Becoming a P.I. was supposed to solve Billie Levine’s problems (student loans and her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis). A rich kid with a drug habit offers her a stack of cash to find his missing girlfriend. She accepts. Things get intense and deadly dangerous.

Mak Biliie’s life becomes more complicated and exciting than she had ever expected when she is confronted with a Jewish mobster, skinheads, the unsolved murder of a cabaret dancer, and the reappearance of her ex-boyfriend.

I like Billie. She’s a strong and resourceful lead with realistic personal problems and keen intelligence. The plot contains enough twists and turns to keep readers engaged and intrigued. Now, it doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it doesn’t have to. It delivers enjoyable and clever entertainment that’s worthwhile.

Billie Levine is a main character torn between her demanding work like and her demanding home life. Living with her brother, grandfather, and mother who has early onset Alzheimer's, not only is she trying to make sure her mother is safe, she is trying to solve a case of Jasmine, a murdered college girl and true crime podcaster who was doing a series on a local unsolved murder outside of a strip club in 1991. Billie is hired by Tommy Russo, Jasmine's junkie boyfriend who is also rich enough to give Billie whatever money amount she asks for, as long as she can prove his innocence. 

What follows is a mystery that pits Billie against the local mob, the local skinheads, the local police, and her own family. She gets warned repeatedly that she needs to stop the investigation, by all sides of the story, but her tenacity and clever investigation skills keeps her ahead of those that are trying to scare her or murder her. In the end we get a main character that is strong and smart but also has her flaws. She knows she needs to stop. She knows she needs to be home so her mother does not wander off, that most of the burden of watching her has fallen on her retired grandfather, who deserves to go to the deli and the bar with his friends and day drink because he has earned it, and Billie’s brother, a nurse doing his best to control his bipolar disorder while trying to date and move out of the house. She feels the guilt of given these two more of the burden while she tries to solve the case, but she also knows that she cannot stop the case. The tension between her and the rest of her family is palatable, and we understand Billie has to take care of her mother but she also needs to make money to be able to take care of her mother. This family dynamic added to the danger of the investigation gives Death of a Dancing Queen elements that make this a good mystery thriller.

Kimberly G. Giarratano does not reinvent the genre with this novel, but there are enough good elements in this that I will be more than happy to read another book that involves Billie and her investigations. She is a well-written character and the story has a good plot and good pacing. Some of the twists and reveals seem less organic and more like a one hour Law and Order episode, but as a whole, this is worth spending your time with. This is the first book by Angry Robot’s new crime imprint, Datura Books, and I am excited to see what comes of this new label. Death of a Dancing Queen is a solid, if not a little safe, start.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Billie Levine has a lot on her plate: she has taken over her grandfather's investigation business but it's her home situation that is the challenge. Billie's mom has early onset Alzheimer's and can't be left alone. Her brother has a full-time job and issues of his own - he is recovering from addiction issues and is on medication for bipolarity. Their grandfather spends his time drinking with his old police buddies and can't be relied on.

Billie is in denial about her mom's condition and also very preoccupied with her own chances of developing the disease when she's older. And just to make things interesting, Billie has a friends with benefits thing going with one of the local detectives, and an ex-boyfriend with an organized crime background who still has a hold on her heart.

Into this mix walks a young junkie who wants to hire Billie to find his girlfriend, who has disappeared. Nobody in this novel is what they seem and everyone has a secret. Billie's client turns out to be a rich kid whose family has had some shady episodes. New Jersey mobsters lurk around every corner and some past incidents still have power - including a decades old murder of an exotic dancer and the theft of her diamond necklace.

Billie tries to juggle caring for her mom, not overburdening her brother, and solving the mystery. She is often overwhelmed which feels realistic given her situation. Her heart aches for her mother and she refuses to even consider finding a facility for her -- she knows they can't afford anything but cut-rate care and they won't settle for that.

It's a complicated plot with an overly tidy ending, but an intriguing read nonetheless. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

There are some serious vintage vibes running through this thoroughly modern mystery. Beginning with Belinda “Billie” Levine’s excellent wardrobe choices to the title, which played an ironic background to the gangland misdeeds. Billie, struggling with family responsibilities stemming from her mother’s diagnosis with early onset Alzheimer’s and her grandfather’s mildly disruptive drinking problem, finds herself in the middle of a cold case murder of a dancer, two warring criminal gangs, one of them the crime family of a former boyfriend, Neo-Nazis, young true crime pod-casters and some retired cops. The ever-resourceful Billie navigates mortal danger with only pepper spray to keep her safe.

The tale is twisty, full of surprises, and richly textured with the feel of its Northern New Jersey setting. And Billie, a Jewish, female, private detective who is still earning her license while working for her grandfather, is an interesting and engaging main character. At the end of the book, I found myself craving a pastrami sandwich and hoping for another book in the series.

As a huge fan of Laura Lippman’s series about a female PI working in Baltimore, I read the description of Death of a Dancing Queen with interest and decided to give it a try, hoping it might offer something similar.

Death of a Dancing Queen follows Billie Levine, a woman in her early twenties trying to balance caring for her mom (who has early onset Alzheimer’s) with taking over her grandfather’s PI business. But when a seemingly simple case - the disappearance of a local college student - starts to implicate those closest to her, Billie has some tough decisions to make.

Touching lightly on a range of contemporary issues, Death of a Dancing Queen was a compelling and well written mystery, with excellent characterisation and some great twists. I’ll certainly keep an eye out for what I hope will be further books in the series.

Billie Levine is a PI in her grandfather's firm. He is an alcoholic ex-policeman, her mother has early-onset Alzheimers disease, and her brother David is a former drug addict. Billie is asked by Tommy Russo to find his girlfriend Jasmine who has disappeared. Jasmine has a true-crime podcast and has been investigating the death of Starla Wells, a former stripper at the Malta club, including working at the club itself and questioning the wrong people. The Malta club is owned by the Goff family, whose sons are former friends and lovers of Billie and David. They are the main suspects in the crimes. Billie's investigation covers neo-Nazi gangs, Jewish mafia, disreputable businessmen, and dodgy police officers. It's a fast moving book, Billie is persistent and keeps trying to find the answers despite all her family and romantic baggage. Highly recommended.

Billie is a part of a family business……..a private investigation company that her grandfather, a retired policeman, started. But Billie has involvements in other “family businesses” …her ex-boyfriend’s family is part of a known crime syndicate, there’s an amorous detective who is part of the police family and her grandfather and his old cronies who are a family of retired crime fighters….. and all their paths cross during an investigation.
   A young lady who runs a crime blog is murdered while going undercover at a strip bar searching out info on a cold case file that she has particular interest in. A potential killer is the young, drug addicted nephew of the crime family who hires Billie to clear his name but which proves not so easy. The more involved in the case she gets, the wider the scope of the potential candidates and their past involvement in the cold case.
   But there is a set of personal problems that Billie can’t ignore. Her mom has Alzheimer’s and she and her brother share her care as a result of this disease…..and it’s not easy. They juggle their work/life schedules, wanting to keep her home, but knowing she needs more attention they can give and still stay employed.
   Billie’s old but ongoing relationship with the son of the gangster has her making decisions sometimes not based on good judgement and puts her in dangerous predicaments, always trying to prove herself capable of the title of PI.
   An exciting story that moves at a rapid clip so pay close attention to the cast of characters…….there surprises that unfold that you don’t want to miss.

A terrific book that balances personal and family issues with a job that may literally be the death of Billie Levine, PI in training. This was a riveting book that opened in 1991 with a murder of an exotic dancer. Thirty years later, Billie is trying to solve another murder tied into that one. Many of the players in the first crime and investigation are still around, and Billie already has ties to several of them.
An intense plot was smoothly divided between past and present, Billie's family issues and the investigation, and people in her family and periphery. There was also a sharp angle of neo-Nazi skinheads and Jewish hatred and conflicts in her world.
To say I was riveted, mesmerized, or captivated is almost too simplistic and mild. This may have been a work of fiction, but the details and circumstances were carefully researched. I was invested in the theories and research that Billie completed, and nearly forgot that it was fictional. The author flawlessly evaded the line between fact and fiction to write a book that should receive acclaim and place it on the Best Seller List.
This book deserves more stars than I can give it. It was amazing.

I wish to thank Datura Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and voluntarily express my opinions.

I really wanted to like this one - and while I didn't dislike it, I found it hard to follow. For example, I found the writing to be a bit choppy, which made the storylines I bit hard to follow. I also never really connected with Billy, although I appreciated glimpses into her life that made me sympathize with her - like trying to help her mom and dealing with microaggressions and antisemitism. I think the main problem was that I was more interested in Starla's case, and there was just less attention paid to her,

Overall, this was an ok book with some good moments/conversations, but it didn't wow me.

Billie Levine is juggling the care of a mother, Shari, with early-onset Alzheimer and being a PI under the supervision of her grandfather. Her brother struggles with mental-health issues, but is in a good place at the moment. While the family is buckling under the strain of caring for Shari, they're also struggling financially.

Billie is hired to find a client's missing girlfriend, Jasmine Flores, and this becomes -- shocker -- a murder investigation. We're also introduced to a second mystery involving a case Jasmine, a true crime fan and podcaster, was obsessed with.

While investigating, Billie interacts with wealth, privilege, organized and unorganized crime, racism, bigotry, and an ex included in the organized crime category. Some trusted people turn out to be unworthy of the trust.

While I loved certain aspects of this story, and definitely want to check in with Billie Levine going forward, this didn't rise to the level of great or classic for me. If you're looking for a mystery with a strong sense of family and community that very well could to be a gateway to a series that promises to be amazing, I recommend this book.

I'm 16 books into another series where I had very similar feelings about the first book, and now I'm obsessed and it's my favorite series of all time, and I feel we're in similar territory here -- where the series needs time to expand of the world, characters, and themes.

Billie is a terrific character, and so relatable. Her mother's decline constantly preys on her in not just the slow losing of a beloved parent, but what it might mean for her own future. She's a clever, independent woman who feels those qualities might come with a not-t00-distant expiration date. There's a constant low hum of her making decisions based on what she thinks might help her avoid this fate. Billie and Meredith Grey would have a lot to say to each other.

I know there are other Jewish heroines in modern fiction, but I love this portion of her character, how it grounds her, and the dimension it adds to how she navigates the world. And how these characters respond to her. Needless to say, expect moments of overt antisemitism and microaggressions.

Dancing Queen also contains multiple examples of LGBTQIA+ representation, as well as POC rep. I support all of this, but want to mention that in the former category, there was a variation of a line repeated twice that wasn't ideal for me. HOWEVER, this was an advanced reader/reviewer copy, which means nothing was set in stone and it was still in the editing process. The line that bugged me, which wasn't intentionally harmful to begin with, very well might no longer exist. If it does, and if it's not me being nitpicky, is for future readers/reviewers to mention.

With all that I loved, I have to ask myself why I didn't love the entirety more. I think it was the actual mystery/mysteries, where I struggled to keep the characters straight. Billie would recall something that had happened earlier in the book, and I'd have to go back and verify the event had happened. A character would be mentioned by name once early on, and then again late in the story, and I'd have to do a Kindle search to tweak my memory. In a print version, I might have been lost. There was also a thing, that very well might be corrected in the final, where a character had only been known my initials, but then their name was used and everyone acted like they already knew it.

Both mysteries -- Jasmine, and Starla, whose case interested Jasmine -- improved for me toward the end. I particularly liked the revelations in the Starla case. There's a part of me that wishes the story had been more about Starla.

Billie goes through a lot in this book, both at home and one the case. She witnesses an act of self-harm involving a gun that's very tough to contemplate. While it's not graphic, the author definitely paints a picture for your mind to fill in some blanks. Please be careful if this is a tough area for you.

My goal in doing reviews is to (hopefully thoughtfully) discuss books. Reviewing is subjective, and my like of this book, might be love for the book when you read it, and if my review helps you find that beloved book, I'm thrilled. I'm definitely planning to follow this series, which I hope has a good, long run!

Note: book provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
3 stars

For fans of the genre and the tropes that come with it, this will be a good book. Placed at 3 stars because, for me, it didn’t do anything really different from so many others to make it stand out. It’s solidly written for what it is, but that’s it.

In all seriousness, can Billie be my new best friend? I really enjoyed this mystery. It was different than what I normally read, but so good! It was really engrossing and I enjoyed meeting all the different characters!

I r liked this book it was a quirky take on a classic format. Good lead character, good plot and a easy read. Wasn’t my favourite book but it passed the tim e without being to tasking on. Would recommend but don’t expect too much.