I Love a Mystery

I Love a Mystery is an American radio drama series that aired 1939–44 and 1949-52, and was written and directed by Carlton E. Morse, about three friends who ran a detective agency and traveled the world in search of adventure.

[1] The central characters, Jack Packard, Doc Long, and Reggie York, met as mercenary soldiers fighting the Japanese in China.

Over the years, Jack was played by Michael Raffetto, Russell Thorson, Jay Novello, Jim Bannon, and John McIntire.

[2] After Paterson committed suicide in 1942, his friend Morse could not bear to recast the role and Reggie was written out of the series.

Continuing on the Blue Network from September 30, 1940, to June 29, 1942, it was heard Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Procter & Gamble (for Oxydol and Ivory Soap) replaced Fleishmann's Yeast as the sponsor in the series broadcast by CBS from March 22, 1943, to December 29, 1944, with 15-minute episodes heard weeknights at 7 p.m. After a four-year lapse, Jack, Reggie, and Doc returned in 1948 with a title change to I Love Adventure, broadcast on ABC from April 25 to July 18, 1948.

It followed the post-war adventures of the trio who worked for the Twenty-One Old Men of 10 Gramercy Park in London, an extra-governmental organization of some power.

Morse, regarded as one of the best writers in radio, took delight in creating vividly imagined settings for the show and elaborate, often bizarre and at times over-the-top plots.

In 2009 Audio Cinema Entertainment, Inc. got the blessings of the Morse Estate to do recreations of the full series based on the Hollywood run.

[6] "The Fear That Creeps Like A Cat", the serial preceding "The Thing That Cries in the Night", was completely recreated in 1996 by Jim Harmon Productions starring Les Tremayne as Jack Packard, Tony Clay as Doc Long, Frank Bresee as Reggie York, and Fred Foy as the announcer.

Also, Jim Bannon starred in a fourth ILAM theatrical movie—sort of—when "The Fear That Creeps Like A Cat" was adapted as "The Missing Juror".