Dead On The Dance Floor [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Heather Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2004

A New York Times Bestseller

When dancer Lara Trudeau drops dead of a heart attack brought on by a lethal combination of booze and pills, former private investigator Quinn O'Casey sees a simple case of death by misadventure. But when his brother Doug, a Miami-Dade patrolman, asks for help, he can't refuse. Despite Quinn's lack of interest in the case and even less in dancing, experience has taught him not to count on the obvious when it comes to murder.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Prolific romance author Graham, with more than 90 novels to her credit, sets her new romantic suspense tale in the world of professional ballroom dance. At the Moonlight Sonata Dance Studio in Miami Beach, coaching for professional competitions is available, as is recreational dance instruction. When Lara Trudeau, imperious star professional, drops dead after a performance, authorities, citing a lethal combination of pills and alcohol, deem the death accidental. But patrolman Doug O'Casey, a new dance student and Lara's most recent lover, suspects foul play, as do some associates, including the studio manager, Shannon Mackay. Doug finally persuades his brother Quinn, a private investigator, to sign up for dance lessons so he can look into the case. Meanwhile, in the vicinity of the dance studio, several seemingly unrelated murders occur. Quinn begins to fall in love with his dance instructor, Shannon, although she could be the murderer he seeksâ€"for that matter, so could his brother. When Shannon gets a cryptic message, "You're next!" she's determined to find the killer herself; her efforts put her in harm's way. The story isn't all suspicions and chills: readers can learn something about salsa, tango and waltz contests, and there's a touching bit about a homeless girl who's a natural dancer and finds a home. Graham's more suggestible fans will doubtless put on their dancing shoes and head for the nearest Arthur Murray studio.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

As the prolific romance veteran Graham has moved toward a genre-bending combination of romance and mystery, her audience (and her marketing support) has grown substantially. Here, although a decent love story unfolds, the mystery takes center stage when Lara, the premier ballroom dancer from the Moonlight Sonata dance studio, collapses and dies during a competition. Ex-cop Quinn O'Casey doesn't pay much attention to ballroom dancers, so he's a bit puzzled when his cop brother Doug asks him to help investigate Lara's death. It all becomes clear when Doug admits to being one of Lara's many lovers. Under extreme duress, the curmudgeonly Quinn leaves his beloved boat in the Keys and agrees to go undercover as a dance student at the studio. There is no shortage of suspects: the ex-husband who dates Lara's friends; the other dancers who were jealous of Lara's talent; the aging instructors who long to have their youth back. Although her plotting is entirely too predictable, Graham knows how to keep her narrative moving, and her characters are reasonably well developed. This makes fun, easy reading for fans of romances and "lite" thrillers. REVWR
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 543 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing; 1 edition (June 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587247054
• ISBN-13: 978-1587247057
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,727,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Heather Graham was born somewhere in Europe and kidnapped by gypsies when she was a small child. She went on to join the Romanian circus as a trapeze artist and lion tamer. When the circus came to South Florida, she stayed, discovering that she preferred to be a shark and gator trainer.

Not really.

Heather is the child of Scottish and Irish immigrants who met and married in Chicago, and moved to South Florida, where she has spent her life. (She has, at least, been to the Russian circus in Moscow, where she wished she was one of the incredibly talented and coordinated trapeze artists.) She majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over one hundred and fifty novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, horror, and Christmas family fare.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty-five languages, and has had over seventy-five million books in print. She has been honored with awards from Walden Books, B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, the Lifetime Achievement Award from RWA and more. Heather has also become the proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.

Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken Gulf region. She is also the founder of "The Slush Pile Players", presenting something that's almost like entertainment for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There are too many people on the dance floor, April 17, 2005

By 

Holly (Nashville, TN, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead On The Dance Floor (Graham, Heather) (Hardcover)

I saw this book in the store and grabbed it immediately. (paid full price) I am a ballroom dancer and thought it would be a fun read. Granted, the dance world is described accurately, but the story could have been cut by at least 75 pages or more. I agree with other reviewers in that there were way too many characters that you didn't care about. I think the tactic here is to get so many people in the mix you have a large pool to pull out the bad guy. But I knew the book "jumped the shark" when the homeless girl living the one the main character's yard was welcomed with open arms to live in the house and also began instruction as a teacher. That was stretching it a bit for me. The sex scenes were a bit forced I thought. The two characters were in a boat and they started looking pretty good to each other. The rest of the time, there was a lot of distrust between them. I think the author had a hard time deciding whether or not this was a mystery or action romance. Neither view took off very successfully. If I read another one of Ms. Graham's books, it will be at a used bookstore price or from the library.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable romantic suspense, March 28, 2004

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dead On The Dance Floor (Graham, Heather) (Hardcover)

When beautiful dancer Lara Trudeau dies while dancing of a drug overdose, the police are quick to write it off as another tragic accident of perscription drug abuse. But one cop isn't so sure--and he gets his brother, ex-FBI profiler and private investigator Quinn O'Casey to look into the case. The obvious suspect is another dancer, Shannon Mackay. Shannon has lost her partner and her lover to Lara several years earlier and an 'accident' on the dance floor had cost her her competitive career. But Quinn likes Shannon--likes her a lot. Of course, there's really only one thing he's sure of--his own judgment is fatally flawed.

Quinn puts Lara's case together with several other drug-related deaths that seem connected to the dance studio where Lara and Shannon worked. It could be coincidence, but Quinn doesn't believe in coincidence. He signs up for dance lessons, starts to fall for Shannon, and learns that she is chased by her own demons--or maybe by something far more real than mythical demons. It's tough enough solving a case, but both Shannon and Quinn have major issues they need to work for before they can deal with the attraction that flows between them like, well, like a dance.

Author Heather Graham writes convincingly of the world of ballroom dance and of sultry southern Florida. Damaged but hunky Quinn makes a great foil for frightened but spunky Shannon. Their issues parallel and they find that working through together gives each of them strength to admit their true goals. Of course, before any kind of long-term romance can develop, they'll have to stay alive. And someone seems intent on making sure that doesn't happen.

DEAD ON THE DANCE FLOOR is an enjoyable romance.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Do you want to dance?, May 11, 2004

By 

Elaine C McTyer "avid reader" (Dawson, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dead On The Dance Floor (Graham, Heather) (Hardcover)

Heather Graham is one of my favorite authors. I read a great deal and some authors I buy because of their name.

Dead on the Dance Floor, is a good book. If you like the world of dance you will probably like it. It has alot about dances and dancers.

While I find it hard to tell a tango from a cha-cha, The murder mystery was well written. I liked the main characters but somehow there was little doubt who the murderer was. I figured out who, early. It was only near the end I figured out why and how. When the author gave us alittle more information.

As far as the secondary characters, I found it hard to care about people who had nothing better to do than spend a great deal of time and money on dancing contests, bars, and flashy costumes.

These were some of the most unlikeable characters I've ever read about. Somehow the Dr. and his wife were the worst.

Frankly, by the end I didn't care who killed her.

For the best read by Heather Graham, I recommend DOWN IN NEW ORLEANS or PICTURE ME DEAD.