The Carnival Case: Richard Diamond, Private Detective (August 16, 1950)

“The Carnival Case” is an episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 16, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Richard Diamond takes an undercover job at a carnival as a barker for the girl show after a fortune teller named Tony Lawrence hires him. Four men have been murdered over the past year, all apparently killed because they showed romantic interest in Tony. When another young man is murdered at the carnival, Diamond investigates among the carnival performers—a clown, a strongman, and a hula dancer—who were present when the victim asked Tony for a date.

A traveling carnival on the midway and surrounding trailers; also Richard's office and a city hotel.

Characters: Richard Diamond, Helen, Tony Lawrence (Madame Tanya), Chuckles the Clown, Samson the Strongman, Karen the Hula Dancer, Lieutenant Max Talbert, Sergeant Otis

Listen for: The detective work unfolds as Richard questions the carnival performers and discovers a crucial clue about Leonardo's physical stature that exposes the killer's fatal mistake.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.