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Listen to “The Great Detectives Present Nick Carter” on Spreaker.

Nick Carter made his debut in 1886, the year before Sherlock Holmes came on the scene in London. That’s where the comparison ends.  None of Carter’s mysteries or adventures were in the ballpark of the greatest detective of them all, but what Carter didn’t have in quality, he made up for (as best he could) in quantity with hundreds of novels and short stories being written.

Scores of Carter’s books from his first 37 years are in the public domain.  The Nick Carter Collection from  Halycon Press for Kindle has one and only one virtue: you can find all the books therein  without having to search for them in online. Otherwise, most of these can easily be obtained off Project Gutenberg for free.

Nick Carter was a corporate property with multiple authors writing the stories and what exactly Nick’s adventures liked really seemed to depend on who was writing the story and probably the trends of the day.

The Nick Carter franchise would eventually be featured in Hollywood films in 1939-40, a 1960s film, a 1972 telefilm, and a series of 206 spy novels.

Nick Carter’s radio series was perhaps his best-known incarnation from 1943-55. It was a New York-based radio drama by the mutual network that managed to survive from 1943-55 as the radio detective genre went through a wide variety of phases from the romantic detectives to the hard boiled series to the realistic procedures.

 

Stars:

Lon Clark (1912-98): Lon Clark was a veteran New York radio and stage actor. He was best known for his role in the Nick Carter programs from 1943-55. Outside of this, he appeared as a character actor with distinguished roles in radio programs such as Words at War and later programs such as The CBS Mystery Theatre and Theater Five.

 

 

 

Radio Episode Log: (Right-click to download)

• Echo of Death (Original Air Date: July 6, 1943)
• Murder in the Crypt (Original Air Date: August 2, 1943)
• The Glass Coffin (Original Air Date: September 27, 1943)
• The Flying Duck Murders (Original Air Date: October 4, 1943)
• State’s Prison Evidence (Original Air Date: October 18, 1943)
• An Angle on Murder (Original Air Date: October 25, 1943)
• Body on the Slab (Original Air Date: November 3, 1943)
• The Drug Ring Murder (Original Air Date: November 10, 1943)
• The Substitute Bride (Original Air Date: November 17, 1943)
• The Double Disguise (Original Air Date: January 8, 1944)
• Nine Hours to Live (Original Air Date: January 15, 1944)
• Records of Death (Original Air Date: January 22, 1944)
• The Unwilling Accomplice (Original Air Date: January 29, 1944)
• Corpse in the Cab (Original Air Date: February 5, 1944)
• The Missing Harold Ascort (Original Air Date: February 12, 1944)
• Death after Dark (Original Air Date: February 19, 1944)
• Dead Witnesses (Original Air Date: February 26, 1944)
• Death in the Pines (Original Air Date: March 4, 1944)
• The Drums of Death (Original Air Date: March 25, 1944)
• The Professor’s Secret (Original Air Date: April 1, 1944)
• Murder by Magic (Original Air Date: April 8, 1944)
• A Cat Brings Death (Original Air Date: April 15, 1944)
• Kidnap for Sale, Parts One and Two* (Original Air Dates: April 17 and 18, 1944)
• Kidnap for Sale, Parts Three and Five* (Original Air Dates: April 19 and 21, 1944)
• Kidnap for Sale, Parts Six and Seven* (Original Air Dates: April 24 and 25, 1944)
• Kidnap for Sale, Parts Eight and Nine* (Original Air Date: April 26 and 27, 1944)
• The Accidental Bullets, Parts One and Two* (Original Air Dates: June 12 and 13, 1944)
• The Accidental Bullets, Part Three and Six* (Original Air Dates: June 14 and 19, 1944)
• The Numbers Murder (Original Air Date: October 1, 1944)
• The Slingshot Murder (Original Air Date: October 15, 1944)
• Murder on Mad Mountain (Original Air Date: October 22, 1944)
• The Funeral Wreath (Original Air Date: October 29, 1944)
• Death in the Pool (Original Air Date: November 5, 1944)
• Murder in the Night (Original Air Date: November 12, 1944)
• Death Plays a Lead (Original Air Date: December 3, 1944)
• Stands for Murder* (Original Air Date: December 17, 1944)
• Murder Goes to College (Original Air Date: December 24, 1944)
• Murder in a Decanter (Original Air Date: December 31, 1944)
• Monkey See Murder (Original Air Date: January 7, 1945)
• Murder by Fire (Original Air Date: January 14, 1945)
• Death by Ricochet (Original Air Date: January 21, 1945)
• Eye for An Eye (Original Air Date: January 28, 1945)
• Ready for Murder (Original Air Date: February 4, 1945)
• Mind Over Murder (Original Air Date: February 18, 1945)
• Four Rings of Death (Original Air Date: February 25, 1945)
• Poison with a Past (Original Air Date: March 4, 1945)
• Webs of Murder (Original Air Date: March 11, 1945)
• Death Goes to the Post (Original Air Date: March 18, 1945)
• Death Behind the Scene (Original Air Date: March 25, 1945)
• The Witch of Dondenberg Mountain (Original Air Date: April 22, 1945)
• The Vanishing Lady (Original Air Date: April 29, 1945)**
• The Mystery of Hangman’s Wood (Original Air Date: May 13, 1945)**
• The Haunted Rocking Chair (Original Air Date: May 20, 1945)**
• The Case of the Museum Tragedy (Original Air Date: May 27, 1945)*
• The Man Who Lived Too Long (Original Air Date: July 1, 1945)
• The Make Believe Murder (Original Air Date: July 22, 1945)
• The Unwritten Letter (Original Air Date: July 29, 1945)
• The Hanging Paperhanger (Original Air Date: August 5, 1945)
• The Case of the Sick Statue (Original Air Date: August 12, 1945)
• The Vanishing Postman (Original Air Date: August 26, 1945)
• The Case of the Talking Tree (Original Air Date: September 9, 1945)
• The Case of the Howling Horse (Original Air Date: September 30, 1945)
• Shakespeare’s Ghost (Original Air Date: December 30, 1945)
• The Body in the Ice (Original Air Date: January 27, 1946)
• The Witness Saw Nothing (Original Air Date: February 24, 1946)
• Eight Records of Death (Original Air Date: April 2, 1946)
• The Case of the Little Old Ladies (Original Air Date April 23, 1946)
• The Case of the Poker Murders (Original Air Date: May 21, 1946)
• The Case of the Demented Daughter (Original Air Date: May 28, 1946)
• The Case of the Dictaphone Murder (Original Air Date: June 4, 1946)
• The Case of the Clumsy Forgeries (Original Air Date: June 11, 1946)
• The Case of the Make Believe Robbery (Original Air Date: June 18, 1946)
• The Case of the Missing Alarm Clock *(Original Air Date: June 25, 1946)
• The Red Goose Murder (Original Air Date: August 25, 1946)
• The Case of the Blue Mink (Original Air Date: September 15, 1946)
• The Case of the Imitation Robbery (Original Air Date: December  22, 1946)
• The Case of the Gold Headed Cane (Original Air Date: January 19, 1947)
• The Case of the Persistent Beggars (Original Air Date: January 26, 1947)
• The Case of Careless Employees (Original Air Date: February 2, 1947)
• The Case of the Crystal Prophecy (Original Air Date: March 23, 1947)
• The Case of the Chemical Chickens (Original Air Date: April 13, 1947)
• The Lucrative Confession (Original Air Date: April 20, 1947)
• The Case of the Luminous Spots (Original Air Date: April 27, 1947)
• The Case of the Missing Thumb (Original Air Date: May 4, 1947)
• The Case of the Sunken Dollar (Original Air Date: June 29, 1947)
• The Case of the Missing Piano Player (Original Air Date: July 13, 1947)
• The Case of the Wandering Macaroni (Original Air Date: July 20, 1947)
• The Case of the Bearded Queen (Original Air Date: September 7 1947)
• The Case of the Two Faced Firemaster (Original Air Date: September 21, 1947)
• The Case of the Hermit Thrush (Original Air Date: October 12, 1947)
• The Case of the Perfect Alibi (Original Air Date: October 19, 1947)
• The Case of the Barefoot Banker (Original Air Date: November 23, 1947)
• The Case of the Jeweled Queen (Original Air Date: November 30, 1947)
• The Case of the Explored Alibi (Original Air Date: December 7, 1947)
• The Case of the Priceless Prose (Original Air Date: December 14, 1947)
• The Case of the Policymakers (Original Air Date: December 21, 1947)
• The Case of the Missing Street (Original Air Date: December 28, 1947)
• The Case of the Devil’s Eye (Original Air Date: January 4, 1948)
• The Case of the Graveyard Gunman* (Original Air Date: January 11, 1948)
• The Man Who Died Twice* (Original Air Date: January 1, 1948)
• Case of the Invisible Treasure (Original Air Date: January 25, 1948)
• The Case 0f the Classical Clue (Original Air Date: February 1, 1948)
• The Case of the Wandering Corpse (Original Air Date: February 15, 1948)
• The Case of the Boy Who Got Lost (Original Air Date: February 29, 1948)
• The Case of the Absent Clue (Original Air Date: March 7, 1948)
• The Case of the Last Old Timer (Original Air Date: March 14, 1948)
• The Case of the Magic Rope (Original Air Date: March 21, 1948)
• The Case of the Martyred Rat (Original Air Date: March 28, 1948)
• The Case of the Star of Evil (Original Air Date: April 4, 1948)
• The Case of the Hen-Pecked Husband (Original Air Date: April 11, 1948)
• The Case of the Fatal Redhead* (Original Air Date: April 25, 1948)
• The Case of the Nameless Blonde (Original Air Date: May 9, 1948)
• The Case of the Salesman of Death (Original Air Date: May 16, 1948)
• The Case of the Tatooed Cobra (Original Air Date: May 23, 1948)
• The Case of the Littlest Gangster (Original Air Date: May 30, 1948)
• The Case of the Unexpected Corpse (Original Air Date: June 13, 1948)
• The Case of the Flowery Farewell (Original Air Date: June 20, 1948)
• The Case of the King’s Apology (Original Air Date: June 27, 1948)
• The Case of the Midway Murder (Original Air Date: August 1, 1948)
• The Case of the Professional Beggar (Original Air Date: August 15, 1948)
• The Case of the Red Arrow (Original Air Date: August 22, 1948)
• The Case of the Failing Eyes  (Original Air Date: August 29, 1948)
• The Case of the Quiet Roommate (Original Air Date: September 5, 1948)
• The Case of the Great Impersonation (Original Air Date: September 12, 1948)
• The Case of the Homely Bride (Original Air Date: September 19, 1948)
• The Case of the Candidate’s Corpse (Original Air Date: September 26, 1948)
• The Case of the Substitute Slayer (Original Air Date: October 3, 1948)
• The Unwanted Wife (Original Air Date: October 10, 1948)
• The Case of the Double Frame (Original Air Date: October 17, 1948)
• The Case of the Bull and Bear (Original Air Date: October 24, 1948)
•  The Case of the Wrong Mr. Wright (Original Air Date: October 31, 1948)
• The Case of the Forgetful Killer (Original Air Date: November 7, 1948)
• The Clue Called X (Original Air Date: November 14, 1948)
• The Case of the Perfect Alibi (June 19, 1949)
• The Case of the Vanishing Weapon (Original Air Date: September 18, 1949)
• The Phantom Shoplifter (Original Air Date: December 25, 1949)
• The Case of the Haunted Burial Cave (Original Air Date: May 16, 1954)

 

Christmas Episode (played out of order):

• Nick Carter’s Christmas Adventure (Original Air Date: December 25, 1943)

 

Log courtesy of OTRSite.

*Played out of order.

**Episode announced with wrong date. Date in log reflects updated information.