The old man on the empty promenade died, without a complaint, a convulsion, or a single sound.
It is holiday time in Douglas and the town is alive with the local carnival. Whirling noises, swirling figures, a brass band and bagpipes – a procession makes its way down the promenade. Packed side to side, cheering and clapping, buzzing and humming, the crowd cling together in a tight knot. Slowly, they make their way towards the pier. The crowd thins and the promenade empties.
At the centre, a man is found dead.
Littlejohn was supposed to be visiting a friend in Douglas but is quickly caught up in the investigation. The victim posed an interesting mystery: in a small seaside town that runs on gossip, nobody seemed to know who he was or where he lived. The waitress who identified him knew him only as ‘Uncle Fred’.
Who would want to murder an anonymous man? It soon becomes clear that there is more to Uncle Fred than initially appears. As Littlejohn is pulled into the mystery, the layers of Uncle Fred’s secretive life begin to unravel and the Superintendent finds himself racing to prevent a second murder…
Corpse at the Carnival was first published in 1958.
There is no aha moment where it all comes together, no dramatic revelation that the reader will have that changes the complexion of the case. Instead the reader will likely find that their instincts pull them towards suspecting a particular character based on our knowledge of their character and those of others.
Read my full review at Mysteries Ahoy!