Matthew Slade, Private Investigator
Matthew Slade, Private Investigator is a hard-boiled detective collection built around a San Francisco investigator whose calling card leads to dangerous clients and situations. The GRH recordings are best treated carefully because versions of the character circulated through more than one production context.
Where to Start
Researched entry points from recordings already in the Golden Radio Hour archive.
A Sweet Scent of Mystery
A mother convinced her daughter was murdered draws Slade into a case where a perfume clue carries unusual weight, making this a good example of the show's hard-boiled premise working through a specific physical detail.
Episode details →Pattern for a Frame
Slade investigates political corruption and ends up framed for murder himself, forcing him to solve the case while the evidence points directly at him.
Episode details →Who Killed My Penpal?
An eccentric millionaire sends Slade searching for a missing pen pal, and the odd assignment develops into murder. The setup shows how the series can move from eccentric comedy into genuine danger.
Episode details →Program History
A short-lived private-detective series following Matthew Slade through murder and mystery cases. Surviving documentation is limited, so this catalog avoids adding unsupported biographical or broadcast details.
KPFK/Pacifica private-eye revival starring William Wintersole as Matthew Slade, also billed as Starlight Mystery Theatre. Frozen subset has eight recordings spanning confirmed 1964 originals, a 1965 rebroadcast identity, and one date-uncertain KPFK/KPFA aircheck.
The run breaks into several distinct periods: KPFK/Starlight Mystery Theatre original run (July 5, 1964 to November 22, 1964) on KPFK and Repeat and service-syndication era (1965 to 1968) on KPFK.
Names that turn up again and again in the surviving run include William Wintersole (performer), director) (performer), Brian Adams (writer (performer), Robert Frederick (writer), Brian Adams (director and writer), Joyce Reed (performer), and Michael Dayton (technical director and technical producer).
Across its run, the surviving broadcasts are tied to Armed Forces Radio and Television Service and KPFK.
The stories often return to private detective investigation, KPFK/Pacifica radio drama, AFRTS service syndication, murder investigation, and mid-century private-eye drama revival.
The show also sits in a wider radio history that includes 1964 KPFK private-eye radio revival and 1965-1968 repeat and service-syndication life.
All Episodes & Recordings
Search this program or browse in its validated catalog order.
A Sweet Scent of Mystery
A woman comes to Slade convinced that her daughter was murdered rather than lost through ordinary circumstances. His investigation follows the daughter's death and the clues surrounding the perfume associated…
Passage to Tangiers
Two unusual clients in Morocco hire Slade to help search for a valuable treasure, sending the private investigator into a dangerous hunt through Tangiers and the Moroccan desert.
Pattern for a Frame
While helping a congressman investigate a racketeer and political corruption, Slade is framed for murder. With the evidence apparently airtight, he has to expose the setup while facing the police…
The Secret Grey Man
At Morro Bay, Slade becomes involved with an old Army friend who is now working as a secret agent. A wartime vow connecting several men, danger at the 'Glass House,'…
Who Killed My Penpal?
Eccentric millionaire Polly Smith sends Slade to Los Angeles to learn what happened to one of her pen pals. The search leads him to the people around the missing correspondent…
A Case of Murder
The widow of a man who has been shot asks Slade to make the corpse disappear. The bizarre request puts him inside a murder case in which the people involved…
Find Julie Rayton
Slade is hired to investigate the disappearance of Julie Rayton, a pharmacist's assistant who has vanished under suspicious circumstances, and begins tracing what happened to her and why she disappeared.
The Incredible Dr. Lintz
Slade is kidnapped from the highway by the wife and father of a man who was executed after Slade's testimony helped convict him. The abduction forces him to confront a…
Cast, Crew & Contributors
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William WintersoleMore Private Detectives Radio
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