Review - Rick Wraith: For the Love of Money

The Creation Adventure Family Theater has launched a new radio drama series which features a detective and his family. I'm not entirely sure what the official name of the series is as it has been listed as Detective Rick Wraith, The Wraith Family Chronicles, and Rick Wraith: Christian Detective. As you may have gathered, the show's main character is Rick Wraith.

The format of the show is very similar to an Old Time Radio detective show such as, Sam Spade or Richard Diamond. The twist is that this detective is a Christian and throughout the story many Scriptures are inserted into the dialogue. Also like an OTR show this one is set in the past, specifically 1933.

The first two episodes of the show are entitled For the Love of Money, Parts 1 & 2. The following is my review of these two 27 minute episodes. There will be links below to promos for the show as well as links to where CDs may be purchased.

Rick Wraith: For the Love of Money
Recording Engineer - Pat Roy
Script - Duane Riffenburgh
Sound Design - Andrew Riffenburgh

As I stated above, the show's main character is Rick Wraith, played by Duane Riffenburgh. Rick is assisted by his son, Andrew, played by Andrew Riffenburgh. (Fans of Jonathan Park audio dramas will be familiar with the Riffenburghs as they have worked on that series as well.) The story is very fast-paced and full of action. The very first scene kicks off the show with a high-speed car chase with Rick and Andrew chasing two thugs through the streets of a California city.

The main plot of the story is the local banker, Mr. Whitehall, is being blackmailed by racketeers so detective Rick Wraith is called in to handle the situation. There are a lot of adventurous elements to the story which keep it moving along nicely. You'll find gangsters, counterfeit money, deception, greed, and betrayal in these two episodes, but in the end the point is driven home that the love of money is the root of all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)

In addition to the suspense, there are several humorous moments in the shows which were a nice touch. One of my favorite scenes has Rick holding a gun on one of the bad guys and saying, "...I've got this gun pointed right at your heart." To which the thug replies, "That is my least vulnerable spot."

Aside from the bad guys, there are several other colorful characters in this show. I really liked the characters of Sergeant McCarthy, an Irish police officer, and Jack Bailey, an old newspaperman. All of the characters were well defined and were not overused in the script; each scene used only the characters necessary for that particular scene.

The music is great; both the transition and the theme music are very well done. The script was well written, although the conversation seemed a bit stiff in a few places. The sound effects were very good most of the time. However in a few scenes, I felt that they were a bit overused. In an interrogation scene, for instance, a particular squeaking chair effect was used multiple times and it was just too much. Overall though, the sound design was quite good; I especially enjoyed the tommy gun effects.

In conclusion, I would definitely recommend that you check out this great radio drama. I really enjoyed listening to the show, as did my wife. If you like Old Time Radio, then I really think you'll appreciate this program even more. Kudos to Creation Adventure Family Theater for producing this entertaining and exciting drama. I look forward to hearing more!

The Creation Adventure Family Theater website

Rick Wraith page

Purchase Rick Wraith: For the Love of Money