"The One Hour Caper," an episode from the classic old-time radio series The Adventures of Sam Spade that originally aired on January 4, 1948, is a fast-paced, hard-boiled mystery that unfolds in a literal race against the clock. Starring Howard Duff as the titular San Francisco private eye and Lurene Tuttle as his sharp-witted secretary, Effie Perrine, the story explores how a routine errand can devolve into deadly peril in just sixty minutes.

The Setup

The episode begins in Sam's office, where Effie is exasperated. Sam left for what should have been a brief, routine one-hour errand—answering a call from a printer j ...