Title: Phantom Fingerprints
Air date: October 29, 1939
Plot summary: Lamont Cranston, the "amateur criminologist", is trying his hand as a playwright. His play is a murder mystery, and before a rehearsal he drops by Commissioner Weston's office to ask his professional input and to invite Weston for the rehearsal. At the office, Lamont and Margot meet Dr. Kilgore, the elderly chief medical examiner. Commissioner Weston (while Lamont and Margot are still in the office, for some reason) suggests that Dr. Kilgore file his retirement papers, but Kilgore politely declines. The other three head out for the play, leaving Dr. Kilgore in the office—and he is murdered!
Dr. Giles, Kilgore's assistant, reports that Kilgore was stabbed in the base of the skull with a sharp instrument. Lamont points out that the method and the specific mark made by the specialized knife matches the modus operandi of notorious murderer "Killer" Morelli, but Weston reminds Lamont that Killer Morelli was executed eight years ago. Weston instead zeroes in on one of his own men, Officer Moley, after Moley is found ransacking Kilgore's office and admits that he owed Kilgore a large sum of money. The case is complicated, however, when the set of fingerprints found on Kilgore's desk are a perfect match for those of Killer Morelli.
Tropes:
- Chekhov's Gun: Giles mentions that he performed the autopsy on Kilgore after Kilgore's execution in 1931. That's how Giles got the fingerprints, by lifting them off of Morelli's corpse eight years ago.
- Complexity Addiction: Seriously, though, why did Dr. Giles plant the fingerprints of a man that the police know for a fact to be dead? What did that do, other than eventually lead The Shadow to him?
- Driven to Suicide: Giles picks up a knife and stabs himself after confessing all to The Shadow.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Margot complains about how her gloves were ruined in the dry cleaners, with the oil washed out of the leather, and Lamont instantly figures out that's how the murderer left Killer Morelli's fingerprints, by rigging up a pair of gloves.
- His Name Is...: Madame Maria Novelli, Killer Novelli's widow, is highly reluctant to ID her knife-throwing student for The Shadow. Finally she cracks and says she'll tell, and naturally a shot runs out and she falls over dead. She even says "His name...his name is—", right before the shot rings out.
- Laughing Mad: The killer laughs maniacally after murdering Dr. Kilgore.
- Leitmotif: The killer has a habit of whistling Chopin's "Funeral March".
- Officer O'Hara: Another appearance of Officer O'Riley, the not-so-bright cop with the Irish accent. He catches Officer Moley rifling through Kilgore's papers.
- Reluctant Retiree: The motive, but not in the usual way. Dr. Kilgore refuses to retire when Commissioner Weston suggests it, but Weston is perfectly content to let him stay on. It's Dr. Giles who is the murderer, who killed Kilgore because Kilgore wouldn't retire and let Giles inherit the job.
