Death of a Dancing Queen

De: Kimberly G. Giarratano

Narrado por: Caitlin Shannon

A female Jewish P.I. finds herself involved in a deadly gang war while looking for a murder suspect in this new own voices crime novel.

After her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Billie Levine revamped her grandfather’s private investigation firm and set up shop in the corner booth of her favorite North Jersey deli hoping the free pickles and flexible hours would allow her to take care of her mom and pay the bills. So when Tommy Russo, a rich kid with a nasty drug habit, offers her a stack of cash to find his missing girlfriend, how can she refuse? At first, Billie thinks this will be easy earnings, but then her missing person's case turns into a murder investigation and Russo is the detective bureau’s number one suspect.

Suddenly Billie is embroiled in a deadly gang war that’s connected to the decades-old disappearance of a famous cabaret dancer with ties to both an infamous Jewish mob and a skinhead group. Toss in the reappearance of Billie’s hunky ex-boyfriend with his own rap sheet, and she is regretting every decision that got her to this point.Becoming a P.I. was supposed to solve her problems. But if Billie doesn’t crack this case, the next body the police dredge out of the Hudson River will be hers.

©2022 Kimberly Giarrantano (P)2022 Datura

A great listen

I'm not generally one for detective stories, but I enjoyed listening to this one. There's a good balance between the detective Billie's personal story and the unravelling story of her investigation. It felt like a fresh and modern take on an old-style mystery. Fun narration - well voiced characters.

Fabulous narrator & fun ride

I truly enjoyed this book and the journey to earlier years. It was fun and tense. One of the best I’ve listened to lately but the icing on the cake was the Jersey gal’s reading of the Dancing Queen. It made me feel I was back East. Well done

fun

I love this twist on the typical Private Eye tale, where the P.I. is a young gal from New Jersey. And the narrator has such an appealing voice, and a nice understated quality (no over-acting here). Fun, complicated puzzle to wade through.

Terrible narrator

Mispronounced words. Word emphasis not natural. Every line of dialogic delivered like the character speaking is whining no matter what they're saying.
I normally don't bother with reviews at all but this narrator is to be avoided.

Atrocious Narrator

This is a long winded book full of unnecessary detail and banal dialogue, but the cherry on top is the awful narrator. If you like faux Jersey accents and literally every character sounding exactly the same, this is the audiobook for you.