Title: Death Stalks the Shadow
Air date: October 9, 1938
Plot summary: A death row inmate, Dan Malley, is scheduled to go to an electric chair very soon. He gets a last-minute visit from his attorney, Peter Murdock. Murdock informs Malley that the governor will not be issuing a pardon—and then Murdock taunts his client. It turns out that Malley, while definitely guilty of murder, was talked into a life of crime by none other than Murdock, who behind his mask of respectability is a crime kingpin.
An enraged Malley sends a message to Commissioner Weston: find The Shadow, who caught Malley in the first place. By random chance the commissioner runs into Lamont Cranston and happens to mention the Malley case, which causes The Shadow to visit Malley on death row. Malley, right before he's taken down the hall and electrocuted, tells The Shadow all about Peter Murdock and his criminal schemes.
It so happens that Peter Murdock has a mole in the prison, and finds out about Malley informing on him to The Shadow. Murdock decides to kill The Shadow, by using a clever scheme. He will lure The Shadow into a sealed room, with a door rigged up to an infrared sensor, so that even though the bad guys can't see The Shadow, the door will slam shut when The Shadow enters.
Tropes:
- As You Know: A lot of this between Dan and Murdock in the opening scene, about how Murdock was both Dan's crime boss and his lawyer, how Murdock did a half-assed job of defending him, and how The Shadow was the one to catch Malley.
- Contrived Coincidence: Pretty neat that Commissioner Weston just happened to mention the Malley case, and specifically that Malley was trying to contact The Shadow but Weston doesn't know how to, while Weston was chatting with Lamont Cranston.
- Foreshadowing: Even in 1938 automatic doors were a thing, but listeners who lived outside of big cities might well have never seen one. So in an early scene where Lamont and Margot are out at a nightclub, Lamont sees an automatic door opening, and explains to Margot and the audience how photoelectric censors and infrared beams work to open doors. Sure enough, later in the episode Murdock rigs up just such a door to trap The Shadow.
- Have You Told Anyone Else?: Murdock casually asks Steve if he told anybody else about his job rigging up an automatic door in Murdock's office. Naturally, Steve hasn't, and he is killed moments later.
- He Knows Too Much:
- Murdock orders the murder of hoodlum "Dopey Jake" to prevent Jake from informing on him to The Shadow.
- Murdock also has Steve the electrician killed after Steve rigs up the automatic door.
- Insurance Fraud: Murdock's next scheme is to start a gigantic fire in the slums that should net him a million in insurance. The Shadow intervenes before Murdock can pull it off.
- Narrating the Obvious: After Murdock shoots Bess In the Back, another criminal says "Murdock shot Bess!"
- Villain Opening Scene: The first scene is Murdock visiting Malley on Death Row and basically rubbing his face in how Malley is taking the fall for a crime that Murdock planned and ordered.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Murdock specifically states "My reputation is too good!" when Malley threatens to expose him, saying no one will believe Malley.
- Your Days Are Numbered: When The Shadow expresses skepticism about Malley's story, Malley says that nobody who is minutes away from death would lie.
