Stacy Graysin has her heart broken when she finds her professional dance partner/fiancée Rafe Acosta in bed with another woman. Breaking off the engagement was one thing, but Stacy can’t cut Rafe completely out of her life since he’s co-owner of their dancing studio, Graysin Motion. Deciding they will pair up one last time for an upcoming professional dancing competition, Stacy continues to work with him perfecting their routines. When someone ends Rafe’s life in a cold-blooded murder at the studio, Stacy becomes the prime suspect for the crime considering their history. Can Stacy find the real killer or is she destined to dance her life away behind bars?

Ella Barrick kicks off an interesting cozy mystery series featuring the world of professional ballroom dancing in Quickstep to Murder. I’m a fan of ballroom dancing but only had a tiny inkling to the dedication it takes to dance on a professional level. Ms. Barrick pens a delightful mystery weaving in all the jargon of the professional/amateur circuit making me feel as if I’m part of their world. Stacy Graysin has worked hard to get where she is in her chosen career and is devastated when her partner turns out to be a womanizer. After looking for another partner, she comes to the inevitable conclusion that she needs to stay with Rafe for now, not only for the sake of her dancing career but the viability of their studio Graysin Motion. While it is definitely true the pair disagree on the direction they need to take to attract more clients into the business, Stacy would never have wished her partner dead. Who killed Rafe in their studio in such a brutal fashion?

When police are quick to make Stacy their number one prospect, she starts digging on her own to avoid being convicted on circumstantial evidence. It doesn’t take long into her investigation for a variety of jilted lovers, shady business dealings, and other assorted miscreants to come to light, depicting Rafe in an awful manner. To add more chaos to her life, she finds out Rafe rewrote his will and gave his part of the studio to his brother, Octavio. I have to give it to Stacy for not letting all this pressure get her down but she continues to run the dance studio and work with a new partner Vitaly to prepare for the upcoming competition. I loved Vitaly’s use of broken English and misguided idioms which added humor into Quickstep to Murder as I kept wondering who the killer was until the very last chapter. I look forward to returning to Stacy’s world in the future for more Ballroom Dance mysteries from Ms. Barrick because her characters come alive on the page, compelling you to want to hear more from them.