The Midway

A carnival cozy mystery where the last season may be a killer's last chance to silence the past.

Halloran Shows is packing up for good after its final summer on the circuit. Dorothy Meade arrives in Rooksville, Indiana, to judge the home arts, enjoy the fair, and keep her beagle Reserve away from the food stands. The carnival's ticket-office manager has a different farewell in mind.

Marlene Kush has kept the show's books for decades—and kept quiet just as long. Before the trucks roll out, she intends to correct an old story about a worker who disappeared in 1985.

Then Marlene is found dead beneath the Ferris wheel. The official explanation is a maintenance accident, but Dorothy has questions about a ride that was supposed to be locked out. If the inspection log is wrong, what else has this carnival put on paper that isn't true?

Route cards, pay books, and old ride records become Dorothy's new judging table. Del Rourke helps her look beneath the carnival's cheerful surface, where nostalgia, inheritance, and loyalty have kept people silent for years. As the investigation puts both Dorothy and Reserve in danger, even her familiar partnership with Del begins to mean something more.

The Midway is Book 6 of The County Fair Mysteries, blending a cold-case puzzle with carnival atmosphere, dry humor, and an older heroine determined to hear the story before the show folds it away.

For readers who love:

•   Carnival settings and secrets behind the bright lights

•   Cold cases and contradictory records

•   Older heroines and a developing later-life romance

•   Loyal beagles and friendships that hold under pressure