Richard Diamond, Private Detective: Volume 2

Combining Dick Powell's tough guy image with his impressive way with a song, Richard Diamond, Private Detective featured a hard-boiled gumshoe who rarely took himself too seriously, he was, simply, an ex-cop who had decided to hang out his own shingle in the investigation business. He demonstrated a breezy insouciance to authority, generally concluded each case with a song sung to his sweetheart, and indulged himself with in jokes, many referencing other radio detectives. The series ran from 1949-1952 and later made its way to television, but radio fans know that their fix of Mr. Diamond can only be satisfied by tuning in the one and only Dick Powell, and there's no better way to start than Volume two, with eighteen fully restored broadcasts.