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

Mystery is My Hobby: Robert’s Rubber Company

·34 min·2 clips

A clandestine confrontation centers on a two-cents-a-pound rubber deal tied to Estrieto.

1. Mystery Is My Hobby: Robert's Rubber Company is framed by Adam Graham as likely airing in April or May 1945 during the San Francisco conference. 2. Adam Graham hosts from Boise, Idaho, introduces the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio, and points listeners to box13 at greatdetectives.net. 3. The episode uses a conference setting, a rubber-company dispute, and a missing formula to connect wartime politics with a murder investigation. 4. Calvin Roberts pressures Maureenie to sign a rubber agreement that would raise the price by two cents a pound. 5. Maureenie argues that the offer would leave Estrieto in 'virtual bondage' and block real freedom of trade. 6. Maureenie says his people are already aware of the offer, and he refuses to sign the agreement for Roberts. 7. Roberts accuses Maureenie of dealing with Jim Seymour and then threatens to stop the formula from reaching the assembly. 8. Barton Drake and Inspector Noah Denton arrive at the San Francisco conference, where '50 nations are represented' and the entourage includes Arabs and Indians. 9. Carmelita Jacinto tells them her cousin Alfredo Morini, Secretary of the Interior of Estrella, has been shot and the formula has disappeared. 10. Drake and Denton inspect Morini's room, where they find a bullet hole, a gun in the right hand, and signs that the place was ransacked. 11. The pair conclude that Morini was murdered, not a suicide, because the powder marks indicate the bullet entered from the left. 12. Drake identifies Calvin Roberts and James Seymour as rubber manufacturers who benefited from keeping Estrieto's raw material under their terms. 13. Drake also treats Senorita Jacinto as a suspect and asks Denton to visit Roberts while he questions Mrs. Seymour. 14. Mrs. Seymour says her husband left for Chicago that morning, but Drake later learns Seymour did not leave until an hour after Morini died. 15. In the confrontation, Roberts, Mrs. Seymour, Carmelita, Drake, and Denton all trade accusations about who had the formula and who had been in Morini's room. 16. Drake reveals that the formula was in Inspector Danton's pocket only because he placed it there himself as bait. 17. That ruse draws the person who actually stole the formula into the room, and Drake identifies Mrs. Seymour as the one who lied about the Chicago trip. 18. The ending leaves a final clue about Bolivia, a hacienda, and the lack of a coastline, which explains how Drake sorted out the false story. 19. The performance is a fast, dialogue-heavy detective serial with comic banter between Barton Drake and Inspector Noah Denton. 20. Listeners who like old-time radio mystery, wartime settings, and clue-driven deductions should listen; listeners wanting slow modern pacing may skip it.

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