A Dance With Murder by Elizabeth Coleman

Publisher's Synopsis

A twist

PI Edwina ‘Ted’ Bristol’s latest case is proving complicated. Ballerina Giselle Tereiti is the target of a stalker, but she’s also the ex-wife of Ted’s new flame homicide detective Spike. While the case is a win for Ted’s agency, it means she’s forced to distance herself from Spike.

A turn

As Ted goes undercover via the dating apps in pursuit of suspects, the stalker ups the ante with a disturbing break-in at Giselle’s home.

Meanwhile, talented crafter Cicely Bunting is desperate to locate her husband, Duncan, who disappeared while surfing a year ago. Cicely refuses to believe that he’s dead, and she’s counting on Ted to find him.

A dance with murder …

As Ted closes in on the stalking culprit and her relationship with Spike hits rock-bottom, Cicely’s case takes a bizarre twist – and then a murder turns everything upside down.

My Review of A Dance With Murder by Elizabeth Coleman

Melbourne-based private investigator Edwina (Ted) Bristol is back,  still accompanied by her ever- faithful miniature schnauzer Miss Marple. She remains set on her path to success thanks to a strong family network,  attendance at her weekly role-playing battles and an inexhaustible internal engine. 

She's a busy PI with a couple of jobs on the go. The first finds her attempting to find the identity of a stalker who has been leaving disturbing messages at her clients house. But she has a couple of difficulties to overcome when it comes to the case. First, her client's not really sure who the stalker is and can't really come up with any suspects. Second, Ted's kind of falling for her client's ex-husband, has been for some time but she daren't mention it to either her client or Spike, the object of her growing affection. 

Also taking up her time is her sister Bob's expanding florist business. She has just purchased the shop next door and is set to combine the two into one large store. The previous owner, Cicely, had to sell to recoup money lost when her husband, Duncan, disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach. Yes, very Harold Holt of him. 

One of the admirable traits that Ted boasts is her confidence in her interpretation of facts she unearths. This can turn out to be both a good and bad thing. So it's inevitable that we're taken through a succession of moments where an important piece of information is discovered and an immediate conclusion is drawn. Sometimes the conclusion is correct, sometimes it's not. We're on a bit of a roller-coaster here. 

To add to the turmoil taking place in Ted's life, what with two cases occupying her time and her sister - a woman who has a notoriously poor record in choosing boyfriends - has just begun a new relationship, is the potential romance she may or may not have going with Spike. Whether or not she's about to find love is on an absolute tightrope and comes with a whole raft of further complications that also depend on her sleuthing capabilities. 

The fact is, this is an endlessly entertaining detective mystery caper that's spiced with plenty of family interaction, manifesting as confrontations. 

One of the cool little idiosyncrasies of the series is the Bristol first names. The female characters all have male nicknames (Ted, Bob, Chuck etc) while the men in the family have gender neutral names (Kerry, Robin, Kym, Leslie, Cal). I like that, it's one of those things that made me pause and think, okay someone's amusing themselves here, aren't they. 

A Dance With Murder is a bright and breezy second book in the Ted Bristol series.  Yes has her flaws but she's totally relatable and extremely capable. The uncertain nature of her detecting skills merely adds to the intrigue of her cases and there are plenty of dangerous moments to get the heart racing.