Quickstep to Murder
A Ballroom Dance mystery #1
Ella Barrick

Obsidian/Penguin
Sept 2011 / 9780451234544
Mystery
Amazon

Reviewed by Barbara Buhrer

Stacy Grayson is partners in a dance studio with her fiancé, Rafe. The studio offers a wide range of dances from teen students to elderly women. But she breaks the engagement when she catches him cheating on her. She can't afford to bring in a new partner so they must continue to run the dance studio together. Rafe starts to act strangely. They quarrel about changes he wants to make in the studio's offerings. Suddenly Stacy finds Rafe's dead body in the studio. She is accused of killing him by his lover. Stacy has to fight to save her studio and prove her innocence.

In addition to this light and amusing mystery, this should appeal to aficionados of TV"s Dancing With the Stars with its ballroom atmosphere and its introduction of dance terms and names of dances, and its sometime instruction of the dances themselves. We receive a glimpse into the life of a professional dancer from a teaching class and in participating in dance competitions. This is a quick read...just the remedy for a boring afternoon.