I learned so much about the world of dance while reading this book and suspect this alone will have great appeal for many readers. A strong mystery with plenty of intriguing characters to keep you engaged.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. A good mystery. Love the cover! Recommend.

As we have been in lockdown the past five days, I have been recently watching a lot of the Hallmark Channel Mysteries as well as reading books of course. Murder in First Position reminded me of a mix of the Hallmark Cozy mysteries I had been watching as well as a bit of the Netflix show Tiny Pretty Things. As we know from reading and watching shows about Ballet, is it can be a cutthroat business and fleeting as there are always younger dancers coming through and as soon as your body starts betraying you or someone better comes along, you can find yourself replaced in a heartbeat. For Leah, she has returned to the scene after a few months away as she injured her knee. Now she has returned to take her place as a lead dancer but has found she has been replaced by a younger model named Arianna. Arianna though Leah is about to discover is one of those "I'm all that" dancers and a right b----. Arianna is about to get her karma though as Leah finds her dead. The thing though Leah didn't plan on is that she is being used as the perfect scapegoat and someone wants it to look like Leah murdered Arianna. Now it is up to Arianna along with her family and close friend's Gabi and Madame to try and solve Arianna's murder and clear Leah's name before she ends up behind bars as it looks like they have her as their Number #1 suspect and not looking for any other options. If you are in the mood for a cozy mystery and love Ballet, then check out Lori Robbin's series On Pointe Mysteries.

A fast-paced mystery with an intriguing setting. The world of ballet was well-rendered and the story suspenseful, the dialogues were witty and funny.

I requested and received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.
Always been a fan of mystery and thriller genre. And this book delivers without disappointing. Dive into this amazing book for an exciting story.

This was the first time I read a thriller - or any book, really - featuring dancers. I am usually not very interested in books about dancers, but Ballet is more than just pink tutus and classical music.
Sadly, this book did not meet the expectations I had for it. I loved the quotes about dancing at the beginning of each chapter, but the plot itself was... Not exactly for me. I knew who the killer was from the beginning and I didn't like Leah. At first I felt sorry for her - but the further I got with the book, the more she started to annoy me. Famous ballerina or not, I think she was too full of herself and her reactions to being found at the scene of a crime - a murder, nontheless - were not exactly appropriate. I think it could have been executed differntly. More human. And, well... The book was very Hetero, so it wasn't exactly the right genre for me. I am usually open to books, ready to make my own mind, even if the book seems to be extremly Hetero. With this book, however.... It was exactly as expected. I wasn't fond of it.
Like I said, the quotes and the insight in Ballet were nice and I enjoyed these parts about the book a lot.
Since the book wasn't bad, but not excatly good (or maybe just not the right one for me), I am sticking with a solid 3-stars.

I received a free ARC by Netgalley for providing an honest review.

Not my cup of tea.
I found the part about ballet interesting but the mystery didn't keep my attention
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I was all over the place with this book. I told myself after the first chapter that the killer was the main character. Then I thought it was a few other characters, all of them wrong. Nice start to a new series.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Leah is a ballerina. She takes her profession very serious. When she is overlooked as lead ballerina she is very disappointed. When the lead ballerina is found stabbed in the back with a pair of scissors, that is tragic. However, when Leah is discovered with the victims blood on her hands and her fingerprints on the murder weapon, things turn serious against Leah. In the politics of ballet where you stand is definitely important. It can be a matter of having a career or maybe charged with murder.

Beautiful women, pretty men and gorgeous dance. All the pretty covers up ugly ambition. jealousy, and ambition strong enough to overcome most moral restrictions.
This was ok, more fun to read about the dance and backstage- goes pretty quickly.

Murder in First Position is an intriguing enough mystery surrounding a well-known New York City ballerina named Leah. Coming back from an injury is not easy-especially when you're considered over the hill in ballet-and Leah's return to the company positions her face to face with her younger rival, Arianna. Many people witness an explosive argument between Leah and Arianna and when Arianna is soon found dead (discovered by Leah) the blame quickly shifts to her. Leah, resolute in her innocence, is plagued by the media and police. Slowing coming undone she sets out to find the real perpetrator with the police-and danger-closely behind.

Robbins has a dance background which shines through in this first book in a new series and I really enjoyed the descriptions and detail of the elite dance world. Some of the supporting characters such as Madame and Leah's Uncle Morty, brought humor and more dimension to the story. The ending is a little hurried and the interesting decisions Leah and her sister make seem a little implausible however the reader will definitely want to find out who the perpetrator is and how it ties together-3.5 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Phew... 2021 reading started off not so strong - maybe I got the bad one out of the way? I started this book in late December, and despite its fast pace, it took me close to 10 days to finish it, mostly because I just couldn't motivate myself to pick it up. Needless to say, I was not a fan. Initially, I was actually pretty excited for this, mainly because I also started watching Tiny Pretty Things on Netflix, so I was ready for ballet to consume my whole existence for a week. I used to do ballet as a kid, so it still holds a very special place in heart - I will consume any movie, show, or book around ballet, no matter how bad. But this one was just a little too bad.

Starting off with the protagonist, I just could.not.stand Leah. I thought she was reckless, which also made her act quite dumb at times, too self-absorbed, and too judgmental for my taste. I mean, for fuck's sake, she made her assumptions on who the killer is based on a woman's sex life! (No, but seriously, she thought one of the other ballerinas was to blame because she "slept around"). There was just too much slut-shaming and sleeping around and rumours about sleeping around for me. It, in fact, annoyed me so much, it kept pulling me out of the story, an otherwise fast-paced mystery that had some pretty good potential.

I think that because of the whole environment the author tried to create - this complicated, dark world of ballet where everyone either sleeps with or hates everyone, where everyone will do whatever it takes to come out on top - the characters ended up feeling a bit flat, as they were all quite similar. The choreographers, ballet masters, in short pretty much any man that showed up was virtually identical to those that appeared before him. My memory is pretty good, and I generally don't mind a big cast of characters - but this time I could barely tell most of the men apart; and I didn't care enough to try.

I found the premise of this book to be way better than its execution. It definitely has potential, but it could also use another round or two of editing and some further character development. A disappointing read, partly because I was so excited to get into it.

** An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review. **

This was a free ARC via NetGalley and the publishers, in return for an unbiased review. I have to say, this was a fairly terrible book. All the characters are over the top cliches, and Leah, the ballerina suspected of murdering a rival, is a neurotic mess who regularly contradicts herself. One minute she realises that threatening to "cut her rival down" is major evidence against her and a stupid idea - then shortly after, she again threatens someone else. One minute she's saying she can easily add 3 digit numbers thanks to a lifetime of calorie counting, the next minute she's saying maths isn't her strong point. Or that CSI's done more to educate people on crime detection, and then later she says she doesn't know what a burner phone is. A young New Yorker doesn't know what a burner phone is, but my middle class, 68 year old mother does? PLEASE. And as for running away and "going on the lam" at the end, what a ridiculous concept. I started slogging my way through, and then today raced through about 60% of the book, just to get it done and finished. I love ballet, which is why I wanted to try this, but dear lord - never again.

I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review
This was suitably dull. I expected it to be a little more thrilling but as a first in a series it was alright.

#'Murder in First Position' by author # Lori Robbins is a thriller. And the new novel is a wonderful mystery. This is one to enjoy.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Lori Robbins, and # Level Best Books for the advanced copy

What do you do if almost everyone, including the police, believes you are guilty of murder and you can’t convince them otherwise?
You conduct your own investigation, of course.
Leah Siderova, prima ballerina, has the bad luck to be the first to discover rising star Arianna Bonneville bleeding to death from a scissors imbedded in her back. Just that afternoon, Arianna was given the role that Leah thought was choreographed for her.
Leah quickly rises to the top of the suspect list.
But Leah knows the world of professional ballet, and knows the competition, jealousies, and backstabbing that can arise among those who are involved in the ballet company . So with a little help from family and friends, she sets out to find the murderer.
As we tag along with Leah on her investigation throughout New York City, we meet a cast of theatric and colorful characters, Leah is smart and funny, and we know she’ll clear her name and find the murderer; but the more she uncovers, the harder to pinpoint a suspect. We’re happy to follow her wherever the clues take her; and join in the final applause.

I found the mystery and the writing decidedly average, but I did enjoy the detail about ballet as a career.

This was a witty and suspenseful little mystery, which didn’t take itself too seriously. I have no knowledge of ballet, nor the professional dance scene in general, but that didn’t matter; I was able to follow the plot fairly easily and witness the characters come to life effortlessly. It was well paced and would recommend to other mystery lovers.

This was my first review on NetGalley - I felt this book was a lovely introduction to world of NetGalley reviews.

3.5***

I danced ballet for 15 years, so when I saw that there was a ballet thriller, I couldn’t WAIT to get my hands on it!

Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read and review this prior to its release date. All opinions are strictly my own.

They say ballerinas would never kill over a role but they clearly don’t know how cutthroat the ballerina dance world is..it’s quite intense and reason as to why I never further pursued ballet.

I loved being immersed in the NYC Professional Ballet world! I loved the ballet terms that were used and found myself reenacting the moves in my head from my own memories. I loved hearing about the different pieces and costumes. It was so fun to be back in that world!

The mystery itself was ... meh. This is a classic ‘whodunnit’ but it took me some time to piece together who our murderer was. I thought some of the writing was mediocre and there were parts that sort of dragged on and made me want the mystery to move just a tiny bit faster. I really wasn’t found if Leah, our main character either. I preferred her sidekicks much more. Leah seemed very.. one dimensional.

This is book one in a new ballet series so I will definitely be picking up book two because.. it’s ballet and I’m a dancer so why not?

Murder in the First was a great read with good suspense. Loved that it brought a different side to the ballet world. Recommend this hood for a good suspenseful read.