A POSE BEFORE DYING

The peaceful atmosphere of a yoga studio is ruined by murder.

For Ashley Branson, opening A Purffect Pose in Cardinal Lake, Ohio, is a win-win. She gets to run her own yoga business away from her domineering mother, and an endless stream of shelter cats gets a chance to interact with potential adopters. Ash is thrilled by the mixed bag of people who sign up for courses. Her first class is marred by the arrival of her brother, Hunter, a chronic troublemaker who sneaks in the back door. Next, the owner of the dog grooming place next door shows up with police officer Olivia Chase, complaining that loud meowing is ruining his business—a bogus complaint soon dismissed. Ash’s celebratory night out includes trying to convince her best friend’s girlfriend that she’s not trying to steal him and getting hot and bothered over a chance meeting with Walker Hawk, who seems to have stepped out of a romance novel. But all that fades into the background when Ash finds the body of chemistry professor Jonas Valentine in her studio, stabbed and set out in the child’s pose. Fearful that Hunter may be involved, Ash starts sleuthing even though she knows that Chief Dan Higgins will be furious with her. Once Higgins shuts her studio down, she has plenty of time to check into other suspects. The rumor that the prof was making and selling drugs is but a single step on the long road to exonerate Hunter.

A simple mystery for lovers of cats and yoga.