Dancing with the Dead
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
An amateur ballroom dancer is targeted by a serial killer in this riveting mystery by veteran John Lutz
Mary Arlington only feels alive when she is dancing. The rest of her life, dominated by a violent boyfriend and a mother intent on drinking herself to death, isn't worth being awake for, but when she dances the tango her troubles disappear. She's gotten so good that her studio is taking her to the national competition in Ohio, where she will prove to the world and to herself that her hobby is more than a pastime. That is, if she can stay alive until the music starts to play.
At dance competitions across the country, amateur dancers have been turning up with slit throats. Mary follows the killing spree in the newspapers, morbidly fascinated by the deaths of women so similar to her. When the killer comes for her, she will need more than rhythm to survive.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of John Lutz including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author's personal collection.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lutz ( SWF Seeks Same ) stumbles with this mystery set in the graceful world of ballroom dancing. St. Louis realtor Mary Arlington, whose mother is alcoholic and whose lover is physically abusive, lives for her mambo, cha-cha and tango lessons with Mel Holt at the Romance Studio. After kicking her lover out of her life and checking her mother into a detox center, Mary agrees to dance with Mel in the Ohio Star Ball, a major competition. Meanwhile in Seattle and New Orleans, women dancers resembling Mary are murdered. Rene Verlane, the husband of the New Orleans victim, insists the crime is related to his wife's dancing. Mary follows the case on TV and one night calls Verlane to offer her help in finding the killer. Together this long-distance team hunts down the killer who is stalking female dancers. With its lackluster characters and slack, far-fetched plot, the story generates little suspense and fails to capture the grace, style or passion of its white-glove setting.
