My name is Leah Siderova, and I’m a principal dancer with American Ballet Company.

Life as a ballerina isn’t nearly as glamorous behind the scenes as it looks from the audience’s point of view. Every morning, Madame Maksimova puts the dancers at American Ballet Company through a grueling ninety-minute workout. The rest of the day, we sweat through hours of rehearsals. Most nights I climb five flights of stairs to my railroad apartment, eat a painfully skimpy meal, and fall into bed. I try not to worry about the future of my career, but heartbreak goes with the territory. Most people my age are angling for a corner office, but the only promotion a thirty-something ballerina with bad knees is likely to get is a spot on the unemployment line. And yet, I count myself as one of the lucky ones. It’s still the only life I’ve ever wanted. Because everything is beautiful at the ballet. Most of the time.

Performance days are different, of course. Then it’s costumes, makeup, and the thrill of the crowd. And onstage is where I belong. Not in an interrogation room at Manhattan’s Twentieth Precinct. It wasn’t my fault someone killed Pavel Baron, the autocratic director of the company. I will admit that I benefited from Pavel’s death, but I would no sooner murder him than I would submit to his sexually predatory advances.

There are plenty of suspects at American Ballet Company. At the top of my list is Savannah Collier, Pavel’s assistant, who’s been trolling me on social media. Another possibility is Bobbie York, our combative costume mistress, who still thinks I’m after her chubby, middle-aged, longsuffering husband. I will say nothing negative about our guest artist, ballerina Mavis Ferris. Let others comment upon her conniving, spiteful, mean, and selfish nature.

It’s not my job to find the killer. A very good-looking NYPD detective is on the case, and he thinks he doesn’t need my help. But he doesn’t know ballet, and without an insider’s understanding of the tensions that drive us, he’s at a distinct disadvantage. That’s where I come in. I won’t be alone. My sister, my best friend, and Madame Maksimova are as anxious as I am to find the shadowy figure stalking the dancers of American Ballet Company.

Life as a ballerina is brutally tough. But it’s not supposed to kill you.

Murder in Second Position, An On Pointe Mystery #2
Genre: Traditional
Release: November 2021
Purchase Link

Ballerina Leah Siderova belongs onstage. Not in an interrogation room at Manhattan’s Twentieth Precinct. And yet, for the second time in less than a year, that’s where she has a starring role. It wasn’t her fault someone killed the autocratic new director of the American Ballet Company. And it wasn’t her job to find the killer.

Leah is determined to stay as far away as possible from the murder investigation. After all, if she were going to kill someone, it would have been the woman who’s been relentlessly trolling her on social media. And that’s where things get complicated. Because when dancers say “ballet can be murder” they don’t mean it literally.

Most of the time.

About the author
Award-winning author Lori Robbins began dancing at age 16 and launched her professional career three years later. She performed with a number of modern and ballet companies, including Ballet Hispanico, the Des Moines Ballet, and the St. Louis Concert Ballet. Her first On Pointe Mystery, Murder in First Position, won first place in the Indie Book Awards for Best Mystery, was a finalist for a Silver Falchion, and is on the short list for a Mystery and Mayhem Book Award. Murder in Second Position was published on November 23rd. Her debut novel, Lesson Plan for Murder, won the Silver Falchion Award and was a finalist in the Readers’ Choice and Indie Book Awards. It will be re-released by Level Best Books in June, 2022. Short stories include “Accidents Happen” in the anthology Murder Most Diabolical and “Leading Ladies” in Justice for All. She is an expert in the homicidal impulses everyday life inspires.

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