The Adventures of Philip Marlowe — 1947

The series premiere -- Van Heflin's NBC debut as Marlowe, drawn from Chandler's 'Red Wind' -- turns a string of forty-one matched pearls with a diamond clasp into a motive for murder on a hot, wind-blown L.A. night.

A trumpet player billed as 'King Leopoldi' is murdered, and Marlowe wades through a run of further killings to learn who wanted the bandleader dead.

Pulled into a tangle of threats and blackmail, Marlowe traces the death of a shabby fellow investigator and a $50,000 shakedown back to a scheming gold-digger.