Death in the margins

Gilbert's pleasant seventh Blue Ridge Library mystery (after 2021's Renewed for Murder) finds Amy Muir, the director of the Taylorsford (Va.) Public Library, excited that her husband, Richard, and his dance partner will soon premiere their Folklore Suite at a theater in nearby Smithsburg. Mixing the region's Blue Ridge Mountain folktales and music to create the dances should be an enjoyable project, but diva Meredith Fox, whose genius for creating enemies rivals her talent for dancing, is making the production a nightmare for everyone, especially her former dance partner and fiancé, Richard. After Amy discovers Meredith's body backstage, she partners with Chief Deputy Brad Tucker to investigate. Amy digs into the many ways--berating fellow dancers, spurning lovers, and committing darker deeds--Meredith enraged those around her. The dead woman's possible involvement in the unsolved theft of a valuable painting from a wealthy local family adds suspects to an already busy plot. Indeed, with so many people with so many motives, readers will struggle to keep them all straight. This one's for fans who have become enamored of a town that evokes Disney's Main Street, U.S.A. Agent: Frances Black, Literary Counsel. (Dec.)

When an unpopular dancer is murdered, an amateur sleuth sets out to find the killer. Dancer Richard Muir, the husband of library director Amy Muir, is staging a production featuring local talent. Though the performers range from children to professionals, Richard's only real problem is Meredith Fox, whose excellent dancing abilities are undermined by her abrasive personality and her jealousy of other dancers. In the past, she'd dumped Richard to enter into a disastrous--and short-lived--marriage with the wealthy dancer Nate Broyhill, and now she's insulted an autistic child, and she's had bad relationships with plenty of others. When Amy finds young dancer Conner Vogler standing over Meredith's body clutching a bloody knife, she doesn't assume he's guilty, but the police do. Fortunately, Chief Deputy Brad Tucker is an old friend who's willing to at least listen to her doubts. Knowing her sleuthing abilities, he encourages her to poke into other possible motives. Nate's mother had married into the wealthy Lance family, which put up money to finance his failed dance company, leaving him at odds with his half brother, whose interests are strictly equestrian. Nate becomes a suspect when Amy recalls that she'd seen him loitering outside the theater. But he's far from the only one who hated Meredith. Amy's researching abilities stand her in good stead as she methodically investigates possible motives. Believable characters and a thorny mystery. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.