Suspense Sundays (171) My Dear Niece

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.

"My Dear Niece"

Air date: January 24, 1945
Starring Mae Whitty

>>Episodes here<<

Mrs. Rogers is penning a letter to her niece, in which she explains how, since the death of her husband, she decided to take her niece's advice to place an advertisement as a private secretary for hire.  Mrs. Rogers receives an offer of employment from Mr. Bruce, a publisher who needs Mrs. Rogers to work from home, for any side projects he may have.  Mr. Bruce sends her a paycheck every week, but Mrs. Rogers has not been asked to do anything.  When Mrs. Rogers finally resolves to resign her commission, Mr. Bruce has a job for her.  He wants her to let a promising author stay at her house for a while to finish his book in peace and quiet.  When the author, Mr. Stevens comes to town, he's run down by a car, and the murderer pretends to be Mr. Stevens so that Mrs. Rogers will hide him in her home.

Oh it's too bad this private job with a publisher did not work out for Mrs. Rogers - it seemed like a great gig to me.  Obviously there is something fishy about the whole thing though, and the tense standoff between Mrs. Rogers and the murderer made this an engaging episode.  As well as the surprise of finding out who the murderer was.  Even though Mrs. Rogers was a kindly old lady, I was impressed by how she dealt with such a scary situation.  And there is a very good twist in the end too, when you find out the significance of Mrs. Rogers writing this letter to her niece.