When the Carnival Came: An Olivia Penn Mystery (The Olivia Penn Mystery Series)

When the Carnival Came is the fourth installment in The Olivia Penn Mystery Series. Having read the first three books, I was looking forward to following Olivia on her adventures again. A journalist living in Apple Station, Olivia often finds herself in the middle of the small town’s mystery-prone center. In the third book, we met Sam, the tough chick Olivia befriends. In this installment of the series, Sam is missing, and after Olivia does a little research and spying, she finds Sam at Spring Hills, a decommissioned Army base—next to a dead body. But Sam swears she found the body and someone is setting her up. Olivia promises not to tell her boyfriend, Preston, a police officer, so that Sam can figure things out.

As in the other books, I loved the cast of characters in this one. Although her best friends Sophie and Tori had small cameos, the people who came to town with the carnival were all interesting. As Olivia starts to unravel the mystery, she quickly learns, after poking around, that Bobby, the manager of the carnival, was murdered. Could this have been the man Sam found? All of the carnies have nicknames. Hearing Olivia interview them was one of the most fun parts of the book. There was Aunt Bea who made friendship bracelets, Slammer and Stash—two knuckleheads that are constantly at each other’s throats, Tiffany, aka Angel because of her singing voice, Steady Eddie, and Cowboy, well, because he wears a cowboy hat and has a drawl.

Olivia also does a great job of dodging Preston. It’s not easy when you’re dating a police officer to stick your nose in his case and avoid him at the same time. Olivia’s sweet and charming personality wins him over time and time again, but this time, has Olivia gone too far with her meddling?

The case itself is straightforward and develops slowly as Olivia decides that any one of the carnies and their associates could be responsible for Bobby’s death. But why was Bobby killed in the first place?

All of the Olivia Penn novels can be read as standalone novels, although I recommend reading them all because the characters are introduced in the previous books. The whole series is fantastic, and Author Kathleen Bailey does a wonderful job of keeping her stories and characters consistent. I recommend the Olivia Penn mystery series to anyone who loves a clean, small-town mystery with likable characters.