded exchange. The case now leans on why Thelma Madison's death is being questioned and what the recognition means. The old radio pacing stays brisk, with dialogue carrying most of the suspense. The result is a procedural noir built from recognition, doubt, and a paper trail that keeps getting harder to trust.

As heard by us

An insurance case, a dead woman's identity, and a mystery that tightens as the questions do.

This Johnny Dollar case keeps a tidy hardboiled edge: an insurance investigator heads from New York to Los Angeles to untangle why a woman said to be dead still has a face a witness thinks he knows.

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Why you'd press play

You follow Johnny Dollar to Los Angeles on a dead woman's file, with photos, fingerprints, and handwriting in hand.

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