Death Rides the Carousel

The carnival lights dimmed hours ago, but death made its grand entrance under the big top anyway. Salvatore 'Sal the Showman' Marchetti—ringmaster, entrepreneur, and Chicago's most successful carnival operator—was found at dawn impaled through the torso on his own carousel's brass pole, spinning slowly in the morning mist like some macabre attraction. The 1947 summer season was supposed to be his biggest yet, but someone had other plans for the showman's final act.

The scene is a puzzle wrapped in greasepaint and sawdust. Strange theatrical symbols circle the carousel base in garish colors. A crystal whiskey glass with mysterious residue sits abandoned near the operator's booth. Muddy boot prints—large ones—lead from the strongman tent straight to the crime scene. One of Angelique's distinctive aerial silk ribbons is wrapped around the carousel mechanism, and the brass control lever bears two sets of fingerprints: Sal's and someone else's. Six carnies were on the grounds that night: Valentina Rossi, Dmitri the Strongman, Madame Zora, Tommy 'Tricks' Malone, the acrobatic duo Angelique and Marceau, and Rex the Clown. Each has secrets. Each had access.

Step into the shadows, detective. Question the suspects, examine the evidence, and discover who turned the carousel into a death machine. Can you separate performance from reality before the carnival leaves town?