This was a good start to what I hope is an ongoing series.

Billie Levine is an unlicensed Private Investigator (P.I.) taking over for her retired PI grandfather. She's twenty-four years old, and trying to manage work with caring for her mother, who suffers from early onset Alzheimer's disease. Billie's older brother and nurse, David, works nights so he can watch their mother while Billie investigates during the day.

Her latest case comes from a drug addicted, wealthy young man, Tommy Russo, who wants Billie to find his missing girlfriend Jasmine Flores. She's a college student who has an incredibly busy life, including studying criminology, providing security escorts for campus students, working with a true crime obsessed group on campus, and researching and running her own true crime podcast.

Billie quickly discovers that Jasmine's latest research project is a case from many years earlier of a local unsolved murder of a burlesque dancer. When Billie digs further into Jasmine's life and the dead dancer's, she finds the cases are linked, as well as part of an ongoing conflict between two local crime families, one of which whose second son Aaron is Billie's former boyfriend.

There is a lot going on in this debut, from all of the Levine family drama (she and David argue frequently over their mother's care, their grandfather is an alcoholic whose care of his ailing daughter is unreliable, Aaron is back in town and distracting Billie, Tommy's drug dealers (and white supremacists) are getting increasingly adamant that they be paid back, the two crime families are still trying to get the better of each other, etc)

Billie makes a good protagonist, unwilling to surrender her increasingly erratic mother's care to strangers, and smart and tenacious after the truth. Her judgment is also compromised every time Aaron's near, and the cops don't want her looking into Jasmine's death, particularly as it has agitated the balance between the two crime families.

I liked that there were enough suspects and motives to keep me eagerly reading and I really hope there are more Billie Levine cases coming.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Datura for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This was a fun, fast paced read about Billie Levine, a young college grad who takes on her grandfather’s private detective business to keep her mother’s medical bills afloat. What starts as a missing person case snowballs in to much more, and soon murder and the mafia are involved. The mystery itself was just okay, but I loved the characters and family dynamics. Really hoping this becomes a series! Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book.

I loved this book! I love a good strong female character and you get that in this book!! I love a good PI book and I love that this book was not only twisty, but it was also full of heart. Kimberly G. Giarratano did a great job created a page turning novel! I cannot wait to see what this author does next!

What a solid debut for the Datura imprint and for Kimberly G. Giarratano! Thank you for the eARC!

What I really liked: an independent, smart woman as protagonist, a PI story, even though she's unlicensed, the details about the dementia struggle of her mother and the bipolar issues of her brother.

What I didn't care for: how convoluted the plot was and the lack of depth to the characters. I just never really bought into the story.

Overall it's definitely a decent read.

What a fantastic debut, and I can’t wait to read the next installment of Billie and the gang. Clever plot, human characters with depth and a very modern whodunnit. A win on all levels.

Death of a Dancing Queen Earns 5+/5 Diamond Jewelry… Compelling & Intense Gem!

It’s 1991, and Starla Wells fingered the jewel hanging from her neck. It was her ticket out of the strip joint in which she worked and into a place of her own. She had dreams. She wasn’t just a floozy with a manufactured figure. But, the shadow, the argument, and the knife brought nothing but darkness and an end to her dream.

“30ish years later …” Tommy Russo, a rehab failure, wants to hire “Call me Billie,” Levine to find his girlfriend. He’d been given Billie’s name by Nicole Mercier from Kentwell College, where he lives and may or may not regularly attend classes, and since Billie trusted her friend enough and the kid surprisingly had the upfront retainer, she started preliminary case notes: Jasmine Flores, Honduran, document status unknown, no obvious drug habit, partners in a true crime podcast, and employed as a stripper at the Malta’s Club. Billie hopes Jasmine is just ghosting Tommy, but she’s not discounting a possible ICE detention, an escape to visit family, or Tommy just setting up a defense in her disappearance. But, while having a quiet drink with her friend Detective Esteban Morales, she learns a body has been discovered. It’s Jasmine. It’s murder.

Billie had already discovered many curious connections that by themselves could be evidence of motive. Jasmine and her college roommate, dubbed The Murder Girls, research past and present murders presenting the details and their conclusions on a podcast. One murder of Jasmine’s interest is a thirty-year-old death of a stripper who had worked at the same joint as she: coincidence? The Malta’s Club is owned by a well known criminal organization who are well known by the Levine family. Jasmine tried to get Tommy into rehab, again, but his family was resistant, against their relationship, and suspicious she’s only out to capitalize on the Russo family’s fortune. Tommy’s addiction had him running afoul of a Neo-Nazi group whose base of operation just happens to be where Jasmine’s body was discovered. Random details or did any of this result in Jasmine’s murder?

PI Gem! Kimberly Giarratano grabbed my attention with the first chapter and didn’t let go as she weaves details of a murder in which Billie becomes deeply embroiled and one from long ago with direct and indirect connections to a Jewish crime family, the Torn Cross Neo-Nazi group, and a very wealthy family experienced in getting what they want. Setting the drama in New Jersey highlights the dynamic within communities that tend to be similar to that of small towns with their close knit perspectives where the criminal element often lives right down the street from those trying to protect and serve. Lives overlap through business and personal relationships which adds a fascinating and complicated element. The victim”s story creates its own questions that adds another layer to the investigation: her interests, her family, her passion, her involvement in many groups on campus. The intricacies of the details, the often “oh, my” revelations and connections, intense predicaments, and additional felonies uncovered made this a “couldn’t put down” experience, and a candidate for my top reads of 2023.

Giarratano’s writing has an entertaining style with descriptive language, a third-person narrative, and a no holes barred depiction of this community with its language and adult themes. Billie is a strong-willed, intelligent young woman with a reasonably solid moral compass; she, like many of us, lives with more gray areas than just black and white, and this dilemma is an engaging element. The family dynamic, too, is realistically portrayed with each family member struggling with their own lifestyle choices, addictions, disappointments, and desires, and including the devastating impact to the family when a loved one is shackled with Alzheimer’s adds a fascinating layer to the drama. I like a little romance or sexual tension in my mysteries, too, and in Billie’s life there are two, but obviously opposites with some factors that don’t fair well for a long-time connection: the “bad boy” may be too bad for a girl looking to champion right and the “good guy” has a good guy focus that may step on her toes and kill the mood. It’s totally compelling and highly recommended!

Billie Levine is a 24-year-old unlicensed P.I. who's trying to take over her grandfather's firm. She's now been tasked with investigating the disappearance of a college student, a case that has eerie parallels to the murder of an exotic dancer thirty years earlier

There's an awful lot going on here: Billie's mother suffers from early onset Alzheimer's, and requires more care than Billie and her brother can offer, her grandfather is an unreliable alcoholic, her on-again-off-again boyfriend is connected to a crime family, not to mention the two mysteries set decades apart. All of the family drama takes away from the pacing of the crime-solving bits, and makes the book seem bloated, and a bit slow. I'm hoping that most of this is just exposition, and further entries will be a bit tighter.

I like the idea of such a young protagonist, and on the whole this is a good, solid whodunnit. My rating is 3.5 as the book lays the groundwork for a promising series.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Death of a Dancing Queen.

Great title and premise had me hooked so I was excited when my request was approved.

Billie Levine is an unlicensed PI working under the auspices of her grandpa; we soon learned life's not easy when she's hired to find out what happened to a missing college student as well as dealing with a mother with early Alzheimer's, a brother with mental illness, and a highly functioning alcoholic grandfather.

And I haven't even included her on-again, off-again mobster boyfriend, Aaron, Nazis and feuding mob wars.

I found Bille relatable, even sympathetic, but the narrative didn't draw me in as much as I had hoped, mostly because there's so much going on.

Jasmine's death is linked to a 30 year-old cold case of a stripper named Starla Wells and when Billie digs her nose in that direction, she uncovers startlingly new information.

There's a ton of shady and supporting characters involved, most of them unlikable, and I couldn't care less about mob wars and the dirty dealings these reprobates had gotten themselves into.

You can also find the most popular of all book tropes here, namely how hot Billie's ex is. Aaron is charismatic, handsome, and 'oozes sex' which are Billie's exact words.

I found the narrative between Jasmine's case and Starla's cold case a bit confusing since there are so many characters involved, as well as clues and lots of details being tossed around.

I did like how Billie ties up all the loose ends; she's smart, determined, and capable, though I could have done without the added drama of her on-off boyfriend, Aaron, I have to remind myself she's only 24.

Despite the anti-Semitism and white supremacist characters, there's POC and LGBTIQA+ representation in the story.

There's also a potentially triggering scene where a person self harms though the violence is off-screen.

Death of a Dancing Queen wasn't bad; it had a decent main character, but I wasn't a fan of the mystery and supporting characters.

This book has it all - engaging characters, sharp prose, snappy dialogue and a plot which will keep you guessing.

This is absolutely one of my favorites of 2023. Think the darkness of Jessica Jones, some of the levity of Veronica Mars, with a constantly shifting murder mystery in the midst of multiple mobs. I absolutely devoured this one, and if you love sharp PIs, cold cases, shifting allegiances and sexy exes, this is a thriller you have to get!

In 1991, Malta Club lap dancing queen Starla Wells was murdered. Thirty-two years later, Jasmine Flores, same job, same club, met the same fate. There the similarities end, because Starla was only a dancer who did this for a living, while Jasmine was a rich college girl, apparently doing the dancing for pin money. Trainee private investigator Belinda “Call me Billie” Levine is drawn into this story when Tommy Russo, a young, rich addict hires her to find his girlfriend, Jasmine. At this point she hasn’t been seen for a few days, but everyone assumes she is just hiding out in order to ghost Tommy. The Russo’s are a prominent local business family, but were originally criminals and probably still are. Could Jasmine have become involved in the internecine conflict between them and the other major crime family in Baltimore, the Goff’s? After all the Goff’s own the Malta Club. Alternatively Jasmine, as a member of the University’s True Crime club has been investigating Starla’s murder; has she, perhaps, stumbled into something? Billie’s grandfather was a very successful Detective, who had become a PI and is now retired but ostensibly ‘supervising’ Billie’s activities. Back in the day, he had had run-ins with these gangster families. To complicate matters, Billie’s mother has early onset Alzheimer’s, and her brother is a recovering addict, having a relationship with the guy who runs the club while Billie is in on-off relationships with both a Detective and another member of the Goff family.
As the above suggests, this is a very complicated story but, in a sense, it is also a very straightforward example of its genre: troubled investigator overcomes various hurdles, avoids getting killed, unravels mysteries, pulls the clues together, solves the crimes. It is, in that respect an above average example. The writing style is imitative of the Golden Age – think Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe – very staccato, fast moving and works quite well. Overall, this is a good solid read, with some twists that are not very obvious, written to sustain interest.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot Books for providing me an ARC to review this wonderful mystery! The following is my own review.

Death of a Dancing Queen introduces a plucky, sassy, newbie private investigator, Billie Levine, twenty four. Billie is multi tasking, she is working for her grandfather's detective agency, that is run out of a New Jersey deli, and taking care of her mother, who has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Her first case is a missing college student, Jasmine. Jasmine, it turns out has a true crime podcast. She was investigating a decades old cold case murder of an exotic dancer named Starla, while working at the Malta Club. When Jasmine herself turns up dead, the danger increases as Billie investigates.

The author does a great job developing the characters, I want to see more of Billie. This is a fast read, with twists and turns. You won't want to put it down!

This book hooked me. Right away I was intrigued and quickly I was sucked in and couldn't stop thinking about the story. Gritty, dangerous, and so so good! This mystery was actually entangled in a few other other complicated storylines and it always kept me guessing as Billie tugged on the threads and got in deeper and deeper. And Billie wow what a likable (even if she doesn't try to be) MC sleuth! I want to read more and more stories about her, her sleuthing AND her personal life. So many times with her family, this story really had me emotional because the writing was so vivid and so good. The ending was just perfectly done and I appreciated how it all came together.

I liked this for the twist on the classic noir detective story- Billie is a great character- but note that at times it feels a bit too chaotic as she navigates not only her life but also the wild case she's got. Yes that's how life goes but there's a lot crammed in here. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. I put this down once but picked it up again, finding it better on the second go. 'Would like to see more from Giarratano.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

Murder, kidnapping, and gangster feuds. I was completely entertained and interested in getting to the end. I think In an effort to add twists and keep the reader guessing the author includes a lot of people which is challenging to keep straight. Trying to keep relationships straight distracted from the reveals. I also had a hard time understanding why so many dangerous or powerful people depend on a 24 year old sleuth. Billie is often underestimated but proving herself is part of her character development. The romance portion is pretty unbelievable but not overwhelming.

Mob stories are always about Italians so it was refreshing to experience a Jewish lens. I really enjoyed a Jewish main character and the references to Judaism such as, “his rap sheet is as long as a Torah scroll.” But more importantly, Billie’s commentary of micro aggressions and overt racism are really poignant for a fiction thriller novel. The writing is charming, smart, tackles deep themes like drug addiction, and only gets better as the book goes on.

Solid four stars, perhaps even 4.5.

I found Death of a Dancing Queen to be well written with a strong female lead but I can’t say I really loved the book and that it hooked me as I thought it would. I felt it was just too slow in some places. Thank you to NetGalley, Angry Robot and the author for the chance to review.

Thank you to the author, Datura Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love mysteries with a strong female lead, so was looking forward to this book. The writing is solid and - with a few exceptions - I felt immersed in the world of the protagonist, a young, unexperienced but keen female PI investigating the disappearance of a college student. At the same time, she picks up on an old case that the missing college student was looking into via a podcast and sleuthy group on campus, and realizes that the two cases are linked. At the same time, the protagonist is struggling to help care for her mother, who has early-onset Alzheimer, and her grandfather, a retired cop. The mob connections and the willingness of old cronies of the grandfather to leak things to her did not ring true to me, and at times the story was very slow-paced. Overall, a satisfying read, if not particularly memorable - I look forward to seeing what the author does next with this character.

A delightful double murder mystery! With short snappy chapters, I read this book in two days.
The protagonist Billie is a 24 year old, young woman with chutzpah who wants to become a PI like her paternal grandfather.
She lives with her now elderly grandpa who likes his booze, her 28 y old brother David (who has mental health issues, but stable at the time) and her 58 y old mother, suffering from early onset Alzheimers.
While having to deal with all of that at home, she desperately needs to earn money and takes on a client (Tommy Russo) who is thought to have killed his girlfriends Jasmine.
Jasmine was a student and also worked as a stripper at a club owned by the Jewish mob and her ex boyfriend’s dad.
The book also revolves around an old murder mystery case of a stripper who worked at the same club, Starla.
I have read a lot of murder mysteries and I was genuinely surprised by both of the murderers.
The book touches on the extreme weight and responsibility families have when taking care of someone with Alzheimers. I love how ballsy Billie is, and balances work and home life, while being Jewish and having to look into a neo-Nazi organization.
Book has loads of layers, and would make a great movie or mini series.

An engaging twist on the classic hardboiled detective vibe, Death of A Dancing Queen has a lot to offer for mystery readers wanting a fresh new perspective via a Jewish female detective. The story is perhaps a little overpacked -- lots of characters, twists, and plot elements to keep track of -- but it moves at a swift pace and the author's attention to detail is astounding. I can't wait to see more stories featuring Billie Levine. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!