Belinda “Billie” Levine is an unlicensed PI working under the supervision of her well-known retired grandfather, William Levine. With her mother recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, Billie hopes that her new gig will afford her a flexible schedule and cash to pay the bills. Her newest client, Tommy Russo, is a drug addict from a wealthy family. He hires Billie to find his missing girlfriend, Jasmine Flores. At first, Billie wonders if his girlfriend is just trying to distance herself from her junkie boyfriend. But then her investigative work leads her down another path that involves a murdered stripper from 30 years ago. Now Billie realizes the drama extends to other well-known names in her Northern Jersey community. Death of a Dancing Queen by Kimberly G. Giarratano is a well-paced murder mystery in which Billie attempts to solve not one, but two cases. But if she isn’t careful, she risks disastrous consequences for herself and her family. 

Billie does her best to track down the clues and use her network to get to the bottom of the missing person’s case. But she also has to balance caring for her mother and coordinating with her brother’s work schedule. Plus, she understands that she is also at risk of developing the disease herself – which adds another layer as to how she chooses to deal with the world. 

Despite all of this, Billie is able to narrow down what happened to Jasmine. But now Tommy’s uncle needs Billie’s help to make sure Tommy doesn’t go down for it. As the mystery unfolds, she discovers that the murdered stripper from 30 years ago – Starla Wells – had ties to not only an infamous Jewish mob but also a neo-Nazi skinhead group. Considering that Billie herself is Jewish, these connections are not ideal for her to dig into. And she eventually learns the hard way. 

Death of a Dancing Queen has likable yet flawed characters. But with any flaws comes relatability. Billie is witty and resourceful, and does her best with what she has. Her brother David has mental health issues but has since recovered. And of course, her mother Shari is a wild card due to her condition. Giarratano somehow manages to integrate these details of the story so that the murder mystery doesn’t take a back seat. Furthermore, her family issues are not too distracting to the bigger picture. Readers will empathize with Billie – or at the very least, root for her to solve the cases before those responsible catch up to her. 

I’m a sucker for the suspense/thriller genre, and Death of a Dancing Queen does not disappoint. Readers will have fun trying to connect the dots along with Billie. And just when we think we’ve got it figured out, Giarratano throws in another twist that makes us question our theories. I will add that I had some difficulty keeping track of all the characters. Seeing as several of them come from different generations within the same family, it was a challenge. But when two murders occurring 30 years apart are connected, it makes sense that the same family names and businesses will come up during an investigation. Even so, once I could follow along, I was easily sucked into Billie’s story and more than fine with being fooled by the twists. 

Kimberly G. Giarratano joins The Nerd Cantina Show podcast for a Cantina Conversation. She talks about how she came up with the story and what she hopes readers get out of it. Keep an ear out for the interview in an upcoming episode and pre-order Death of a Dancing Queen, available February 14.