Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Death of a Dancing Queen by Kimberly Giarratano

Kimberly Giarratano is an author of mysteries for teens and adults. Her debut novel, Grunge Gods and Graveyards, won the 2015 Silver Falchion Award for Best YA at Killer Nashville. With the publication of Death of a Dancing Queen (Datura Books, 2023) she branched out into adult crime fiction.

Introducing Belinda Levine, who took over her grandfather’s private investigation practice in New Jersey. She is trying hard to learn the trade and keep the business afloat while she worries about her mother, suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s, and about her brother, who is working nights while watching their mother during the day, and about her grandfather, who spends his days in an alcohol-induced blur. She worries about herself, because she knows the Alzheimer’s disease is inherited.

When Tommy Russo asks her to find his girlfriend Jasmine, Billie doesn’t want the case but Tommy has money, even though he usually spends it on drugs. Billie assumes that Jasmine has ghosted Tommy and is hiding from him. But he offers so much that she agrees to look. Billie quickly learns that in addition to her college classes, Jasmine was a dancer at a local strip club, where she could easily have encountered danger, and she was fascinated with true crime. She and a couple of her friends researched and produced a weekly true crime podcast. Jasmine’s latest interest was the cold case of Starla Wells, a dancer at the same club where she worked, who had been killed 30 years ago and the killer never identified.

A white supremacist gang and a money laundering ring enter the picture, while Billie’s old boyfriend returns from Israel and her worries about her mother escalate. There are so many players and agendas in this story that I could not keep them straight. Billie is a great character, though, and the constant need to balance personal and professional crises is authentic. Well written and smoothly paced, a good start to a series, even if it could have been streamlined. The second book Devil in Profile is scheduled for publication in May 2024. A series to watch.

 

·         Publisher‏: Datura Books (February 14, 2023)

·         Language‏: English

·         Paperback‏:‎ 344 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1915202426

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1915202420

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Us91oC  

 

 Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.