Somehow Murder Under the Big Top: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Magic slipped by me last year. But, I finally requested a copy from my local Public Library and read it. Plenty of Big Names: King, Hill, Gaiman, Armstrong, and Bradbury. Editor Brian James Freeman provides a wide range of stories with Circus connections so there’s something here for almost every reader’s taste.

My favorite stories in Murder Under the Big Top are “The Great White Way” by Robert McCammon and “Buried Talents” by Richard Matheson. If you’re a fan of three-ring circuses with a dollop of murder thrown in, Murder Under the Big Top is your ticket to clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

ACT ONE:
“The Night of the Tiger” by Stephen King — 9
“Twittering from the Circus of the Dead” by Joe Hill — 25
“The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch” by Neil Gaiman — 53
“The Girl in the Carnival Gown” by Kelley Armstrong — 71
“Herd Immunity” by Tananarive Due — 89
“Pickled Punks and the Summer of Love” by Lisa Morton — 109
“Courting the Queen of Sheba” by Amanda C. Davis — 127
“The Circus Reborn” by Nayad Monroe — 143
“The Black Ferris” by Ray Bradbury — 155

POETRY INTERMISSION FEATURING:
Norman Prentiss — “Apology to the Ape-Girl” — 167
G.O. Clark — “Hitchhiker” — 173
G.O. Clark — “The Old Clown Reflects” — 175

Marge Simon — “Carnival of Ghosts” — 179
Bruce Boston — “The Daily Freak Show” — 183
Robert Payne Cabeen — “Clowns” — 189
David E. Cowen  — “The Murder of Great Pieter” — 205
Alessandro Manzetti — “The Cage” — 209

Terri Adamczyk — “The Carnie’s Confession” — 213
Christina Sng — “Magic Show” — 217

Christina Sng — “The Clown” — 221

Christina Sng — “Lucifer at the Carnival” — 225

Christina Sng — “Cages” — 229
Stephanie M. Wytovich — “Admission Price to CarnEvil” — 231
K.A. Opperman — “The Circus in the Corn” — 243

K. A. Opperman — “The Clown Witch” — 245
Ashley Dioses — Beneath the Fullest Moon” — 247

ACT TWO:
“The Great White Way” by Robert McCammon — 251
“Buried Talents” by Richard Matheson — 263
“The Carnival” by Richard Chizmar — 271
“Mr. Bones’ Wild Ride” by Billy Chizmar — 291
“Fair Treats” by Jeff Strand — 299
“Smoke & Mirrors” by Amanda Downum — 309
“Circus Maximus” by Robert Brouhard — 329
“Laughable” by Dominick Cancilla — 335
“Count Zardov’s Circus and Museum of Terrifying Grotesques” by Heather Graham — 347

THE GRAND FINALE:
Dandy, a short novel by Josh Malerman — 373