Mystery is My Hobby Presented by the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio · Adam Graham Radio Detective Podcasts

Mystery is My Hobby: Boston for Christmas

·29 min·1 clip

Jimmy says his father "murdered a man last night" on Beacon Street.

1. Mystery is My Hobby: Boston for Christmas follows Barton Drake and Inspector Noah Gandy to Beacon Hill in Boston on Christmas Eve. 2. Barton Drake and Inspector Noah Gandy matter because Drake investigates and Gandy supplies the skeptical police-side banter. 3. The episode asks whether Noah Christian really committed murder or whether the confession is hiding something else. 4. Jimmy Christian stops Drake on the street and says his father "murdered a man last night" near Beacon Street. 5. Jimmy brings up his sister Mary, his dead brother Joe, and their father's habit of spending time at Harry's Bar. 6. Noah Christian believes he should give himself up to police before Christmas is over. 7. Drake says the dead man on Beacon Street may have been attacked in self-defense rather than murdered. 8. Christian's grief over Joe, who was reported killed in action, becomes part of the pressure inside the apartment. 9. Drake tells Christian he is "affecting a pose" and acting like a "weakling and a coward" to win sympathy. 10. The story then shifts to Harry's Bar, where Harry describes Charles Augustus as a troublemaker who started fights. 11. Harry says Charlie made a crack about Joe Christian and then left the bar after the fight. 12. Officer Clancy says he found the body on Beacon Street and assumed it was a hit-and-run case. 13. Drake takes Clancy back to the spot and asks him to identify the street corner from the snow-covered signs. 14. The location test matters because Boston streets and the river route affect where the body was actually found. 15. An autopsy later shows Charles Augustus died of heart attack and exposure, not from the original fight. 16. Drake uses that report to clear Noah Christian and explain why the police conclusion was wrong. 17. The episode mixes Christmas customs, street-level investigation, and blunt argument rather than hardboiled violence. 18. The energy stays conversational, with Drake, Gandy, and Clancy trading sharp lines and small jokes. 19. Listeners who like old-time radio mysteries with Christmas atmosphere and procedural banter. 20. Listeners who want fast action or no holiday setting.

As heard by us

A Christmas mystery turns a murder confession into a sharp study of grief and self-deception.

The episode starts with a man saying he murdered someone, then keeps pressing on that confession until it feels less like guilt than something harder to pin down. Mr. Christian, the inspector, and Mr.

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Why you'd press play

You want a Christmas mystery built around a confession the inspector clearly does not buy.

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