The Carnival of Death

by L. Ron Hubbard

Overview

The detective is deep undercover at Shreve's Mammoth Carnival, when he discovers first one and then another headless body. While others believe the gruesome murders are solved after four tribal headhunters working for the show suddenly disappear, Bob Clark suspects someone else is the real killer. When he finds himself seized by the very same headhunters, Clark sincerely hopes his hunch is right, since the point of a very sharp knife is aimed at his neck!

The Death Flyer: Can history be reversed to save a beautiful girl on the ghost train?

Long before the Source Code movie with Jake Gyllenhaal, Jim Bellamy boards a ghost train, screaming through the night as he tries to save the life of a young lady who died in its wreckage ten years ago. A love story of an impossible nature, Jim tries to reverse time, on a train of phantoms long forgotten, yet stuck in time.

“…consistently engaging, over-the-top performances that complement the colorful characters and equally vibrant carnival setting. Particularly entertaining are occasional screams of horror (from the women actors), a nice contrast to Meskimen’s interpretation of the solid federal agent. For pulp-fiction fans.” —Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592122479
Publisher:	Galaxy Press, LLC
Publication date:	02/21/2011
Series:	Mystery & Suspense Short Stories Collection
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	790L (what's this?)

About the Author

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 350 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most acclaimed and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and '40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard.

Editorial Reviews

Fans of purple pulp prose will welcome this Hubbard novella, which first appeared in the November 1934 issue of Popular Detective magazine. The lurid opening sentence sets the tone: "Rising to a crescendo of stark horror, a scream of death hacked through the gaiety of the night." Bob Clark, carnival detective for Shreve's Mammoth Carnival but actually a covert operative for the U.S. Treasury Department, suspects someone is using the carnival as a cover for dope-trafficking. While Clark's cover is ostensibly solid, he has still been the subject of multiple attempts on his life. Against this background, the investigator must track four cannibals who escaped from their restraints and who are the logical people responsible for the decapitation murder of their barker. The climax even features a showdown in a house of mirrors. A short story, "The Death Flyer," about violence onboard a train, helps fill up this slim volume. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Originally written in November of 1934, the story revolves around Bob Clark, an undercover US Treasury agent who, in the course of an investigation at a carnival, stumbles upon a series of headless corpses and now must solve the murders. But a local drug ring and four escaped headhunters have other plans." —PR Log

“Fans of purple pulp prose will welcome this Hubbard novella, which first appeared in the November 1934 issue of Popular Detective magazine. The lurid opening sentence sets the tone: "Rising to a crescendo of stark horror, a scream of death hacked through the gaiety of the night." Bob Clark, carnival detective for Shreve's Mammoth Carnival but actually a covert operative for the U.S. Treasury Department, suspects someone is using the carnival as a cover for dope-trafficking. While Clark's cover is ostensibly solid, he has still been the subject of multiple attempts on his life. Against this background, the investigator must track four cannibals who escaped from their restraints and who are the logical people responsible for the decapitation murder of their barker. The climax even features a showdown in a house of mirrors. A short story, "The Death Flyer," about violence onboard a train, helps fill up this slim volume.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Working undercover at a carnival to bust a suspected drug ring, U.S. narcotics agent Bob Clark stumbles onto a series of headless corpses. All signs point to the carnival's biggest draw, four "ferocious African headhunters" imported and manacled for display to scare American audiences, but Clark chases another theory. Originally published in the November 1934 issue of Popular Detective, this horror/mystery tale roars to life through the kaleidoscopic auditory fabric of its carnival setting. R.F. Daley provides the overall narration as well as voices a minor character; Jim Meskimen, Ryan Cota, Tait Ruppert, Lori Jablons, and Nick Baybak render the remaining 14. Though the plot kicks off right away, the production increasingly gains traction as more of the cast chime in to layer the tale. Recommended. [Includes the ghost story "The Death Flyer" (1936).—Ed.]

Library Journal

Bob Clark, undercover narcotics agent, joins Shreve’s Mammoth Carnival to find out who’s smuggling cocaine. But the decapitation of several barkers derails his investigation. Soon enough, Clark discovers there’s a killer on the loose. The African headhunters are a distraction, as are the scantily clad women. Yet death stalks the carnival, and only Clark can bring the killers to justice. The full cast, music, and great sound effects all work to effect the ambiance of nighttime at the carnival. This whodunit is for those who delight in the tales of carnies, sideshows, and quirky murders. This production also includes THE DEATH FLYER, a thirty-minute short. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2011 - AudioFile