Book Review: Quickstep to Murder by Ella Barrick (Ballroom Dance Mysteries #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Fast moving, fun plot.  Great characters

Cons: Too many hours in Stacy's day (for us timing people)

The Bottom Line:

A fun hobby hook

With great plot and characters

A winning debut

No Quickstepping Around It - Get This Debut

Every time I think they've run out of hobbies to explore in cozy mystery series, they surprise me by coming up with something I hadn't expected.  Honestly, with the popularity of Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, I'm surprised they haven't exploited dance before now, but ballroom dance is finally getting its turn with Quickstep to Murder.

Stacy Graysin had her heart broken four months ago when she found her fiancée in bed with another woman.  But Rafe Acosta is still in her life since he is her professional dance partner and co-owner of Graysin Motion, a ballroom dance studio in the Washington DC area.

Recently, Rafe has been pushing them to find ways to make more money.  Then, one night, Stacy hears a commotion and investigates to find Rafe dead on the floor.  Because of the break up, the police immediately assume she did it.  Meanwhile, Rafe's half of the studio goes to a surprising person.  Can Stacy deal with her new partner and find the real killer?

This is the part of the review where I confess to having taken and performed ballroom dance on an amateur level back in high school.  And, yes, I watch Dancing with the Stars most of the time.  So as you can imagine, this new series appealed to me, and I had to read it.  I was immediately pulled into Stacy's world.  Heck, I wanted to sign up for lessons at the studio, or at least possibly take some lessons to refresh my memory on the dances.  The book made good use of the DC setting as well, and I found myself wanting to visit.

In addition to the fun setting, Stacy is a great lead character.  She is strong and immediately relatable.  Okay, so she makes some poor choices in who to trust, but that made her more human.  The rest of the cast feels just as real and are a delight to spend time around.

The plot kept moving forward with new twists and surprises.  I guessed a small part of the ending, but there was so much going on, I wasn't sure if I was right or not.  Yes, I even gasped a time or two at a twist.  The ending satisfied and kept me turning pages.

My biggest problem with the book was one of timing.  It often seemed like Stacy had extra hours in her day as she'd spend several hours in her morning doing a task and then it would only be 9AM.  Things like that bothered me, but they didn't affect the story in the slightest, so they were really minor issues.

I'm glad I stumbled on Quickstep to Murder because I really enjoyed it.  I'm already looking forward to seeing what happens to Stacy in book two.