Having enjoyed Shirley Ballas's autobiography I was looking forward to this. I have been so disappointed in this book though. The main grip is the dreadful formatting which meant that I kept being jarred from the story. I can usually read through this type of thing, but with this book not exactly being flowing script it made it unbearable.

I ended up scan reading most of the book to find out who the killer was. I won't be publishing my review for this one, just giving netgalley feedback.

found it very hard to read as there were a lotof spelling mistakes, a lot of waffle and harper Collins publisher kept popping up mid way through sentences which pulled me from the story a lot. I really struggled to follow the lines of the writing with that happening on the page.
I also think there was waaaay too much "talking" about the setting of the book, rather thanaction - i wished for a lot more murdering. I really was dissapointed by the lack of it, so I nded up DNFing it.

Lilly and her dance school are in Whitby for a dance competition. It's the last big one before Blackpool. Lilly's arch nemesis Duke has managed to get her off of the judging panel and has plans to interfere in Blackpool as well. Jack's, a former protégé of Lilly, partner falls down dead during a dance, she knows that something isn't right and calls in another former pupil, Susie, who is now a private detective to look into it. Cue opening a can of worms. There are so many people that have axes to grind and when another potential partner of Jack's dies, he is open to Lilly's help. Can Susie overcome her previous relationship with Jack to work together to get the murderer caught. Will Susie be straight with Jack as to why she walked out on their relationship?
An entertaining look at the world of competitive dance.

I really wanted to love this book and was so excited to read it but unfortunately the copyright watermark makes it almost impossible to read. I tried both the netgalley app and kindle but after about 4 chapters I had to give up. The plot sounds great and from what I read I liked the characters. I definitely intend to pick up a paperback copy and give it another go but unfortunately the layout of the arc made it too hard to read.

Sadly I couldn’t finish this book. I found it really hard to get into. There was far too much scene setting and no where near enough action.

I had really high hopes for murder on the dance floor as I live strictly come dancing, I love Shirley Ballas and after hearing her talking of her new thriller on the one show I couldn’t wait to download this book and get stuck in.

I also found it very hard to read as even though it’s an early copy there was a lot of poor grammar, spelling mistakes, a lot of waffle and harper Collins publisher kept popping up mid way through sentences which was very off putting as I found I was really trying to get into it and follow the lines and try to get into the book and then that would be randomly thrown in.

I also found as it was co-written it was really hard to establish Shirley Ballas as a writer. She’s an incredible dancer but from this book I don’t feel I discovered her style of writing.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advance copy of this review. I’m not going to post it anywhere else as I’m hoping once the boo is fully edited and published it may stand a better chance. Who knows I might even give it another go as I have a huge soft spot for Shirley.

Murder On The Dance Floor by Shirley Ballas is an entertaining cosy crime novel which I really enjoyed. It is the first book in a new series which promises to be fabulous.
The reader enters the glitzy world of professional dancing. We see the effortless sequins and the glamour on stage. This is in contrast to the hard work put in behind the scenes. There is a grueling schedule for each competition as whole teams work on hair, make up and bodies.
Among the glitz and glamour lurks a silent killer as a life has been overtaken by bitterness. Designed to look like accidents, the body count rises – who will be next?
The police dismiss the deaths as accidental. An ex-dancer turner personal detective is called in to solve the crimes. As she polishes up her dance moves, old feelings that were squashed begin to rise.
All the characters were well drawn and realistic. The reader witnesses the cut throat world of professional dancing. I tried to work out the guilty party and fell for a few red herrings along the way!
Murder On The Dance Floor was extremely entertaining. I am looking forward to the subsequent books in the series.
I received a free copy via the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

Oxana has been specially invited to partner Jack Kelly, UK Champion. Dropping dead in the middle of the Tango wasn’t the spectacular finale anticipated by the organisers of the Dance competition. Jack, a nine times champion Ten Dancer (Competitions involve five Ballroom and five Latin dances) is naturally devastated. But how much is that devastation due to the effect this might have on his hope of achieving his tenth championship? Only one person has made it to ten, Lily Richmond, Jack’s former teacher now running her own studio and an accredited judge on the International stage. Oxana had be brought from xxxxx to the UK by Marmaduke Fitzgerald, head of the xxxxxx ostensibly as a stand-in for Jack’s regular partner who has a leg injury; or perhaps for some other motive? While others assume that the death is natural, Lily suspects foul play and immediately phones private detective, Suzie Cooper, who hastens to the dance hall in Whitby (fortuitously, although she is based in Liverpool, she is not too far from Whitby. Suzie was a former amateur dancer, a student of Lily’s and Jack’s Pro-Am partner, who had broken off the arrangement some year’s before, for reasons that are revealed fairly quickly but are not hard to guess. When another girl dies in the same way, it becomes clear there is a killer on the loose and Suzie, Jack and Lily are clearly the next targets. But who might that be, and for what motive?
There is a murder and a mystery, so the book falls into that category. However, stylistically it is more like a Romance story, (Boy meets Girl, etc) with a murder grafted on. The book is co-written with Sheila McClure, a well-known Romance writer (mostly for Mills and Boon under the name Annie O’Neil). The plot is unconvincing, the relationship between the three main characters is unbelievable (can they really have had no knowledge of each other’s lives after the breakup – Liverpool is not that big) the action (or rather inaction) of the police after the first sudden, unexpected, death is baffling, the murder method is dubious, there are a lot of loose ends. On the other hand, you do learn a lot about the Dancing world (is there really that much sex going on?). Readers of Crime stories (slasher to cosy) will be disappointed (2 stars at most) but readers of Romance stories or Dance stories may well quickstep over the holes (About 3.25 stars).
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.

Lily Richmond is a superstar in the dance world - former dance legend and world champion, a teacher and now a judge. When a young dancer collapses and dies during an event, Lily is convinced a crime has been committed. She calls upon her former student Susie, now a private detective, to help - will they be able to solve the mystery before anyone else dies?

I really enjoyed the dance references and a behind the scenes look at how the dance world exists. However I did find some of the storyline highly implausible, and a number of the characters were so over the top, they just were not believable. That said, I would like to see the character of Susie explored further, I feel like she has plenty more to give.

Love Love Love - its a ten from me Shirley!!!
Who would have thought the world of dancing could make such great backdrop for a murder mystery!!
Such a fun read and I cant wait for more in this series.

Sorry but the unreadable formatting of the kindle book rendered this impossible to read. On trying again with the pdf, I found that once again the watermark you put through every page renders that option impossible to read too. Shame as I was looking forward to it. If you do correct this, I’d love to try again. Please advise…

I was very disappointed with the writing style in this book. The characters and substance of the book had very little depth and the plot to me was very implausible

Apologies but this is not for me,I maybe could have got used to the writing style but the terrible e book formatting sent out made it impossible to read,a real shame as was looking forward to this book but ‘copyrighted etc etc’ through the book made it a dnf

A sparkling, sequin encrusted, murder mystery with plenty of plot twists to keep readers guessing 'who done it' and also 'who might be next'!
With a love story or two woven in.
A light heater read.
However, for me, the plot lines are rather improbable and I found it a bit of an effort to get through.

I am a big fan of the author so really wanted to love this book, but felt it needed a very sharp edit. There was much to like, especially Lily who is a fantastic creation. I would have liked to have seen more of the detective agency’s boss as he was very charismatic. The two romantic leads were engaging too, much more than two dimensional. There were some things that weren’t properly explained and I suggest that the publishers get another editor to hone the book to the engaging romp it should have been.

I was really looking forward to reading this the debut novel from Shirley Ballas as I am a fan of Strictly. But unfortunately, this is not for me. I didn’t like the writing style and I couldn’t concentrate fully because of the bad editing of this book. Also, the publishers name copyrighted through the paragraphs. I couldn’t finish it. 2 stars from me.

As a fan of gritty crime thrillers that instil fear and tension on every page, I’m afraid this rather frivolous story was not for me. I am a huge fan of Strictly and hoped this would join two of my pleasures together. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take this seriously and found the writing rather amateur. I couldn’t relate or warm to the characters and hope it won’t detract from my usual enjoyment of Strictly. I hate giving poor reviews and hope this will appeal to those who prefer something a little lighter than I appreciate. I’m sure there is a group of readers who would enjoy this, but not me.

Susie is a newly-fledged detective on her first case: a murder on the dance floor. Her ex-partner, Jack, is one of the dancers on the dead dancers' team and could be a suspect. He's one among many in this world of jealousy and intrigue. If you're a Strictly fan, as I am, you'll find the ballroom dancing setting and all the tension behind the scenes fascinating. Unfortunately, the story didn't really gel or keep the reader's interest. I struggled to finish it.

Strictly used to be a firm favourite in our house, but it became a bit too much of a (repetitive) good thing after a few series, so highlights and snippets are now enough. Shirley Ballas is very personable and an entertaining head judge, so I was intrigued by her first foray into the literary world.

Partnering with a Mills and Boon author, though, probably wasn't the best idea: this book is predictable, clichéd, stereotyped. I really do hope it was all tongue in cheek because it's all a bit daft. It's overly wordy and hard to take any character seriously, with names like Cyril de Boeuf and Marmaduke.

As the title suggests, someone's knocking off people in the dance world. The revelation of the perpetrator's beef and his final intended victim causes some serious eye-rolling.

So with the very silly story, seriously bad e-reader formatting and rather poor editing, I can't rate this very highly. It's difficult to assess on Ballas's skill as a writer, as the book was co-written. Perhaps she needs to go it alone.

The start was eerily familiar but the characters definitely set the pace. Two old dance partners reunited to try and solve two murders. The are only a few hitches a child and who is trying to replace Jacks partners?
A number of suspects need to be eliminated and it's not an easy task with lot's of potential motives to be unravelled.
Enjoy I did

I loved this book so much and by the last quarter if I wasn't reading it, my mind was on trying to work out just who the killer was. I was totally involved and absorbed in the lives of these characters and even more so in the world of Ballroom dancing.

I was hooked on finding out just who would win, who would die, and just who had dun it!

There is a cleverly crafted mystery at the heart of this book, and we are given red herrings all over the place. Which lead to some surprising moments.

I enjoyed getting to know Lily and her dancers, and also Jack and Susie. I was in awe of super woman Susie, who really is an impressive character.

And all of the behind the scenes of a dancing scene that some people probably starts and ends with Strictly, but really has far more to it than just the TV programme that champions Latin and Ballroom. I was hooked.

The author has done a fantastic job, I thoroughly enjoyed their writing and have read books previously in their other pen names, so knew I was in fine hands. Added with what I have to assume are the celebrities insights into this world which she knows so well and this is a partnership that works really well.

I look forward to seeing what will happen in the next book in the Sequin Mysteries series.

Thank you to HQ and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.