Sorry, Wrong Number by Lucille Fletcher

Mystery fans know the tension of this story, which Lucille Fletcher and Allan Ullman have elevated in this novelization of her play, one of the most celebrated in the history of American radio, deemed by Orson Welles "the greatest single radio script ever written."

Wealthy Leona Stevenson is used to getting her own way, believing she is envied by her friends, the most desirable state life has to offer. Bored and restless, with the servants out, she waits in her bed for her husband Henry, who should be home. Bedridden with a heart condition, her invalidism flares up when she is not paid attention to, and his office phone seems to ring busy. Demanding the telephone operator try every few minutes gets no result. Maybe there is a mechanical issue. From his secretary, she learns her college rival for Henry visited his office today. Maybe there is another woman. Trying the office again, there is a break in the line and she overhears another conversation—'George' says at 11:15 the coast is clear, the cop on the beat will leave his post, the window is open, it will look like a robbery, use a knife when the train crosses the bridge to diffuse any sound. How unspeakably awful. Someone in the city is to be killed tonight. The operator cannot help, her doctor cannot send a nurse, and the police think it is a prank. She is a prisoner in her apartment, realizing she may be the unknown victim. Her fury builds into a frantic hysteria, but she has no strength to get out of bed. All she has is her telephone to raise the alarm - as 11:15 approaches.

The original 25-minute play was expanded for the film and this novelization, adding flashbacks and embroiling Henry with a shady drug underground sought by the District Attorney. Taking place between 9:30 p.m. and 11:15 p.m., the unbelievable tension rises as the chapters run down to the minute. As tense and exciting as the film, with that unforgettable ending.

Broadcast in 1943, 1944, 1945, 1948, 1952, 1957, it won the Edgar Award for Best Radio Drama in 1960. Fletcher adapted her play for the blockbuster film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster in 1948. One of the top earners for the year, it gave Stanwyck an Oscar nomination, and they reprised their roles for radio in 1950. It was televised in 1946 with Mildred Natwick, in 1954 with Shelley Winters, and in 1989 with Loni Anderson. In 2014, the Library of Congress included it in the National Recording Registry for culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant works.

Hear Agnes Moorehead in Sorry, Wrong Number for Suspense Radio Theatre

1943 / Paperback / 128 pages