Nick Carter Presented by the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio · Adam Graham Radio Detective Podcasts

Nick Carter: The Case of the Classical Clue

April 17, 2026·29 min·2 clips

Nick Carter frees Morgan Fenwick from jail because Fenwick said the knife was in Worth's heart — but the victim was stabbed in the throat.

1. This episode of 'Nick Carter, Master Detective' presents the 1948 radio drama 'The Case of the Classical Clue,' introduced and framed by host Adam Graham of the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio podcast. 2. Host Adam Graham presents the show from Boise, Idaho, and promotes his books 'All I Needed to Know I Learned from Dragnet' and its Columbo predecessor before playing the episode. 3. The episode's central hook is a murder solved via a radio broadcast schedule: Nick Carter uses the difference between classical and swing programming to pinpoint the murder window. 4. Millionaire Henry Worth is found stabbed in his mountain home outside New York after his nephew Don and ward Claudia Rowe return from a night in the city. 5. Nick Carter, played by Lon Clark, is hired by Claudia Rowe and arrives with his assistant Patsy Bowen to find four suspects: Don Worth (nephew), Claudia (ward), Morgan Fenwick (Claudia's fiancé), and Carl Franklin (secretary fired over a romantic dispute). 6. Morgan Fenwick had received a telegram from Worth summoning him to the house at 11 p.m. the night of the murder — and a glove found in the driveway, stiffened by rain, places him at the scene. 7. Nick arrests Fenwick on strong circumstantial evidence but immediately tells Patsy the man is innocent, setting up the episode's main tension. 8. In jail, Fenwick reveals he arrived before 10 p.m. and heard swing music — specifically 'Bongo Bongo' by Riff Jackson — on Worth's radio, despite Worth's lifelong refusal to allow anything but classical music in his home. 9. Station WXKX's broadcast log confirms 'Civilization' (also called 'Bongo Bongo') played at exactly 9:53 p.m. on the swing program, corroborating Fenwick's account. 10. The inconsistency — classical music heard when witnesses left and when they returned, but swing during the three hours in between — leads Nick to conclude Worth was drugged and unconscious during the swing hours. 11. The real killer is Don Worth, who drugged his uncle's coffee at 7:30 p.m., placed him unconscious behind a sofa, then stabbed him while Claudia was in the hall phoning police after they returned at midnight. 12. Don's motive was double: Worth had been planning to disinherit Don after a quarrel over forcing Claudia to marry Don; Don also sent the telegram to Fenwick to create a fall guy. 13. A rock slide on the mountain road nearly kills Nick and Patsy on their return to the Worth home — Nick identifies this as deliberately triggered by Don after overhearing Nick's phone call to the chief. 14. Nick proves Fenwick's innocence through the critical detail that Fenwick said the knife was in Worth's 'heart' while the actual wound was in the throat, proving Fenwick never saw the body. 15. The solution requires two pieces of deduction: the radio schedule placing Worth unconscious from 8-11 p.m. and Fenwick's anatomical error proving his non-guilt. 16. Host Adam Graham notes in post-episode commentary that in real police work, the misidentified wound location would not clear a suspect — it could also be a deliberate misdirection. 17. Graham reflects on 1940s music as his favorite era, naming Bing Crosby, John Charles Thomas, Gordon McRae, Duke Ellington, and Meredith Wilson as exemplars, and recommending the 'Bell Telephone Hour' and 'Let's Go Night Clubbin' series for historical listeners. 18. The episode is a faithful restoration of a single sponsored broadcast, with original Old Dutch Cleanser commercials intact and period production values. 19. The episode suits fans of golden-age radio drama, classic mystery fans, and listeners interested in 1940s American pop culture and detective fiction history. 20. Listeners expecting modern production values, multiple-episode story arcs, or contemporary commentary will find the format too narrowly focused on period radio preservation.

As heard by us

A brisk old-time mystery where a muddy glove and a shaky alibi drive the case.

Nick Carter turns The Case of the Classical Clue into a tight little mystery built on a telegram, a disputed alibi, and a pair of gloves. The episode moves quickly, and its best stretch is the slow pressure he puts on the small physical details until Fenwick's story stops…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a murder case cracked by one rain-soaked glove.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Nick Carter Presented by the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio