Murder in Second Position Book Tour Stop and Review

On Tour! Check out Murder in Second Position!

GENRE: Cozy Mystery

About the Book

Ballerina Leah Siderova belongs onstage. Not in an interrogation room at Manhattan’s Twentieth Precinct. And yet, for the second time in less than a year, that’s where she has a starring role. It wasn’t her fault someone killed the autocratic new director of the American Ballet Company. And it wasn’t her job to find the killer.

Leah is determined to stay as far away as possible from the murder investigation. After all, if she were going to kill someone, it would have been the woman who’s been relentlessly trolling her on social media. And that’s where things get complicated. Because when dancers say “ballet can be murder” they don’t mean it literally.

Most of the time.

Nellie’s Review

When the director of Leah Siderova’s ballet company is found dead (by Leah herself), she is once again suspected of murder.  With a jealous office worker accusing her at every chance, Leah throws herself into the murder investigation to prove her innocence and stop any other murders.

This is the second book in this series.  I had not read the first prior to diving into this one, but I had no trouble picking up the threads and following the story.  The story is good and the backdrop of the ballet is a unique premise.  Both added to the ambiance of the story. 


I did not have an easy time liking the characters.  The author does a good job of describing many things dance related, but this really makes it hard to like the characters as they are constantly sniping at each other.  I know the dance world can be a cutthroat place, but the book really plays this up which lessens the “cozy” feel. 

All in all, I found the book an interesting and entertaining read.  If you like the ballet or are looking for a mystery with a unique premise, give this one a try.

Guest Post – The Secret Ingredient: Murder, Mayhem, and the Occasional Marshmallow

by Lori Robbins

Recipes and mysteries share a lot of common ground. Both contain elements of the unexpected, both can end disastrously, but both also provide great entertainment. As an amateur cook and a professional writer, I’m constantly tinkering. What if I added some lemon peel? Or reduced the amount of flour? Maybe those vegetables that have been sitting around for a week can form the basis for a curry or a stir fry. I’m open to suggestions.

My philosophy about baking is that flour, sugar, butter, and chocolate will add up to something that is at its worst, edible, and at its best, sublime. Where books are concerned, I like a dash of humor, along with the requisite corpse or two, to get me going and keep me engaged. That’s definitely part of the fun, as a reader, a writer, and a cook, because there’s something deeply satisfying about the craft, as well as the art. And if the special ingredient you need is somehow no longer in the pantry, or that opening scene needs a twenty-seventh rewrite, the end result may be more delicious, and more suspenseful than the sum of its parts.

My On Pointe Mystery books are set in a fictional ballet company, and the protagonist is a crime-fighting dancer. Like many ballerinas, Leah is obsessed with her weight. She keeps track of every calorie and carbohydrate, and thus has become extremely adept at adding three-digit numbers in her head. Because she lives in New York City, she must constantly battle the allure of iconic desserts, like bagels, cheesecake, and big, salty pretzels. All the same, even Leah has to eat sometimes. Especially when she’s investigating a killer who is stalking the dancers of American Ballet Company.

Murder in Second Position is not a culinary mystery, but even I could not escape the allure of that delicious, and deadly, combination. Several months ago, I had the pleasure of contributing a recipe for The Secret Ingredient: The Mystery Writers Cookbook, which included recipes from many of my favorite cozy authors.

We wrote our recipes from the point of view of our main character. But because my protagonist never cooks and thinks coffee and diet soda are essential food groups, she had no recipes to share. Thankfully, her perfect and perfectly wonderful sister stepped in to help her out. After all, what are sisters for, if not to help you hide from the police, foil a murder plot, and cook beautiful meals in their spare time?

You can find the recipe on my website: https://www.lorirobbins.com/

Enjoy the mystery and the meal!

About the Author

Brooklyn-born Lori Robbins began dancing at age 16 and launched her professional career three years later. She studied modern dance at the Martha Graham School and ballet at the New York Conservatory of Dance. Robbins performed with a number of dance companies, including Ballet Hispanico, the Des Moines Ballet, and the St. Louis Concert Ballet. After ten very lean years as a dancer she attended Hunter College, graduating summa cum laude with a major in British Literature and a minor in Classics.

The opening book in her On Pointe Mystery Series, Murder in First Position, won the Indie Book Award for Best Mystery, was a finalist for a Silver Falchion, and is currently on the short list for a Mystery & Mayhem Book Award. Murder in Second Position will be released November 23, 2021. Her debut mystery, Lesson Plan for Murder, won the Silver Falchion for Best Cozy Mystery and was a finalist in the Readers’ Choice and Indie Book Awards. It will be re-released in June 2022. She authored two short stories in 2021: “Accidents Happen” in Mystery Most Diabolical, and “Leading Ladies” in Justice for All. She is an expert in the homicidal impulses everyday life inspires.

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