SOLVED. Murder mystery about a new york tap? dancer [s]

[Myst]

14+ years ago I read a book of my mothers that had a bronze/brown/taupe-ish cover. This book was in paperback so it was probably published 15+ years ago. I *think* the cover had a skull and pair of dance shoes on it.

It was an adult mystery novel.

The plot as best I can remember was a former female tap (jazz?) dancer in new york has her old troupe getting back together for a small set of repeat performances. One (or more?) of the dancers in the troupe gets murdered and our retired female dancer wants the killer found.

I want to say the title had dance or death in it and it was probably part of a series.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

No, but here are some possibilities. Just bear in mind that covers can vary widely between editions so the one I link to might not be the one you remember. All of these were published prior to 2000.

Baby Doll Games
Sigrid Harald, a police detective, investigates the murder of a dancer, whose death was witnessed by a crowd of children.

Sigrid Harald mysteries, 5

Backstage Murder
When ex-dancer Lindy Haggerty once again dons her dancing shoes to help an old friend save a troubled show, the past-her-prime diva and major troublemaker Carlotta Devine is murdered and Lindy must weed through a wealth of suspects, while a killer waits in the wings to make sure this is Lindy's final dance.

Lindy Haggerty mysteries, 1

These Bones Were Made for Dancin'
Both Broadway and Wall Street snap to life in this sixth Smith and Wetzon mystery (after Murder: The Musical). Leslie Wetzon, a former dancer who is now partner of an executive headhunting firm with the elegant Xenia Smith, is drawn into a murder mystery that's at least 15 years old when a skeleton with a bullet through its skull turns up in a Greenwich Village brownstone. At the same time, Wetzon and an old friend are collaborating on a two-day charity revival of an 18-year-old musical, for which they're recruiting the original cast and crew. One cast member, dancer Terri Matthews, once a close friend of Wetzon's, can't be located. Is the skeleton what's left of Terri? Wetzon and her lover, NYPD detective Silvestri, try to find out. The suspects, most of them associated with the original musical, are a wonderfully drawn, backbiting, jealous and vindictive lot-and Terri, despite her farm-fresh image, turns out to have been an egregious vamp. Meyers plunges Wetzon into a frenetic routine of rehearsing, recruiting and sleuthing, as NYC at holiday time provides an electric background for a lively, gleefully bitchy whodunit.

Smith and Wetzon mysteries, 6

Corpse de Ballet
Toni Ney mysteries, 2
A Russian ballet star is murdered.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Good Night, Sweet Prince
The defection of a Bolshoi dancer draws Bonnie Indermill into the backstage bickerings and administrative maneuverings of a ballet company where deadly rivalries and private neuroses culminate in murder.

Bonnie Indermill mysteries, 3

A Cat in the Wings
When a former ballet star is found murdered backstage at a production of "The Nutcracker" in Lincoln Center, Alice Nestleton takes a keen interest in the case, especially when her best friend is charged with the murder.

Alice Nestleton mysteries, 5

Cold Feet
Hired to shoot the Nonpareils, the legendary group of jazz tap dancers that is making a comeback, photojournalist Libby Kincaid finds herself arrested as an accomplice to the murder of the group's leader.

Libby Kincaid mysteries, 2

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Four Steps to Death
Fancy footwork is required of dance instructor Maggie Tramayne when she finds her friend Nina skewered with one of her own kitchen utensils, and she must sidestep both the police and the killer's next culinary surprise in order to survive.

Here, narrator Maggie Tremayne is clumsily framed for the murder of Nina Lang-lander, who stole her husband years ago when the two, along with Karin and Allie, comprised the Pas de Quatre dance troupe. Warned by homicide cop Tagliaferro that she, for some as-yet-unexplained reason, may be next on the killer's hit list, Maggie is disbelieving--until a stage prop catches fire and almost incinerates her. Then retired-dancer/now-housewife Karin is a hit-and-run victim; dancer-turned-junkie Allie steps out a tenement window; and one of Maggie's dance classes is interrupted by the arrival of a funeral wreath--with her name on it. When the murderer finally corners Maggie, and reveals all in a scene teetering between maudlin and poignant, Maggie saves herself with a grand battement mastered 20 years ago.

Dancing with the Dead
When two women who closely resemble each other and who are both competitive ballroom dancers are murdered separately, Mary Arlington, a ballroom dancer who resembles the two victims, begins to fear for her own life.

[Myst]

Thank you Lobstergirl, that third one is the one I was looking for!

Time to see if library has rest of the series or not.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Myst wrote: "Thank you Lobstergirl, that third one is the one I was looking for!

Time to see if library has rest of the series or not."

So "These Bones Were Made for Dancin'"?

[Myst]

Yes.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Great.