Suspense Sundays (141) Sleep is for Children

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Sleep is for Children"

Air date: March 6, 1960
Starring Elspeth Eric

>>Episodes here<<

In a nice suburban neighborhood, a murderer is loose, killing women who happened to be all alone in their home.  Meanwhile, Ellen Gordon is having a hard time with her temperamental daughter, and calls her husband, who is working late, to talk to the girl.  After the call, the daughter happens to forget to hang up the phone, so her husband hears when someone comes into the house.

Unfortunately the version I listened to had a few scenes missing, so I'm not exactly sure how Ellen Gordon figures out the man who comes to visit is the murderer.... but this is the kind of story that I normally enjoy, with the murderer being an innocuous person and the listener knows he's the murderer so the suspense is in waiting for the main character to find out too.  The daughter who never does what's she's told is a bit annoying as a character, but she plays an important part in the story and there's a nice ironic twist in the end so that the daughter is suitably punished for her misbehavior.  This was a good episode for as much as I heard, but I'm sure it would be better to hear the full story as it was meant to play out.