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

Mystery is My Hobby: Coin Collector’s Murder

·29 min·1 clip

A boomerang comes flying out of the trees before anyone knows who threw it.

1. Mystery Is My Hobby: Coin Collector's Murder follows Barton Drake and Inspector Noah Danton to Grant Parker's country house after a call about a Maria Theresa toller. 2. Barton Drake is the investigator and Noah Danton is the Inspector, and both matter because Parker thinks one of his weekend guests wants the coin. 3. The episode asks who on Parker's estate would use a boomerang, a rare coin, or a lie to get control of the toller. 4. Parker says he was knocked unconscious in his study, his room was ransacked, and the coin was not taken. 5. Drake and Danton find the driveway gate locked, walk through a side door, and hear a boomerang fly past them in the woods. 6. The first major crime scene is Sam Jenkins's body, found on the path with a blood-covered boomerang nearby. 7. Parker refuses to explain much at first, then later says he called Drake because he believed he was in grave danger. 8. Parker tells Drake that one of the guests is determined to get the Maria Theresa Parla, which he describes as a $10,000 50-cent piece. 9. Drake asks about Parker's wife Charity, because Parker is younger than her and the marriage becomes part of the motive discussion. 10. The house contains eight weekend guests, later reduced to seven after Sam Jenkins's death. 11. Drake has Parker bring the guests out to the lawn and asks them to throw boomerangs, turning the weapon into a practical test. 12. Charity Parker throws the boomerang, and it strikes Grant Parker on the side of the head instead of returning cleanly. 13. Osgood also throws, but his throw misses by about ten feet, which does not clear him as a suspect. 14. Parker says Charity once threw a boomerang in Africa while tiger hunting, and Drake immediately notes that there are no tigers in Africa. 15. That Africa detail becomes Drake's key clue, because it shows Parker's story about the boomerang and the tiger hunt does not fit. 16. Inspector Danton separately tells Drake that the guests seem to hate each other and spend their time collecting things and big-game hunting. 17. The tone stays brisk and comic, with Bart, Danton, and Parker trading remarks while the murder inquiry keeps tightening. 18. The format is a classic old-time radio detective story with long dialogue scenes, a few set-piece reveals, and a final explanation scene. 19. Listeners who like coin-collecting details, boomerang gimmicks, and radio-detective banter will fit this episode. 20. Listeners who want modern pacing or no period-style banter may skip it.

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