The King of Diamonds : On the Trail of Texas's Uncatchable Jewel Thief

The King of Diamonds On the Trail of Texas's Uncatchable Jewel Thief

Rena Pederson

eBook - 2024

The thrilling story of a brazen, uncatchable jewel thief who roamed the homes of Dallas high society-and a window into the dark secrets lurking beneath the surface of the Swinging Sixties. As a string of high profile jewel thefts went unsolved, "the King of Diamonds," as he was dubbed by the press, eluded police and the FBI for more than a decade and took advantage of the parties and devil-may-care attitude of the Swinging Sixties. Like Cary Grant in "To Catch a Thief," the King was so bold that he tip-toed into the homes of millionaires while they were watching television, or hosting parties. He hid in their closets. And dared to smoke a cigarette while they were sleeping not far away. Rena Pederson, then a young cub ...reporter at the Dallas Morning News, heard the police reports trickle in while she managed the night desk. With gymnastic skill, this thief climbed trees or crawled across rooftops to get into these sprawling mansions. He took jewels from heiresses, oil kings, corporate CEOs. These were not just some of the richest people in Texas; they were some of the richest people of their time. Scotland Yard and Interpol were on the look-out. But the thief was never caught and the jewels never recovered. To follow the tracks of the thief, Rena has interviewed more than two hundred people, from veteran cops to strippers. She went to pawn shops, Las Vegas casinos, and a Mafia hangout-and discovered that beneath the glittering façade of Dallas debutantes and raucaous parties was a world of sex trafficking, illegal gambling, and political graft. When one of the leading suspects was found dead in highly unusual circumstances, the story darkened. What seemed to be taken from the pages of an Edna Ferber story now crashed head-first into Mickey Spillane. Like the stories of Fantomas or Raffles, the odd psychological aspects of the The King of Diamonds give us different kind of crime story. Detectives were stumped: Why did the thief break into houses when his targets were inside, increasing the risk of being captured? Why did he hide in their closets? Many times, he was so close he could hear their breathing as they slept. As one socialite put it, "It was a very peculiar business."

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Subjects
Jewelry theft > Texas > Dallas.
Burglary > Texas > Dallas.
Elite (Social sciences) > Texas > Dallas > 20th century.
Electronic books.
Criminal psychology.
Nineteen sixties.
Dallas (Tex.) > Social life and customs > 20th century.
Published
[United States] : Pegasus Books 2024.
Language
English
Corporate Author
hoopla digital
Main Author
Rena Pederson (author)
Corporate Author
hoopla digital (-)
Online Access
Instantly available on hoopla.
Cover image
Physical Description
1 online resource
Format
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
ISBN
9781639366064
Access
AVAILABLE FOR USE ONLY BY IOWA CITY AND RESIDENTS OF THE CONTRACTING GOVERNMENTS OF JOHNSON COUNTY, UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, HILLS, AND LONE TREE (IA).
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

This riveting investigation from Pulitzer finalist Pederson (The Burma Spring) probes a series of unsolved Texas jewel thefts from the 1950s and '60s. High-profile targets of the so-called "King of Diamonds," who broke into Dallas homes during parties or quiet weeknights, included oil tycoon Clint Murchison and Herman Lay of Lay's potato chips. Despite the pressure these and other wealthy victims exerted on law enforcement, authorities never caught the culprit. Pederson first stumbled on the case in 1970, as a reporter at United Press International's Dallas office, and it never left her mind: "There was something beguiling, almost addictive about a jewel thief who couldn't be caught," she writes. "It nagged at everyone who knew the story." In the late 2010s, she decided to try cracking the case herself, conducting more than 200 interviews with police, victims' families, and reporters who'd covered the crimes. With a novelist's gift for description and a detective's keen eye for evidence, Pederson considers suspects ranging from gigolos to interior designers and jewelers. It's a pleasure to watch her cross them off her list one by one until she resurrects a convincing theory that the case's original investigators were unable to pursue. This is a must-read for any true crime buff. Agent: Jim Donovan, Jim Donovan Literary. (Apr.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

The 1960s in Dallas, TX, was a time of glitz and glamour. Rich business owners called the shots, and the social sphere was filled with debutante balls. Behind it all was a seedy underground that ran the city, and a thief known as the King of Diamonds robbed heirs and CEOS of their possessions late at night, sometimes even as they slept in their beds. Victims of the King of Diamonds reported witnessing sensational behavior, like hiding in their closets with them nearby or breaking into their homes while they hosted parties; these details kept the thief in the news but elusive to the police. Their identity is still unknown, and the riches they stole were never recovered. Award-winning journalist Pederson (The Burma Spring) sets out to find the identity of the King of Diamonds, uncovering well-kept Dallas secrets and answering some of the most puzzling questions. Her investigation is easy to follow as she takes readers down her research rabbit hole of this real-life whodunit and her conclusions. VERDICT Perfect for true-crime lovers who want a story about sinister thefts that aims to uncover the psychological motivations behind some sensational crimes.--Leah Fitzgerald

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