The Crimson Key

Larry Morgan (Kent Taylor) is a private dick who needs a case because he's broke. When a lady arrives at his office and offers him a lot of money to trail her husband, Larry thinks it's his lucky day. However, before he can follow the husband, the husband is murdered!! Then, shortly after this, so is the wife that hired Larry! How does a red key play into all this bloodshed?

Like most B-mysteries, it was obviously filmed quickly and too often the detective seems to go from point A to point C. In other words, to speed things up, the detective seems almost psychic in his ability to know where to go next. And, using a mystery movie cliche, he gets the killer to betray themselves in a trap. Little new here but not a bad way to spend an hour.

By the way, at one point Larry tells the cops that the identity of his client is protected by privilege. Well, unless you are a doctor, a priest or it's your spouse, there is no legal privilege.