As in Towers' other programs, Europe Confidential boasted a big name to draw in listeners - in this case, Basil Rathbone - but Basil was only there to host the episodes (he introdced it under a different title: "The World's Greatest Mysteries."). He would instead introduce the adventures of protagonist Mike Kinoy; it sounds like Towers used the same recording of Rathbone's introduction in every episode:
"In drama and fiction, newspapermen are invariably tough hard-boiled characters. In real life this is, well, it's not necessarily true, although several newspaper men I've known were as colourful as anything fiction has ever had to offer. Mike, whom you'll meet in a moment, is based on a real person who actually works for the European edition of a famous American newspaper. Not only is the character real, but, well, many of the stories which Mike tells are also based on fact. The tale you're going to hear today, for instance, you may even recognize from the headlines in your newspaper of, well, not so long ago. In a moment, Mike will introduce you to another mystery solved and signed with his own unmistakable trademark: Europe Confidential."
I've tried to be nice to Towers' works in my previous recaps but I have nothing kind to say about Europe Confidential; it uses the same musical bridges in his other works but he seemed inept in employing them, striking a suspenseful chord when nothing suspenseful had happened; exciting music when nothing exciting is happening. It's simply a dull program, I cannot recommend it, not even if you want to hear Rathbone slumming.
There are 22 episodes of Europe Confidential in the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library.
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