Month: December 2018

Audio Drama Review: Black Jack Justice Season 4

Season 4 of Black Jack Justice features six episodes of hard boiled adventures with Black Jack Justice and Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective.

The series continues on its steady course with six episodes that include a few solid mysteries and a lot of laughs. The series opener, “A Mid-Summer Night’s Noir” guest stars Mary Jo Pehl of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as the actress of an over-the-top female hard-boiled private eye franchise. Whenever Jack has to watch the movies with Trixie, he tunes out or goes to sleep. However, a newspaper article connects a real-life theft to the movies. Trixie goes on her own to collect the reward and Jack has to catch up.

My favorite episode of the season is, “The Do-Nothing Detective.” Trixie jumps at the chance to be paid not to investigate a case they were already not investigating. Jack’s instincts force them to go to work.

The weakest episode of the season is “The Problem of the Perplexing Pastiche.” Trixie has been on two straight days of surveillance duty and her mind is wandering off to a world where she’s a Sherlock Holmes with Jack as her sidekick and Lieutenant Sabian as a deferential Inspector Lestrade. The episode does have some nice moments and it’s also a different thing to hear an exhausted Trixie speaking as in every other episode. She delivers nothing but high-speed and energetic banter and narration. However, this one went on a while and it was tough to focus on the main mystery even though it tied to her Pastiche mystery.

In the season finale, “Now Who’s the Dummy,” Jack and Trixie take on a ventroliquist client who wants to get an old dummy back from another ventroliquist. By the end of the case, it’s clear both ventroliquists need a therapist more than a pair of detectives, but it’s a fun episode nonetheless.

Overall, Season 4 of Black Jack Justice is a fun listen. While earlier seasons would mix lighthearted romps with episodes that had a more serious tone, this season Black Jack Justice was an unabashed detective comedy. The comedy works well. If you’re looking for a lighthearted detective series, this is a great season to listen to.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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EP2689: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Grand Canyon Matter

Mandel Kramer

Johnny is called to Arizona to track down an underworld figure whose believed to have valuable stolen jewels.

Original Air Date: April 29, 1962

When making your travel plans, remember http://johnnydollarair.com

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EP2688: Boston Blackie: Pierre L’escale’s Door Buzzer

Richard Kollmar

A man in Paris sends a friend to America with a door buzzer that he says will make them both rich.

Original Air Date: December 31, 1947

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EP2687: Rocky Jordan: Valachi

Jack Moyles

A Spanish Gypsy wants to leave the gypsy life and marry an outsider, but she’s being followed by a jealous ex-boyfriend.

Original Air Date: December 31, 1947

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EP2686: Stand by for Crime: The Tennant Jewels Stolen

Glenn LanganAn elderly woman’s jewels are stolen.

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Original Air Date: Sometime in 1952

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EP2685: Mister Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons: The Broken Window Murder Case

So lost, I'm fading

photo credit: Greyframe So lost, I’m fading viaphotopin (license)

A wealthy man is murdered in his home by someone who entered through a broken window.

Original Air Date: May 25, 1950

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EP2684: Dragnet: The Big Sucker

Jack Webb

A con man is tricking people into paying thousands of dollars for phony diamonds.

Original Air Date: February 16, 1954

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Audiobook Review: Black Mask 2: Murder is Bad Luck and Other Stories

This second audiobook of the Black Mask books features five stories from the legendary pulp detective magazine.

“Ten Carats of Lead” by Stewart Sterling

A cop on the pawnshop detail tries to solve the murder of a fellow officer in the same department while keeping things from the homicide boys. It gives the story an emotional angle. The story’s helped by Alan Sklar’s deep resonant narration. There are a couple plot twists that don’t quite work, but it’s an enjoyable ride.

“Murder is Bad Luck” by Wyatt Blassingame

An ex-Jockey turned race track cop is caught in the middle of a murder investigation. The story is set in New Orleans and has a good sense of atmosphere. The weird thing about this one is our hero’s obsession with the exact ingredients of any drink mentioned.

“Her Dagger Before Me” by Talmadge Powell

Private investigator Lloyd Carter stumbles into a murder in Tampa. The story is very well-told and moves at a solid pace with a surprising solution.

“One Shot” by Charles Booth

A man enters a house in search of a collectible he wanted to buy. Instead, he finds the seller dead. The only suspect is the man’s beautiful niece. This tale is a true short story as opposed to the others, which feel like Novella-length. The romance that develops between Booth’s hero and the female suspect is more abrupt than most musicals. However, he has to find out if she’s killer, and if not, how can they explain her uncle’s death.

“The Dancing Hats” by Richard Sale.

In this World War II story, the doctor of a Hawaiian leper colony is summoned to the military base by an officer. The officer warns they have 48 hours to save the island from a disaster that will wipe out most of the inhabitants. This great story combines espionage with a medical thriller wrapped in a typical detective story. Narrator Jeff Gurner does a great job bringing all the characters to life. The conclusion of the story was sad but well reflected the hard decisions people had to make during the war.

Before each story we get a short mini-bio of the writer, which adds value to a strong collection.

Overall, this audiobook is outstanding. We get five different stories with five different styles. Three of the stories are set outside of the main cities that dominated the Golden Age. This is a well-curated series that manages to offer samples of some talented, yet mostly forgotten writers of the era. The narrators are generally solid and two or three were superb. If you like mysteries from this era and want to discover a few new gems, this collection is for you.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

The twelve existing episodes of the Johnson’s Wax program are available for free online here.

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