Local Color

A modestly successful writer of crime stories vanishes one summer, promising a grand adventure abroad but never returning. He leaves behind a tidy set of affairs—a power of attorney, a modest bank balance, and a handful of acquaintances who are left to wonder whether he simply slipped away or met a darker fate. As the years pass, his disappearance becomes a quiet footnote in the literary world, until the precise details of his last days begin to surface.

Meanwhile, a city patrolman on a trolley witnesses a scuffle that ends with a small thief caught by a well‑dressed man claiming to protect his watch. The encounter spirals into a police report, a list of witnesses, and a curious name—Charles Edward Hartigan, a private detective—who may have known more than he admits. As the investigation unfolds, listeners are drawn into a tangled web of coincidence, hidden motives, and the lingering question of what truly happened to the missing author.