THE MIDNIGHT CAROUSEL

A gloriously sinister carnival attraction changes the lives of an abandoned British child and a French detective.

British writer Saeed McLynn’s lush, suspenseful debut begins just before World War I, as Parisian detective Laurent Bisset is investigating the disappearance and probable death of several riders on a carousel designed by a man who vanished just before it was to make its debut. Meanwhile, on an island off the coast of England, young Maisie Marlowe, uncertain of her parentage and scorned for her “almond-colored” skin, is growing up hungry and illiterate in a swarm of foster kids until, in a scene out of Dickens or a fairy tale, she is whisked by an aunt she has never met to live at a mansion owned by Sir Malcolm Randolph. When Aunty Mabel and Malcolm’s daughter, Catherine, die suddenly of scarlet fever, Malcolm moves to Chicago, where his brother lives, taking Maisie with him, and on a whim, buys the very carousel on which the French deaths occurred, turning it into the centerpiece of a new amusement park. And then the disappearances from the carousel start again. Laurent arrives from Paris to investigate and to fall for the now 20-something Maisie, despite multiple obstacles, including their respective spouses and kids, as well as some scheming relatives and a few mobsters. Saeed McLynn nicely juggles the possibility of a supernatural cause for the disappearances and a more naturalistic one, leaving the reader guessing until the very end. Maisie is a plucky heroine, as deft at business as she is at dodging the many obstacles life throws in her way. Saeed McLynn’s British scenes have touches of magic, both dark and light; her Chicago scenes are historically accurate without being ponderous; and the lovingly detailed Silver Kingdom amusement park is irresistibly charming.

A sumptuous treat for romantics and the young at heart.