The First of May

Lou Kelly left the circus after high school. She became a librarian. She let the distance grow. When her father turns up dead in his trailer at winter quarters in Estes Park, Colorado, the coroner calls it a heart attack. Lou knows better — the three-nose rotation is wrong, and one nose is missing. Then toxicology comes back: nitroglycerin, absorbed through greasepaint, lethal dose. She partners with Detective Beatrix Sands to work the case. The circus closes ranks. Lou translates the culture; B runs the investigation. Romance simmers beneath the work. And the killer turns out to be the one person nobody was watching.