Like a Thief in the Night: "The Diamond Pentacle" (1939) by Carter Dickson

John Dickson Carr's "The Diamond Pentacle," published as by "Carter Dickson," originally appeared in The Times on November 15, 1939, but reprinted only once in Merrivale, March and Murder (1991) – a now out-of-print collection with a three-digit prize tag for used copies. So, consequently, "The Diamond Pentacle" ended up as one of Carr's least-known, most obscure short stories. Even more so after The Island of Coffins and Other Mysteries from the Casebook of Cabin B-13 (2021) gathered Carr's extremely obscure Dr. John Fabian series.Only two people have reviewed "The Diamond Pentacle" over the years and they praised it. Pietro de Palma, of Death Can Read, opened his review calling it "among Carr's best short stories ever," while Christian Henriksson of Mysteries, Short and Sweet liked the solution to the locked room "because Carr bamboozles us all with a twist that is superb in all its simplicity." Let's find out!Carr's "The Diamond Pentacle" takes place during a lazy, midsummer…

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