Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion
1945 film by Arthur Dreifuss
Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion (also known as Booked on Suspicion) is the eighth of 14 Columbia Pictures B movies starring Chester Morris as reformed thief Boston Blackie.
Plot
Boston Blackie's wealthy friend, Arthur Manleder, purchases an upscale bookstore from aged Wilfred Kittredge, but retains his services as a book expert. However, when Kittredge becomes ill just before an important auction he was to conduct, Blackie proves that he can impersonate him, fooling everyone, including Police Inspector Farraday.
With the assistance of store employee Gloria, Blackie runs the auction without a hitch. The centerpiece is a rare first edition of Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers, which goes for $62,000. However, the purchaser discovers that the book is a fake and demands his money back. $50,000 had already been sent to the book's owner/forger, Porter Hadley. Blackie tracks him down, but arrives just too late. Hadley's partner, Gloria, finds him packed and ready to leave. She shoots him and takes the money.
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