The Darker Carnival
Despairing parents Berthold and Renilda Ordwald hire Markhat to rescue their daughter Alfreda from the clutches of a sinister traveling circus which just pitched its tents outside Rannit's walls. The Ordwalds claim Alfreda was snatched from her home three years ago, and forced to perform on the carnival midway as the cadaverous Living Dead Girl.
Markhat takes the case. Soon he and Darla discover something sinister hiding beneath the bright tents and capering clowns of Dark's Diverse Delights. When Rannite citizens begin vanishing, Markhat finds himself locked in a deadly battle with magical forces that are anything but a sham circus act.
The midway comes to life at midnight, and Death herself is the ringmaster...
Author's Note:
Previously published, with a different cover, but under the same title.
There is an order to the Markhat Files series. They are best read thusly:
THREE MEAN STREETS
HOLD THE DARK
THE BANSHEE'S WALK
THE BROKEN BELL
BROWN RIVER QUEEN
THE FIVE FACES
THE DARKER CARNIVAL
WAY OUT WEST
