Trama

At the A&P Show, the owner of the rides appears to die of fright on the Ghost Train.

It's the annual Brokenwood A&P show, time for that special kind of Kiwi carnival. Amidst the shearing displays, the 'Calf Day' competition and wood chopping, is the usual assortment of fun rides and fairground attractions. The sun is shining on happy family entertainment and ever popular this year is the shonky old Ghost Train. But when the surly A&P boss, Harold Wilbury, takes the minute-long ride as a safety check he gets the fright of his life. Shunted in his carriage through the final curtain, Harold greets daylight wide-eyed and dead. He is quite literally gone in 60 seconds. When a man dies of fright surely there is no question of murder - it's just a case of bad luck. Then again how scary was the Ghost Train ride really? Curiously, Madame Magdalena in the Fortune Teller's tent predicted the tragedy. Was that coincidence or a way of adding credence to her credibility? The Ghost Train operator, Johnny Oades, swears it's nothing to do with him, but there is a question over falsified health and safety checks. And why is Daisy Rose the fairy princess so unhappy?

Off duty, the cops attend the annual Brokenwood A&P show, a Kiwi fun fair. Along rural classic competitions, the highlight is the nation-travelling circus of professional attractions, starring a house of horror 'Ghost Ride'. When grumpy old A&P manager Harold Wilbury makes the single-minute safety ride to check it was installed properly, he dies just after the cart reemerges as if from a fatal scare. As Mike suspects foul play, autopsy shows Harold was poisoned with an untraceable toxin. The team now looks into to all crew, from mean fortuneteller Magdalena's prediction to the power glitch that forced the regular ride operator Johnny Oades to hand over pulling the start lever to bumbler cousin Frankie 'Frodo' Oades and Johnny's lover, 'fairy princess' Daisy Rose, whose modern views were vetoed by Wilbury. They spot enough details to lead to falsified health and safety checks.—KGF Vissers