The George Sanders Mystery Theater

[first lines]

[sipping a glass of beer]

Himself - Host:
It's a sly little brew with a streak of deviltry. It'll do just perfectly.

Himself - Host:
Hello, I'm George Sanders and this is the library of the Mystery Writers Club, where the members come for inspiration and to examine ideas from each other's books. Now here is the original raven that came knocking at Edgar Allan Poe's door. And here is the blunt instrument that was used in the world's first murder - the rock with which Cain slew Abel.

Himself - Host:
Well, as you can see, I'm a man of very simple tastes. All it takes to satisfy me is the very best of everything.

Himself - Host:
By the way, our author, Craig Rice, is a woman. Females always excel at the gentle art of murder - speaking in a literary way, of course. Our story shows the female of the species at her most lethal... which to me, as at her most fascinating.

Mona Trent:
Can I buy you a drink?

Francis Parnell:
Come into the office.

[Mona was shot with one of Mark's rifles]

Francis Parnell:
When did your wife find out about you and Mona?

Mark Schofield:
She didn't. We kept it a sec... How did you?

Francis Parnell:
A shot in the dark - excuse the expression.

Francis Parnell:
You better let my client go.

Lt. John Ryker:
Not until I pick up Leggett and check that story.

Francis Parnell:
With your customary efficiency, that'll take years.

Lt. John Ryker:
At least! I hope your client is the patient type.

[first lines]

[Sanders wakes up from a dream in which he is shot while passionately embracing a beautiful blonde]

Himself - Host:
I just had the most terrible dream. I dreamt I was shot in a frightful hunting accident while pursuing a very dangerous kind of game.

Himself - Host:
If these walls could only talk, they could tell some startling things, but perhaps it's just as well they don't or we should probably have to wash them down with soap.

Himself - Host:
The moral of our story is that diamonds aren't always a girl's best friend - especially if her husband smuggles them.