A Body at the Dance Hall by Marty Wingate - Book Review

Series: The London Ladies’ Murder Club #3 

Publication Date: 08th April 2024

Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery 

4 Stars 

One Liner: Some laughs, a touch of danger, and a list of suspects 

1922 London 

Mabel Canning has settled into her job at the Useful Women Agency. She takes up a range of tasks, though murders haven’t been included for a while. When Mabel is tasked with accompanying Roxy, a fun American heiress, she knows it won’t be an easy job. However, she doesn’t expect to end up in a murder investigation. 

Mabel, with help from Park (her beau) and the other two members of the unofficial club, starts to investigate the case. There seem to be too many suspects as she digs deeper. Soon, Roxy is in danger, and Mabel has to find the killer before it is too late. 

The story comes in Mabel’s third-person POV. 

My Thoughts: 

The book works as a standalone, though you can read book one and jump to this if you want. 

The pacing is decent, neither fast nor slow (better than book #2, which was slow). This works well to keep the reader hooked on the plot. It also helps that the prologue has murder, and the first couple of chapters are kind of like flashbacks. 

The setting is well done as with the previous books, be it the period, the lifestyle, the restrictions, social aspects, etc. All these add to the narrative and make it better. 

The mystery starts out well and becomes intricate as new information is revealed. There are enough suspects and secrets to keep guessing the reasons and the killer's identity. However, the reader won’t feel cheated because the character and the reader get to know the information at the same time. The reveal does make sense (since my instinct zoned on that character even if I couldn’t understand why), though I wouldn’t mind if we got a wee bit more detail. 

Roxy is an entertaining character. She is eighteen and has all the drama of a teen. However, she is also sweet and can make friends with anyone. I like her resilience (even if it’s lucky that she is safe) and easy acceptance of tough situations. 

MaryLou, Roxy’s mother, is almost impossible to like. The more we get to know her, the more we admire Roxy. The other characters are also easy to read. Little Augustus doesn’t make an entry in this one, but Gladys (Park’s doggy) has plentiful space. 

The book ends on a humorous and hopeful note, so we can be sure that Mabel will have many more adventures (personal and professional). 

To summarize, A Body at the Dance Hall is an entertaining and light-hearted read with some emotional scenes. Looking forward to the next! 

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the eARC. 

#NetGalley #ABodyAtTheDanceHall

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PS: Based on cozy mysteries I read, taking a dog with you will make even the toughest of people more amicable and helpful (don’t blame me if it doesn’t work in real life).