Trouble at the County Fair

From cozy to chilling, 10 mystery-thrillers set at carnivals, fairs, or theme parks

Distant screams from roller coasters.

The surreal remove of a fun house.

Clowns.

There's something inherently creepy about fairs, carnivals, and theme parks. The crush of bodies may leave us feeling, at once, secure yet vulnerable. The flood of sights, sounds, and smells overloads our senses. A facade of bright, colorful, mechanized glee belies something sinister behind the scenes. All of this makes it a perfect setting for dark, hair-raising tales. Here are ten suspense-filled novels set amidst malevolent revelry.

Fair Game by Annette Dashofy

The eighth installment in the excellent Zoe Chambers Mysteries finds the paramedic and horsewoman showing her horse and manning an ambulance at the Monongahela County Fair. She's looking for a much-needed break from jeopardy, but a couple of homicides land her right back into the hot seat.

Joyland by Stephen King

Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, this is the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

Saint Peter's Fair by Ellis Peters

The fourth book in the Cadfael Chronicles takes place at a twelfth-century summertime fair, meant to be a moment of respite from the civil war that has been raging in England. But when a wealthy merchant is murdered, the shrewd but kindly crime-solving monk, Brother Cadfael, steps in.

Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn

In this award-winning middle-grade thriller, a pair of thirteen-year-old boys set out to solve a years-old murder mystery. Their quest takes them all around their small Maryland town, and eventually to a dark and derelict amusement park where a shadowy figure lurks, desperate to shut down their investigation for good.

Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier

By day, Wonderland is a magical amusement park boasting a certain retro charm. But there are dark secrets hidden beneath the park's weathered attractions. As the new deputy police chief of Seaside, Washington, Vanessa Castro finds herself at the center of an insidious string of murders going back decades.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope's shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors. Revisit this timeless classic in the American horror canon.

Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay

A warm summer Saturday. An amusement park. Small-town reporter David Harwood is glad to be spending some quality time with his wife and their four-year-old son. But what begins as a pleasant family outing turns into a nightmare after an inexplicable disappearance.

Let Me Whisper in Your Ear by Mary Jane Clark

As a rising KEY News producer, Laura Walsh prepares video obituaries of famous people whose deaths seem imminent—a macabre guessing game. But when a colleague tumbles to her death from a Manhattan rooftop, Laura must delve into the dead woman's past—a past that holds shocking secrets.

Lethal Velocity by Lincoln Child

Teeming with cutting-edge holographic and robotic technology, Utopia is the new frontier of theme parks. But when a group of ruthless criminals infiltrate, taking the guests hostage, Utopia's brilliant engineer finds himself responsible for the lives of thousands, one of whom happens to be his own daughter.

Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon by Nancy Atherton

In this installment of this paranormal cozy mystery series, Lori Shepherd's peaceful English village is being overrun by a rowdy and murderous Renaissance fair. With Aunt Dimity's otherworldly guidance, Lori races to save her dear village, risking her neck to keep the medieval revelry from ending in tragedy.

Hopefully something here gives you goosebumps and piques your morbid curiosity. Let us know if you have any frightening favorites to add to the list.

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Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon