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

Mystery is My Hobby: Lake George Murder

·32 min·2 clips

Dr. Morrow says he “was a fool to think I could get away with it,” then calls it self-defense.

1. Mystery is My Hobby’s “Lake George Murder” follows Barton Drake and Inspector Noah Danton after a roadside death near Lake George. 2. The episode features host Adam Graham introducing the program and framing the title before the story begins. 3. The core question is how a body beside a muddy road connects to Dr. Charles Morrow, Hala Knight, Horace Graham, and Terry Knight. 4. Charles Morrow tells Horace Graham that his heart is “quite bad” and that “any unusual exertion would prove fatal.” 5. Horace says he is an engineer and cannot stop working, which makes the diagnosis a direct threat to his future. 6. Morrow and Hala Knight also discuss Horace’s long-ago marriage proposal and her decision to marry neither him nor anyone else at that time. 7. Terry Knight arrives with a shoulder wound, says he was shot, and admits he “knocked off that payroll clerk.” 8. Terry pressures Hala by threatening to expose his identity and by reminding her that he is a jailbird’s brother. 9. Charles overhears the conversation, Hala insists she did not refuse Horace because of Terry, and the room escalates into a confrontation. 10. Barton and Danton later find a man lying beside the road at about 2 a.m. in the mud near Lake George. 11. Horace Graham is the only local who can direct them to Dr. Morrow’s house, which makes his appearance around the scene important. 12. The doctors and detectives notice that the supposed hit-and-run victim has no bruises but does have a bandage under his shirt. 13. Barton points out that the man’s shoulder wound is already healing and that the second bullet hole is what actually killed him. 14. He also compares footprints in the mud and concludes that the body was carried and dropped to imitate a car accident. 15. Dr. Morrow is caught with one shoe muddy and the other clean, after he had come down in stocking feet earlier that night. 16. Barton explains that the mismatch happened because Morrow switched shoes with the victim in the dark and later burned the cloth used to clean them. 17. The final explanation centers on a mistaken shot fired when Charles thought the wounded man was reaching for a gun. 18. The tone mixes hard-boiled banter, procedural deduction, and melodramatic family pressure around Hala Knight and Terry Knight. 19. Listeners who like classic radio mysteries, clue chains, and Barton's deductions will get the most from it. 20. Listeners who want fast pacing without long clue explanations may skip it.

As heard by us

A brisk old-radio murder puzzle that keeps the obvious answer from sticking.

"Lake George Murder" opens with a body that looks like a hit-and-run case, then changes shape once the bullet hole and the second wound come into view. The piece works because it holds back the obvious answer and lets the facts do the undoing.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a murder mystery that starts with a bad hit-and-run explanation and then turns on the body, the bandages, and the bullet holes.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Mystery is My Hobby Presented by the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio