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Detectives on the Air

The Cronin Matter Ep 1

Posted August 11, 2026 · 15 min

About this episode

Originally Aired: December 5, 1955 Johnny Dollar #276, "The Cronin Matter Ep 1," insurance investigator Johnny Dollar is summoned by Joe Parker to protect an extraordinary prize. Dolly McLean, the legendary "Champagne Dream Girl" of the 1920s, is emerging from ten years of seclusion following her husband Barnaby Cronin's death. For her grand finale party in the Adirondacks, she plans to wear the Circle of Fire, a spectacular diamond and emerald necklace worth half a million dollars. Dollar visits the reclusive widow in her modest New York apartment, where he encounters Sylvia Blake, a magazine writer who specializes in jewel thefts and seems unnervingly confident that someone will steal the necklace during the party. The situation grows more suspicious when Shorty Weber, an old-time song and dance man from Dolly's past, arrives with a party invitation. While saying his goodbyes, Dollar catches Weber rifling through Mrs. Cronin's desk, clearly searching for something specific. With hundreds of invitations sent to people from Dolly's glamorous past and a fortune in jewels about to be displayed at a champagne-soaked celebration, Dollar faces a weekend where everyone seems to have their eye on the Circle of Fire. Become a supporter of this podcast

From Detectives on the Air by OTR.FM Network. Visit the show’s website.

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