It's 1989, and cash-strapped party clown Lena Shaw thought her lowest point was a fistfight with a Chuck E. Cheese mascot. She dresses up as a clown for some quick cash throughout Pittsburgh. That was before she took a $1,000 birthday gig in Breezewood, Pennsylvania—a decaying roadside town where diners outnumber people and nothing quite feels real. Her destination? A crumbling Victorian estate just off the interstate, hidden behind a Shell station and a collapsed billboard for "Amish Paradise Mini Golf."

The Merriweather family, once Breezewood royalty, now live in filth and delusion, clinging to rituals from their glory days. Every year, they host a private birthday bash for little Max. Every year, they hire a clown. But as the party drags on and the family's facade begins to crack, Lena realizes she isn't the one in costume.

The clown isn't the danger. The danger is the family.

LAST LAUGH LANE is a high-camp, low-class bloodbath of dark humor, neon rot, and vintage clown trauma from the author of Painted Lies.