Bex is a figure skating researcher with the 24/7 network. She's been helping cover the world championship in San Francisco when the Italian judge ends up electrocuted in the refrigeration room of the rink after a controversial win of the Russian skater over the beloved American. Bex's boss, Type-A producer Gil Cahill assigns her to find out who killed the judge. Bex's self-deprecating humor makes her a very human character, not some super sleuth. The author's inside view on the figure skating world adds an extra dimension to this mystery series. ( )

Rebecca (Bex) Levy is the research person for 24/7 sports network for ice skating. Who would think that such a pretty sport could be so grueling. Between the exhausting schedule (apparently skaters are morning people), the bickering and the politics, Bex can bearly get any time to herself. But now they have made it to the World Championships, it is almost over. What could possibly go wrong now? Hmmm, how about a controversial judge' s decision followed by the death of said judge.? Now Bex's boss wants her to discover who the killer is before they air their last show. Great TV right. Yeah, but Bex has no idea how to investigate a murder, so drawing on her vast knowledge of mystery novels and cop tv shows, she stumbles and fumbles her way through the clues.

I really enjoyed this book. The third person narrative was nice for a change. Bex sees the skating world, well, the world in general with a jaundiced eye, but she has a refreshing faith in people that comes through despite her constantly being disappointed by those around her. I also learned a lot about the sport of skating and the way it is judged. There were also nice details about how a production like a skating competition is produced. The mystery is good and no clues are witheld. And there is a lot of humor. Lots of fun. ( )

This is the first in the series of figure skating mysteries about TV researcher and sleuth Bex Levy. I'd read the 3rd and 4th books, and bought the 1st and 2nd, but they've been buried in my TBR pile.

It's the World Figure Skating Championship, and surprisingly, the Russian skater wins over the American favorite, with the Italian judge casting the deciding vote. Amid a huge controversy over bloc voting and accusations of bribery or coercion, the Italian judge is found dead. The police seem inclined to view it as an accident, but it seems too coincidental to ignore.

Bex has just gotten her job as figure skating researcher. Not only does she have to keep the on-air talent from screwing up (they're a former pairs skating team, who delight in goading each other), she's under the constant threat of losing her job (her boss's idea of motivation).

So in desperation, Bex promises to deliver the real story in two days.

The slow accumulation of clues and following false leads was mildly frustrating, but it was also refreshingly realistic. I'd much rather read about a sleuth, particularly an amateur one, who makes mistakes than one who gets it all right from the beginning. And the reader's frustration evokes Bex's, which is good, too.

There's also the very realistic-feeling look inside the world of figure skating competitions, and our introduction to the slightly larger-than-life ongoing characters of Bex's boss Gil and the on-air commentators, the Howarths.

Murder on Ice had been in my TBR pile for about a year. I'm hoping to unearth the 2nd book in the series before the 5th comes out. ( )