Review

For fans of:  Madelyn Alt and Krista Davis

When Sacred Balance proprietress A.J. Alexander hears that evangelical minister David Goode has been preaching to his flock about the evils of yoga, she's outraged; in this economy, it's not like her clients need another excuse to cut her classes from their budgets.  But when Lily Martin, the fiery manager of rival studio Yoga Meridian, approaches A.J. about joining forces to ruin Goode before he can bankrupt them both, A.J.'s forced to wonder: if they engage Goode, won’t they just be giving him exactly what he wants – more publicity for his church?

More publicity’s what the church gets, though, when Reverend Goode turns up dead – stabbed in the neck with a Yoga Meridian pen after a very public altercation with none other than Lily, herself.  A.J. knows Lily is innocent, but who else would have cause to kill a man of the cloth?  As it turns out, a lot of people.  Can A.J. help exonerate Lily and pin down the real killer before he or she can strike again?

Death in a Difficult Position is the fourth of Diana Killian’s Mantra for Murder Mysteries.  The plot is intricate, the mystery will keep you guessing, and Killian does a fabulous job of sucking the reader into A.J.’s investigation by giving the murder victim one heck of a juicy backstory.  Murdered heiresses, mythical monsters, and assumed identities – Death in a Difficult Position has them all.  The story gets away from her occasionally (one too many quirky elements, perhaps?), and I think Killian’s questions tend to be more interesting than her answers, but on the whole, it’s quite an entertaining read.  The pace is quick, the prose is smooth, and the book has a really nice sense of atmosphere.

A.J.’s a likable heroine with whom readers will easily identify, and her relationship with police detective Jake is warm and realistic.  The Rolex-wearing, Mercedes-driving, woman-hating Reverend Goode is pitch-perfect in his villainy; sleazy, predatory, and creepy as hell, you’ll be rooting for his death from page one.  And A.J.’s aging British starlet of a mother, Elysia, makes for a charming and hilarious sidekick.  The book’s background characters are refreshingly three-dimensional, as well, from surly teenager Mocha, to grieving widow Oriel, to temperamental murder suspect Lily.

Having never done yoga myself, I was worried I wouldn’t find much to like in Diana Killian’s Mantra for Murder series, but I was very pleasantly surprised.   Come for the yoga, stay for the intrigue; Killian’s Death in a Difficult Position is sure to please even the most exercise-adverse cozy lover among us.