Top Town, a big city ghetto is where the circus folk live and the normal folk come to be entertained. Fire eaters, magicians, fortune tellers, tightrope walkers… and one clown stalks the night in search of trouble. Rex Koko, Private Clown, fresh from getting into no end of trouble in Honk, Honk, My Darling.

When Rex attends a lion taming show, he finds himself in pursuit of a lion that escapes, which causes him to trip over a body and lose a shoe to the lion’s jaws. Determined to get reimbursed for a new shoe – and possibly sort out that body in the process – Rex encounters all manner of characters – snake wranglers, alligator hypnotists, and a very angry lion tamer. Oh, and his very angry lion too…

Clown Noir is back! Hurrah! It’s been ages since I stumbled across the first Rex Koko and I hadn’t realised the Rex had a second case until the author emailed me to see if I’d like to take a look at books two and three! And I was hooked from the first chapter.

I’ll admit that I’m not a massive fan of the Noir genre – i.e. the hero bounces from encounter to encounter with villainous characters until everything is resolved, usually with not a small amount of bullets and blood – but this is written with such a sense of fun that it’s impossible to not to enjoy it.

As a mystery… well, it’s not really. There are a few good twists – one in particular – and it certainly can’t be said that the plot ever stands still. A real page turner and well worth your time. Highly Recommended.

And isn’t that a great title…