Martin, AE - The Outsiders (1945)

(originally published in Australia as Common People)

Detective novel w/ circus setting

Unusual setting and characters make this an interesting read in an otherwise run-of-the-mill mystery plot.  Australian traveling sideshow and the freaks who work there are all suspects when a trapeze artist from a nearby circus is found strangled in her room.  Pel Pelham, a publicity manager and barker (“Spruiker” is the Aussie term) helps the police solve the crime. One of the more unusual featrues is that Pelhma intimatea that a jealous suspect (the armless man) might have done the deed by strangling his victim with his legs!  A compassionate portrait of marginalized people written by a man who knew the world of sideshows and circuses from the inside.

J.F. Norris