A former safecracker turned private detective, Boston Blackie was "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend." It started out in 1944 as a summer replacement for Amos 'n' Andy. It starred Chester Morris as Blackie (who also portrayed him in fourteen Boston Blackie films), Lesley Woods as his girlfriend Mary Wesley, and Richard Lane as Inspector Faraday. When it ran as a regular series 1945-1950, Richard Kollmar was Blackie, Jan Miner was Mary, and Maurice Tarplin was Faraday. (The episodes from the summer series are marked with an asterisk.)
50 Hunter Street*
A friend of Blackie's is threatened with foreclosure of $100,000 worth of notes unless Blackie goes to a certain address at a certain time. When he does so, he gets knocked out and has his gun stolen. It then gets used to murder a crooked private eye that he's had bad dealings with.
A Bomb Kills Joe Engels
A petty hood gets killed by an explosion from a homemade bomb that was tossed through his apartment window.
The Abbott Painting
Amadon Pearls
Barking Up the Wrong Tree
A dog breeder is found murdered shortly after refusing to sell her prize winners and the victim’s niece asks Blackie to look into it.
Baseball and Gambling
The Bill Thayer Mob
Black Market Case*
Blackie interferes with two black market thugs procuring merchandise, so their boss demands that he either join up or suffer the fate so common to those that rub organized crime types the wrong way.
Blackie Breaks Into Prison
A friend of Blackie's says that he's gotten word that his son, who is in jail, is going to be framed for the murder of a prisoner. He breaks into prison to smoke out the culprit but is too late and gets himself implicated.
Blackie in Prison
The Brandon Jewel Robbery
Mary gets accused of robbing a jewelry store and having murdered the store's owner.
Burning His House Behind Him
Butcher Boy Gang
Buy a Cat, Save a Life
Canyon City Dude Ranch
Carl Browning Murdered
The Carnival Killings
While Blackie is attending a carnival, two of the people who work there are found skewered.
The Case of the Three Way Split
The widow of one of Blackie's former associates asks if he knows where her husband hid the loot from his last job, but he doesn't. It's not too long before her corpse is found in his apartment and Faraday draws the expected conclusion.
The Case of the Unused Shoes
The body of a dead man is found floating in the middle of a lake at a park and his estranged wife is the primary suspect.
The Colorblind Accomplice
The Construction Gang Bank Robbery
Cop Killer's Face
The Crooked Carter Brother
Devon Estate*
The caretaker of an estate has been killed, and the bloodstained coat worn during the murder has replaced a similar coat belonging to Blackie.
The Disappearing Body
Blackie arrives back at his apartment to find a corpse there. When Faraday comes by, the body is gone and instead he finds a stolen necklace in Blackie's safe.
The Disappearing Plane
Dynamite Thompson and Jack Morgan, Contractors
The Evelyn Jones Murder Case
A woman asks Blackie to guard her while meeting with a man of dubious character, but she gets murdered while they're separated. When he takes Faraday to the scene of the crime, he finds the place empty and thick with dust.
Escaped Prisoner
Florence Wells Murdered
Frances Foilding Murdered
Fred Arlen Murder Case
Gangster Fred Arlen had vowed that he’d kill Blackie once he had gotten out of prison. Not long after being released, he’s found shot in his hotel room. Though Blackie is a prime suspect, there are plenty of others who would have liked to have killed Arlen.
The Fredricks Gang
The Ghost of Florence Newton
Granny's Witchcraft
Harry Johnson Murdered
The Harry Walker Case
Blackie attempts to locate the wife of a man who was killed by his former underworld associates before they find her.
The Hooded Gang
The Horse Room Thefts of Boston Blackie
Hypnotic Murder
The Ice Rink Murder
Imperial Oil Company
Jacque Pierre and the Diamonds
An insurance company hires Blackie to recover a pair of diamonds which were recently stolen and are to be fenced to a foreign buyer.
Jealous Partners and Arson
Jerry Williams Fixed Court Case
A gangster has been able to beat several murder raps by intimidating key witnesses. But he gets jumpy when Blackie steps forward as a witness against him.
Jewelry Store Owner is Killed for a Watch
Joe Adams Drowned
The body of a man completely stripped of identification is found at the bottom of the sea lion pool at the zoo.
Joe Barton Missing
Joe Gates Murdered on Chinatown Sightseeing Tour
Joe Nelson's Pet Shop
A former convict is killed when he refuses to have the back room of his pet shop get used as a gambling joint.
The John Cummings Case
A witness claims that Blackie committed a murder, and he finds that he's unable to prove that he was out of town at the time.
Johnny Burns Imported Woolens
The Kingston Diamond Robbery
Blackie gets on the track of a gang of diamond thieves when one of them is murdered when he disagrees on how the loot should be divided up.
Kingston's Office Building
Larry the Kid vs. Savinni
The Linda Crane Case
The Love Song Mystery
Blackie suspects that a thug demanding that a radio singer perform a song of dubious merit on the air is connected to the recent escape of two murderers from jail.
Madam Zina, Fortune Teller
Man Stabbed on a Bus
A man completely stripped of identification is found with a knife in his back on a tour bus in Chinatown.
The Marjorie Conden Kidnapping
Blackie attempts to capture a gang of kidnappers whose method of having the ransom delivered will make them near impossible to track.
Marked for Murder
Mary at Sea
Mary, Registered Nurse
Mary's Stolen Car
The Master's Diamond
Faraday suspects Blackie of having stolen a diamond and killing its owner while at a dinner party.
Millionaire Murdered
Missing Millicent Bromley
Shorty discovers who has masterminded the kidnapping of a society girl. But when the police arrive at the person's residence, he's found murdered.
Review: For some reason, Kollmar was unavailable for this episode and the story suffers as a result. It also doesn't help that the person playing Shorty is woefully miscast as he sounds more like a clean-cut kid than a petty underworld hood.- Webmaster
Mrs. Peterson's Insurance Policy
Murder at the Airport
Murder at the Movies
While Blackie is serving as a technical advisor for a movie, the leading lady is killed in a seemingly impossible manner.
Murder at the Rodeo
Nothing Up My Sleeve
On the Wrong Track
Only One Way Out for Me
Paul Blaine Murdered
The Peters Mix-Up
The Professor Beasley Case
The suspect eligibility of a star football player at Blackie's alma mater may be the reason behind the murder of the head of the History Department.
The Rental Racket
Reynolds and the Stolen Goods
A jeweler is killed by his underworld associates after he offers a stolen diamond necklace to Blackie who accidentally uttered a code phrase that was to be spoken by the intended buyer.
The Rockwell Diamond*
A woman contacts Blackie to help locate a diamond which belonged to someone else that got stolen while in her care. Premiere episode.
Sam Fisher's Past
An amnesiac goes to Blackie for help as he believes that he might have committed a murder in his previous life.
The Search for Jim Gary
Star of the Nile*
Goudet's has shipped the Star of the Nile, a $200,000 emerald, to New York for display at their local branch there and Blackie's gotten a tip that someone plans to steal it.
The Stolen Rings
A thief makes off with a set of diamond rings from a jewelry store. But when he gets caught shortly thereafter, he no longer has them on his person.
Sunken Treasure
The Sweepstakes Case
Blackie investigates a murder where the killer is described as having a marked resemblance to a movie star known for his gangster films.
Three Witnesses Killed
The TV Poisoning
One of the panelists on a televised forum is killed by poison just before he was to make an accusation.
The Wentworth Diamonds
A gang plan to heist the Wentworth Diamonds while they're on display at the Manchester Museum. One of the gang is to be disguised as Blackie so that he'll take the heat.
Williams' Missing Pearl Necklace