The I Love a Mystery Companion

If you are a fan of OTR and ILAM in particular this book is essential. Loved every moment reading it.

Even if you are not a fan of the radio program "I Love A Mystery" or "I Love Adventure" or "Adventures by Morse," this book is an enjoyable read. I learned a lot of new things about this book, including the facts that Morse did not write all of the serials, Morse incorporated religion into his mystery thrillers and Morse did not stay a rich man long after his radio program ended. Each adventure is documented in great detail. Analysis, history and documentary approach and also in an enjoyable format. The book pauses in the continuity on ocassion to explore aspects of the serials including character development and style of writing Morse used on his thrillers.The book also covers Morse's other radio thrillers such as "The Cross Eyed Parrot," "The Witch of Endor" and "Pigskin Romances." A wealth of information and I recommend it. I will give readers a warning in advance. Once you start reading this book you will not be able to put it down and after you are done reading this book you will be "really" wishing that the "lost" recordings were made available if they do exist.

I must say that I was very pleasantly shocked and surpirsed when I saw this book was available, and I immediately placed an order for a copy.Upon receiving it, I was not disappointed. The book gives a very thorough and complete history of one of the greatest radio programs of all time: I Love a Mystery.The book is not without its flaws. It seems that little time was spent in proofreading, because enjoyment of the book is marred by many typographical errors. While these are easy to spot, and usually of a very minor nature, sometimes they are downright confusing. In one instance, paragraphs were placed out of order. Also, the book suffers from a lack of organization. While the general history seems to run in a chronological fashion, sections titled "Continuity Problems" or "Writing the Scripts" are peppered throughout, making their placement in the middle of program synopses confusing.Please do not be discouraged by these errors. This is a very fine and informative book; Martin Grams should be commended for his excellent research and presentation of material that has been awaited by ILAM fans for half a century. Let us hope that these errors (especially the typographical ones) will be corrected in future editions of the book.

I was able to get a copy of this book early and I must say that it one of the best, most informative books on a radio show I have ever had the pleasure to read. It goes over so much of the behind the scenes and making of the show that one can not help but feel like an expert on the subject once done. The author also helps to snuff out a lot of the fan rumors that have always surrounded the show in the past. The back 2/3 of the book is dedicated to an episode-by-episode guide to the series. For most other series I find this kind of redundant .I mean why do I need to buy a book to read the plot of a show that I already own, but I Love A Mystery is not like other series. You probably already know this if you're a fan, but if you're not then let me give you a bit of history and a shock. I Love A Mystery was a popular "blood and thunder" type action adventure show on radio during the 1940's and 50's. It was written by one of the most prolific and respected radio writers of all time. It at times was very controversial (The Temple of Vampires), and all the time was very entertaining. It even was made into a series of B-movies. Almost 1500 episodes were aired in the double run. Here's the shocker. Less then 200 exist in complete form. It's sad really. So the fact that we have an episode-by-episode guide, not a story by story one is an amazing thing for us fans. The Morse estate keeps a strangle hold on the circulation of the original scripts, so for most of us this is the only way to know what the heck went on after chapter 11 of "The Pirate Loot of the Island of Skulls." We also can now pinpoint where that one fragment of "The Tropics Don't' Call It Murder " REALLY goes. As if a full creation and broadcast history and episode guide were not enough. We also get a lot of info on the other Morse series like "I Love Adventure", "Adventures by Morse", "House of Myth" and others. Martin Grams, Jr has given us fans simply one of the best books ever about one of the greatest shows ever. Standing ovation to you sir!