Get this and get it straight. Crime is a suckers road and those who travel it wind up in the gut of the prison of the grave.

The story you are about to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

The Adventures of Sam Spade Detective.

The Adventures of the Saints starring Vincent Prize

Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account

America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator.

Yours truly, Johnny Deller. the Hello and welcome to down these mean streets a weekly roundup of

detectives and crime fighters from the golden age of radio.

This past week marked the 106th anniversary of the birth of actor Alan Ladd, and today I'm presenting

a belated birthday salute to the star of this gun for hire, the Blue Dahlia, and Shane.

In addition to his career as a big screen leading man, Alan Ladd had a run as a radio detective.

He starred in 52 episodes as Dan Holliday, reporter and mystery writer turned amateur sleuth in one of my favorite radio detective shows,

Box 13.

To get story ideas for his novels, Holiday ran a newspaper ad.

Adventure Wanted, will go anywhere, do anything, write Box 13.

And each week, Holiday answered one of those letters that came in and was pulled into intrigue and mystery.

Usually, that found the writer putting his life on the line to fend off Writers Block.

As I said, this show is one of the... line to fend off writer's block.

As I said, this show is one of my favorites, and it has been ever since I discovered old time radio more than 20 years ago. The Hook is perfect. The ambiguous letter's holiday answers drop him into situations

ranging from making a bid at an auction on a mystery box to racing against the clock to save an innocent man from the electric chair.

Since he's only a writer, Holiday has to rely on his wits to get him out of trouble.

He can't flash a badge or pull a gun, which makes him unique in the world of radio sloths.

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