Death In A Difficult Position (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
When the charasmatic Reverend David Goode moves to Stillbrook he singles out Sacred Balance and Yoga Meridian as the root of evil. According to him, yoga is a heathen demonic practice. AJ isn't the only person whose livelihood is at risk - her ex-partner Lily is the new manager of Yoga Meridian. But when the Reverend ends up dead and Lily is arrested, AJ feels she has to prove Lily's innocence. But with the Reverend's distinctly unreligious habits and the appearance of the Jersey Devil, this case may be AJ's strangest yet.This is the fourth book in the Mantra for Murder Mysteries (after Corpse Pose, Dial Om for Murder and Murder on the Eightfold Path) and I really enjoyed it. I struggled through the last installment as there was so much going on at once, but now AJ's life is more settled the book was a great read. The densly plotted storyline was packed with twists and turns and kept me glued to the page. The ending is well thought out and gives a surprisingly upbeat conclusion to the story.The idea of covering the debate between religion and yoga was a fascinating idea, partly because I've seen arguments against yoga from various religious figureheads in the real world. AJ comes up against a Reverend who is convinced that yoga is the work of the devil and they have several interesting conversations where AJ tries to explain her perspective and he railroads her. The author manages to show that it is closemindedness that is the problem, rather than blaming religion itself.I was a little concerned that I wouldn't really care about Lily being accused of murder as I didn't really like her in the previous books, but my attention was drawn into the case by AJ's mother Elysia. Now the star of her own mystery TV show Golden Gumshoes, Elysia turns up with her fellow castmembers and plunges straight into the case. Also the threat of Lily coming back to Sacred Balance had me rooting for AJ proving her innocence.There were also some great supporting storylines, including AJ and Jake's increasingly serious romance and also Elysia's new relationship with her costar Dean. The latter is great because it brings the attraction between Elysia and town lawyer Mr Meagher to a head. Yoga also gets more page time with AJ's own practice and it's impact on grumpy teenager Mocha. However my favourite part of the book has to be the appearance of the Jersey Devil. I've loved folklore on this for years so to see it take a leading role in a book was brilliant.At the end of the book there is the usual yoga and recipe section. This time it features a guide to three yoga poses (sideways bend, forward bend and cobra pose) alongside recipes for Baked Manicotti and Chocolate Clementine Cake which were both mouthwateringly described in the book.All in all this was a great read from a fun series.Plot: 10/10Characters: 10/10Ending: 10/10Enjoyment: 10/10Cover: 9/10Overall: 49/50 In Stillbrook, New Jersey, A. J. Alexander runs a yoga studio, Sacred Balance, that she inherited from her favorite aunt, Diantha. Lily Martin, formerly A.J.'s studio manager is now running a rival studio called Yoga Meridian. Lily gets all fired up when she hears about the new Reverend David Goode in town. Apparently, he thinks yoga is derived from demonic practices and he tries to convince his parishoners that they will go to hell if they practice at any of the yoga studios. The Reverend wants to shut them all down and he is vehemently vocal about it.The hot-tempered Lily begs A.J. to try to talk to the fire and brimstone spewing Goode into thinking differently about yoga but that is like talking to a brick wall. Funny how it turns out the righteous Reverend is not quite so good himself. It seems he has a few skeletons in his closet, so, it's no surprise one morning he is found dead and it's obviously murder.Since Lily was so vocal about her condemnation of Reverend Goode, the police think she could be the killer. Lily wants A.J. to use her sleuthing skills to try to find the real killer. That sure puts A.J. in a difficult position! She ends up having to do a lot of digging into Goode's past and what she finds is mindblowing! Reverend Goode has been quite the bad boy for some time and not just locally. Killian presents a great mystery with this one. First, I thought the killer was one person and then another. She had me stumped! A.J.s mother was a character I really liked. She and her Golden Gumshoe friends added a lot of spice and humor to the book. 4****Although this is # 4 in the Mantra for Murder series, it can be read as a stand-alone.
What do You think about Death In A Difficult Position (2011)?
Another fun installment from Killian. A.J. is a great charater!
—anne
I won this book on Goodreads giveaway.Thank you Goodreads !!
—rexvex
