Death by Cheap Thrills: A Hilarious Feel-Good Cozy Mystery

About Death by Cheap Thrills: A Hilarious Feel-Good Cozy Mystery

A vintage seaside carnival. A crowded midway. And a jump-scare prop that turns out to be real.

On San Malvino, October brings the arrival of the island’s favorite fall tradition: the traveling carnival. Everyone is ready for warm funnel cakes, flashing neon rides, and fierce competition at the midway game booths. But an evening of friendly dart-throwing comes to a sudden stop when a terrified visitor bursts out of the Spook House, screaming that one of the props is an actual corpse.

Detective Mendoza is ready to write it off as a cheesy carnival gimmick. Until she steps inside to check. Hidden in one of the automated jump-scare closets is a very real dead man in full stage makeup.

The crime scene offers no obvious answers. Between the blaring sound effects, flashing strobe lights, and a constant stream of visitors no one heard or saw anything. The festive mood disappears the moment Mendoza tapes off the Spook House and locks down the fairgrounds.

With a tight-knit troupe of performers closing ranks and a suspect pool hidden behind painted smiles, it's up to Reg, Alex, and Bombay figure out who turned a house of fake horrors into a real crime scene. Welcome to San Malvino.