Corpse de Ballet

Nine Muses #1

by Ellen Pall

It's not as if Juliet Bodine wishes that she'd stayed an English professor instead of becoming a successful romance novelist. It's just that writing, though interesting, is never easy, and she will do almost anything to avoid her desk. So she succumbs to the pleas of her friend Ruth, a renowned choreographer, to help translate Dickens' Great Expectations into ballet form.

Watching the magnificent dancers work is fascinating. But Juliet soon finds the company plagued by jealousies, subterranean liaisons, ugly sabotage, and-sudden death.

Could it be murder?

NYPD detective Murray Landis is skeptical. But Juliet-who is startled to recognize in Murray the budding sculptor who dated her college roommate years ago-disagrees, and turns her novelist's sense of plot and character to detection. Can she and Murray unmask the ruthless choreographer of a pas de death?

Fast, witty, and literate, Corpse de Ballet marks the dazzling debut of the Nine Muses Mysteries featuring Juliet Bodine and Murray Landis.

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Fiction

239 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Sharon Ouderkirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will always pick up a literary mystery and give it a chance. In this case, the story begins with the mounting of a new ballet based on Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. On the upside, Pall is not as pretentious and arrogant as Carolyn Heilbrun (writing as Amanda Cross) in the Kate Fansler mysteries, and overall, I enjoyed the novel. On the downside, I did find the female lead Juliet Bodine to be overly intrusive (she accompanied a man to the bedside of his wife who just had a miscarriage), and unable to keep focus (she often went off into her own thoughts when people were speaking to her). Focus was also a problem with the writing: quite a bit of the writing was jarring in its irrelevance.
Juliet is involved in the production through her long-time friend Ruth, who is the choreographer. Ruth asks for Juliet's help on the flow of scenes since Juliet is a writer who is good with plot. Juliet joins the rehearsals and offers sharp insight to Ruth. She also gets to know the ballet company, and when the lead dancer Anton (who is playing Pip) dies suddenly, she suspects murder. On the surface, there is no shortage of suspects since Anton pretty much slept with everyone in the company, but no one else seems to credit Juliet's belief in foul play. She meets an old Harvard friend, Murray Landis, who is the police detective in charge of the case, and he too doubts Juliet's theory. But their renewed relationship is a bright light in the novel. Meanwhile, Juliet waits and watches, and she puts the pieces of the mystery together quite succintly at the end. I didn't guess the murderer, but there was enough information for a reader to have done so as I realized in retrospect. As I read the denouement, I kept thinking 'So that's why...'
Despite the Nine Muses subheading, there appears to be only one other book in the series, Slightly Abridged. I may read it one fine day, but will not rush out to get it.

[Marfita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, I read this despite the bad pun in the title. It was refreshing to see that the main character is capable of going to the bathroom and contracting a yeast infection ... and that the author could actually work a yeast infection into the plot.
While I lived in NYC, I was involved in theatre and have spent many an hour in a rehearsal studio dancing. In Boston I exercised at a place that taught ballet and tap to adults. There were many ballet dancers hanging out in the halls pretentiously turning out their toes and searching through their wallets for change for the drink machines only to "accidentally" find centimes. So, if an author wants to kill off a few of the bunheads, I'm up for it.
The main character, Juliet, is a successful romance writer who takes her historical research seriously. She lives in an expensive apartment in Manhattan and has a secretary, Ames. I have actually been in a similar situation, transcribing notes for authors living on the Upper West Side while I lived in a studio apartment that I shared with at least one other person (on the Upper East). Her friend, Ruth, is a choreographer who has is trying to put together a piece based on Great Expectations, which they humorously refer to as "Great Ex." Ruth is stymied and calls on Juliet to come to use her plot development expertise. This puts a crimp in Juliet's writing, but Ruth was there for her when she needed her and she agrees.
A dancer dies under suspicious circumstances and Juliet becomes reacquainted with an old college chum she used to be attracted to ... who is now a police detective. Sexual tension and a yeast infection ensue. There is more going on than meets the eye in the world of beautiful dancers. And everyone is sleeping with everyone else. Was the dancer murdered? Will Juliet and Murray get it on? Will Murray get over this love/hate thing he has going for rich women? Will Ruth chill out? Stay tuned.

[Karina Tarbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was teeming with potential. A clever take on what the minor league version of professional dance looks like, but it felt so sloppy and patched together. It felt like someone who was in ballet and knew it really well, then decided to up and write a mystery novel about it

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great writing, likable, realistically annoying characters, funny!
I was immediately intrigued by the presence of multiple things i enjoyed- dance, historical fic, and Charles Dickens. I actually just finished Great Expectations, so the development of a ballet based on the story was understandable and very interesting.
The annoying things: random bad language about half way through (f-bomb, d word)
And references to sex, though not explicit (MC makes some comments, murdered guy was promiscuous)

It's sad that this planned 9 book series never happened, but i probably wouldn't have continued anyway, if the authors goal was to pair Juliet and Murray eventually.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok, but I’m not going to continue the series. I like cozy mysteries, but prefer them not to have romantic angst. I don’t mind friendship growing to love, but dwelling on will he or won’t he call is tiresome.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had fun reading this, was engaged initially by the idea of the main character as a Romance novelist distracted by the need to help provide balance to a very intense and socially awkward friend choreographing a new ballet. Not that Juliet really knows ballet, but she knows how to be a friend and help her keep things in perspective. The inside views of a dance company are intriguing. Although they feel accurate, I have no idea how tweaked they might be, as other reviewers have complained. The personalities and interactions are more important, and for that, I think it flows well enough, though the Monistat episodes did not, I think, add to the story line.

The author of this book has apparently written some Romance novels as well, which leads me to hope I have found another series to try.

[Katie O. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really like mysteries unless they're non-fiction or have a rich, historical setting. This one squeaked in with 'rich setting' in that the behind-the-scenes detail of creating a ballet was very intriguing to me. And it seemed rather realistic (based on my rather tangential experiences with a few professional ballet companies).

Unfortunately, the whodunnit was so easy to figure out. And ironically - given that ballet is all about showing - there was so much TELLING and not enough SHOWING to move the plot along or develop characters. Maybe there were too many characters for this author to properly track/present. When there was dialogue it was pretty good; there should've been more. And Juliet was hard to like; she seemed too much like the haughty characters she writes about.

I'd like to see the ballet!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I happened across this book one day at a library book sale, where they need to get rid of old, forgotten, or overstocked books. I remember opening it for the first time and not really being interested at first, so I put it back down. Sometime later I pulled it back off my shelf and found myself particularly engrossed. At first, it seemed slow; I had no idea that I was holding a very good mystery read in my hands. There are many characters and lots of idling here and there but eventually it picks up. A good book after all has to have well developed and numerous characters, especially a mystery. Some people may find too many characters hard to follow,however, I don't believe this is one of those books.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Juliet, a popular author, is asked by her choreographer friend to help with the plotting of her new ballet based on Dickens's GREAT EXPECTATIONS. It feels stagnate to Ruth. Once Juliet joins the cast in the studio, a string of mishaps and injuries begins. The death doesn't occur until going on halfway through the book, which gives us plenty of time to care about what is going to happen to the people.

The wonderful thing about CORPSE DE BALLET is the ballet the author has created. I know little about ballet, but the author's combination of invention and commentary makes me wish it would be produced. It's a delight to watch it flower.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author is apparently a successful romance novelist who tried her hand at a mystery in Corpse de Ballet. The idea was so promising but her central character left me cold. I am not sure how she managed to make the novel so plodding, but she did.

The central character (a romance novelist)didn't sparkle and didn't even manage to be interesting in any way. I would love to see a successful series of mysteries set in the performing arts world---but it doesn't look like Ellen Pall will be the author to do that.

[Sherry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished this book to see if I had the perp right. Yup!! I felt the ending was too easy to figure out. I also wondered about some of the vocabulary the author used. Such as: rebeginning. Having a ballet background, although many years ago, I felt there was a lot to be desired, or more thoroughly explained about the choreograhy scenes. And, I did not believe that the protagonist could see a dancer work outy a series of steps and know that it came from a particular ballet.
All in all, this book did not appeal to me. I won't search out another by the same author.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellen Pall manages to create a fictional ballet in Great Expectations that I'd really like to see in real life. Since most of my experience with the ballet world comes from Noel Streatfeild, the day to day stuff was interesting but goes on for many more pages than necessary. Overall the mystery is entertaining, and I liked the Colombo-ish police detective.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

New York writer Juliet Bodine has only a spectator's interest in ballet, but her close friend Ruth, a choreographer, is in the midst of creation a production of "Great Expectations," and needs Juliet's help. When a dancer dies suddenly, only Juliet wonders if he's been murdered. The detective on the case turns out to be an old college friend, and attraction still simmers between the two of them.

[WitchyFingers · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little more serious than most mysteries, a little more plodding and sedate. Was interesting to read at times, but dragged a lot. Took me way too long to finish, because every time I started to read it, I would fall asleep.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

May I never read another mystery where the heroine's yeast infection leads her to the solution. Crotch itch as deus ex machina? Nice.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting mystery book. I do not know a lot about the ballet, so it was interesting to read a little about the dancers. It was a light read, which was fun.

[Janea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, an easy read. There were several charcters so it got a little hard to follow. Liked the surprise ending.

[Carol Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very intelligently written book. A realistic depiction of a ballet company. Use of the "f" word a little too realistic.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good mystery. I was drawn to read it because I dance. I enjoyed the ending as she added an extra twist at the end.

[Ethan Raysor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a dancer, the setting was incredibly surreal, besides the resolution to the mystery. Could have been ended better, but I still enjoyed the story!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay book, was an easy read, but not ver exicting.