Blackstone the Magic Detective: 56 Episodes
by Walter Gibson & Nancy Webb

Listen along to the thrilling adventures of Blackstone, the Magic Detective. Each week he will solve a variety of mysteries with magic. Along with his main assistant, the beautiful Rhoda Brent (voiced by Fran Carlon) and their radio announcers Alan Kent and Don Hancock (or here and there John, played by Ted Osborne, who may be Rhoda’s boyfriend) we get to hear thrilling inside stories about the mementos he has collected when solving fantastic crimes or the magic apparatus Blackstone has used to solve them. Then, Blackstone lets us in on the magic we can do at home and “reveal the guarded secrets of the world’s greatest living magician!”

The truth is, of course, that they are all simple little tricks, sometimes little more than barbets. In fact, Blackstone is not even the real Blackstone but veteran radio actor Ed Jerome. Many episodes were written by Walter Gibson, though, with Nancy Webb penning the rest. These are great stories for magicians and anyone who appreciates the exciting, if sometimes a bit sensational, storytelling found in old time radio.

At one time, there were as many as 78 episodes. However, about two dozen have been lost over the years. This represents the most complete collection known to exist, minus the so-called Shark Island Story, which is sometimes represented as an episode from an unknown date. It is actually The Voodoo Treasure.

If you like these kinds of stories you might also be interested in The Blackstone Magic Comics which feature also Blackstone using his magic knowledge to defeat the thieves and other criminals.

All these episodes have been digitally restored and remastered. Each episode has had the major clicks, pops and distortions removed while preserving the vintage sound. You can also download these episodes in packs of six from the Blackstone Detective category.

1. That Ghost That Trapped A Killer
2. The Reluctant Buzzsaw
3. The Emerald In The Fishbowl
4. The Maharaja’s Gold
5. The Educated Dummy
6. The Riddle of the Talking Skull
7. The Whispering Buddha
8. The Organ Murder
9. The Ghost That Wasn’t
10. The Icy Touch
11. Underwater Death
12. The Coins of Confucius
13. Murder on Stage
14. The Midway Robberies
15. The Frozen Lady
16. The Hooded Rider
17. The Phantom Intermezzo
18. The Vanishing Pearls
19. The Curse of the Yogi
20. The Coin of Cleopatra
21. The Hand of Cagliostro
22. The Message from Nowhere
23. The Riddle of the Red Rose
24. The Aztec Fire God
25. The Missing Palmist
26. The Ladder of Wealth
27. The Locked Book
28. The Deathless Shot
29. The Riddle of the Other Eightball
30. The Cellini Statuette
31. The Curse of Kali
32. Footsteps in the Night
33. The Voodoo Treasure
34. Four Keys to Crime
35. The Knife from the Dark
36. Death in the Crystal
37. The Hindu Sword Cabinet
38. The Face of Death
39. The Voice from the Void
40. The Bird of Doom
41. The Phantom Detective
42. The Riddle of the Seven Zombies
43. Crime in the Stars
44. The Devil’s Cauldron
45. The Ghost in the Crypt
46. The Accusing Corpse
47. Death Defying Death
48. The Criminal Who Caught Himself
49. The Vanishing Brooch
50. Crimes on a Merry Go Round
51. The Magic Writing
54. The Mark of Crime
55. The Creeping Death
78. The Gory Goldfish

There is one additional episode "The Shark Island Story" for which I have no information when it was aired.