On New Year's Day of 1976, radio listeners were introduced for the first time to a former Chicago cop turned hard-luck private detective named Harry Nile, the brainchild of mystery fan Jim French, who created the character for a one-time-only broadcast. But audiences wanted more, and so began over 25 years of episodes featuring Phil Harper as Harry, later to be joined by Pat French as his admiring and quirky associate, Murphy.

After the first episode, "West For My Health", set in 1940, Harry hung up his shingle in Los Angeles in a loft over a tailor shop. Eventually one of his cases took him to Seattle, where he was shot by the man he was chasing. During his convalescence he decided to relocate to this gray, rainy city which seemed to fit his disposition better than sunny California. Harry Nile has developed a large, devoted following, maybe because he's had a hard life - kicked off the Chicago police force, Hounded by a dirty cop who was on the take, battling his own gambling addiction, even losing his bride of one year in a gun battle.

To a million listeners, Harry's adventures, now lodged in the Seattle of the 1950's, are real.

And so is Harry.