Dance Macabre

A Handful of Secrets #7

by Andrew Hixson

Vasily Kutziyez, the World Latin American Dancing Champion kills himself by drowning off the Oxmarket coast after receiving a fax from his lover, Coco Caviachi. However, the fact that the fax was good news (his lover's husband was agreeing to a divorce), provides several questions that John Handful must answer.

50 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2012

About the author

Andrew Hixson was born in Barnet in 1958 and spent his formative years in North Finchley, where he attended school. After his education, Andrew embarked on a career working at the renowned Smithfield Meat Market in London. It was later in life, upon relocating to Suffolk, that he met his wife and settled into family life. Andrew is the proud father of two daughters and grandfather to three granddaughters, as well as two much-loved grand-dogs. Though Suffolk is now his home, he remains an ardent supporter of Arsenal Football Club. A keen reader, Andrew draws inspiration from the works of Tim Weaver, Harlon Coben, and Agatha Christie, whose books are among his favourites.

Reviews

[Tammy Hastings · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in one of the First Reads giveaway contests. It is a short book, a quick read. It is fifty, easy-to-read pages that fly by in a flash. Although this book is book seven in a series, it is not hard to follow. It eases you in with enough information on the characters that you don't feel lost or confused. As far as practical concerns go, there were some small errors scattered throughout the book that -- as an English grammar snob -- turned me off a bit; the book would have benefitted greatly from some detailed editing/proofing. However, those small concerns aside, the book, itself, was fun. It's your typical private eye short story, though this particular private eye -- John Handful -- has quite a groovy style. I highly recommend this book to people who like PI stories and have an hour or so to kill. I, personally, wish I could have won a copy of the other six books preceding this one. :-D

[JC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting much out of this book when I received it - it's quite small and the cover looked like some type of romance novel. Fortunately I was delightfully surprised to find a nice little detective novel that I quite enjoyed. If I can get my hands on the other books in this series I'd enjoy reading them.

[Andy]

I have won this book through the Goodreads giveaway. Thank you so much!
Edit:
I have read the book and as promised, I give you my review.

I thought it was a nice short story with a good twist. I am looking forward to reading the others.

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book via Firstreads and I must say I enjoyed it .It's a short but engaging detective story and its size makes it perfect for reading on the train or bus.
The only thing I wasn't keen on was the cover as it looks somewhat dated.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a first reads giveaway. It's a nice short tale, and I would definitely be interested in reading more of John Handful's adventures in the future. A great story that kept my interest from beginning to end!

[Lou · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a good reads first reads book that I won ... One word - awful!

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, Dance Macabre wasn't one of those books I will gush over, but it was interesting enough for me to give it a solid three stars.

Vasily Kutziyez, a Latin American Dance Champion, is found drowned, a presumed suicide. Vasily's lover and dance partner, Coco Caviachi, had just sent him a fax stating her husband had agreed to a divorce. It's now up to private detective John Handful to figure out what happened.

A short, well-paced mystery that I read in one sitting. A slim volume, it's only fifty pages long and quite a bit of it is dialogue. This is book seven in a series of ten cases featuring Detective John Handful. I hadn't read any of the other books in the series. However, unlike some series, I wasn't feeling too lost by reading the seventh book first.

This is for fans of the classic mystery genre. The clues are all there and by the end of the story John Handful neatly ties up all the loose ends.

I wasn't a fan of the brief love scenes nor the relationship between John and Kimberley. I'm not too sure why- they just rubbed me the wrong way and really didn't add a heck of a lot to the story. It could be that I just don't know the characters well enough.

And I'm also left wondering is why is John, a private detective, allowed unrestricted access and given free reign around all these crime scenes? I guess I might have to catch up by reading the previous books.

*I won a copy through the Firstreads giveaway program.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short mystery is the seventh story in a series about private detective John Handful in England. Handful is called in by the police to help investigate the apparent suicide by drowning of a dancing champion. The mystery is interesting and well plotted. It was a quick and pleasant read.

My only problem is that a story this short should really focus on the mystery at hand. Instead, it felt padded with side trips to the detective's girlfriend and the investigation of a cheating husband. I felt that this story would have benefitted from significant tightening.

I haven't read any of the previous stories in the series. Perhaps in one of those stories it made clear why the police would consult with this private detective since he did not appear to have any special expertise. A single sentence could have clarified this.

I received from the author a free paperback edition of this story.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with the previous book of Andrew Hixsons I was impressed at the well crafted mystery at the heart of the story but there were some elements which jarred. I didn't feel that even the central character seemed to have any depth to him, which was disappointing as by this point in the series I would like to feel that the character is more fully fleshed, while at other points there were what seemed oddly excessive details used - the full name of John Handful's girlfriend, and a comment by her about the 'ISO9000 auditors' a reference which certainly had no meaning to me, until I googled it (fyi it's about quality control) but even then doesnt add anything to the plot or my knowledge of the character.

But overall I stil feel that I would welcome a compliation volume of the Handful short stories or would welcome Andrew fleshing them out further in to a longer novella or even full novel since it does seem that he has with these shorts the potential.

[Cathy Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I was a bit surprised when I got this; I was not expecting it to be so thin and short. The story was good, but there wasn't much to it. It was simple, with not many fast or dramatic happenings. And there was a bit of confusion when the detective was there. Since I had to learn his name through the story, it took me awhile to realize what he was doing there. And not shutting up the crime scene: a seasoned officer would never forget something like that. Besides the mistakes and misspellings, etc. I was not sure this was such an accomplished writer. I had to look 3 or 4 times to make sure he had written so many books. It was a bit of a disappointment to me. I had looked forward to getting my teeth into something more/better. Sorry!

[Pamela DeWolf · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received the book free in a Goodreads giveaway. I was quite surprised at how thin it was, with a huge text font. The cover looked like a cheap romance, but it was a mystery that took me all of 30 minutes to read. As a mystery fan, I found numerous procedural errors that would never happen in real life, or in a real book. The descriptions of people, places, meals, etc were all thin and felt forced. Frankly, I wrote better fiction in my 10th grade creative writing class. With fewer typos and mistakes. On a typewriter, no less. I won't be trying to win any more of this author's "books".

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing good on TV? You like TV mysteries with clues and puzzle solving but not high speed chases or violent shoot'em ups?
This 50 page short story is for you. Well written, easy reading, nicely delineated characters and a plot that keeps you guessing til the very end. Better than any of the new inane comedies that don't make you laugh. I'm going to look for the rest of John Handful's cases.

BTW, this was a first reads giveaway.

[Gerard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A super short book compared to the usual tomes that I like to read but that on it's own is a nice thing.
Since it's such a short book the author can't go into extreme details yet I still managed to sketch a nice picture in my head of all the proceedings.
Considering it's a series I am thinking about picking up #1 to give this series a fair chance as I did enjoy reading it.

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting quick read. Although its a short mystery story nothing was left unsolved and i found it a very enjoyable read . You are given enough info about the characters so theirs not the feeling of confusion and no need to have read the previous 6 as all is explained and easy to understand.

Please go and buy this book as all royalties are donated to the "Cancer Research" charity .. You won't be disappointed


I recieved this book for free through goodreads first reads

[Tiffany Callan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've not read a Mystery book before and i found this easy to get into without being too heavy, i did feel i was left wondering what the relevance was to some of the people mentioned and that we only got half a story about his partner but i wasn't put of reading any future books and would recommend this book to light readers

[NaTaya Hastings · Rating 3 out of 5]

An incredibly quick read -- fifty easy-to-read pages. The characters are likeable, and even though the book is seventh in a series, it isn't hard to follow. There is enough background information to allow a smooth entrance into the world of John Handful. Not a bad book. I'd be interested in reading the other six books that came before this one.

[Claire Sayan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a copy I won from Goodreads First Reads. This 'book' was waaaay too short for me to give a proper review. Then two dancers are? Killed an infamous detective has to figure out whodunit. As it was so quick, you didn't get chance to get to know the victims so you're not really bothered who killed them!! Took about 30minutes to read.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story but I wish that it had been longer. I really enjoy being able to "get into" a book and this didn't last long enough to do this. But it was interesting and I won this from the Goodreads giveaway.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, but really short, would really enjoyed it if stories were a bit longer, but all in all a good read.

[Jennifer LeeAnn Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very good series and I devoured over twenty of these books one right after the other with very few other books during this period.

[Hilal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book through the giveaways and I enjoyed it. It's a nice short tale and I'd like to read other books of this series. I must say that cover doesn't reflect the story of the book at all

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great set of short detective stories, ideal for a long lunch to read in one go. Highly recommended.