Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!
It is my pleasure to share my thoughts with you today about
A Pose Before Dying!
A Pose Before Dying (A Cat Yoga Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Ohio
Publisher : Kensington Cozies (May 21, 2024)
Paperback : 272 pages
ISBN-10 : 1496747364
ISBN-13 : 978-1496747365
Kindle ASIN : B0CHH7WM3W
Audiobook ASIN B0CZZ5RHZ9
Audio CD ASIN : B0CW595VXQ
Fledgling entrepreneur Ashley Branson is thrilled to open her dream business—a cat yoga studio. But helping clients find balance and felines find homes soon becomes one unhealthy exercise in murder . . .
Ashley Branson has a lot to prove with her new cat yoga studio, A Purrfect Pose. It’s a place for humans to find inner wellness—and adopt adorable cats from the local shelter. It’s also a chance for Ash to run her own life, out from under her overbearing mother and a stifling relationship. So far, so successful. Until she discovers one of her new clients, a much-disliked college professor, dead in her studio, locked in child’s pose . . .
To make matters worse, Ash’s hapless always-in-trouble brother, Hunter, instantly becomes the cops’ prime suspect. Determined to clear his name and save her business, Ash does a deep lunge into the surprising—and strange—connections the victim had with her other clients. But countless suspects, contradictory leads, not to mention people desperate to see her studio shut down, mean Ash will have to stretch to the max to outthink a clever killer who’s ready to strike her red in tooth and claw . . .
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Ashley Branson is striking out on her own, opening A Purrfect Pose, a cat yoga studio, much to her mother’s ire. Ash was supposed to fall in line and work at the family business like her sister but she believes her dream business of helping her yoga clients find a balance in their wellness using cats from the local shelter who are ready to be adopted will be a huge success.
Then she finds one of her new clients, a very unpopular college professor, has been murdered in her studio, left in a child’s pose. To make matters worse her brother Hunter is at the top of police’s suspect list. He does always seem to find trouble but he is not a murderer. Knowing the police think they have their man and anxious to get her studio reopened, Ash decides to do a little sleuthing of her own. She is astonished by the connections between the dead man and her new clients but other clues are not lining up. Can she catch the killer before he catches her or will she be found in a lifeless corpse pose by the cats in her studio?
I have recently read An Escape Goat by Janna Rollins where the protagonist has a goat yoga business and I am a huge fan of Heather Day Gilbert’s Barks & Beans Cafe Cozy Mystery series where you can enjoy the company of shelter dogs and adopt them if they wish. As soon as I started reading A Pose Before Dying both popped into my head. In Alex Erickson’s new series, we have the adoptable cats partnering with the humans doing yoga, climbing all over, and being cute and cuddly as the people trying to find their inner peace. It is a fun theme for a cozy mystery series.
Mr. Erickson introduces us to some interesting characters. Ashley Branson is young and wants to follow her dream instead of her mother’s dream for her. She is a bit scatterbrained but has the training and drive to open her cat yoga studio. Her mother, Cecilia Branson is a strong-willed woman with plans for all her children but only Ashley’s older sister Alexi has gone into the family business. Ashley’s brother Hunter hasn’t had an easy time since his parents split up and tends to do things his own way, which has led to some run-ins with the law for petty crimes. His sisters try to help him when they can, but their mother, not so much. Ashley’s relationship with her dad is complicated, but he is the “sane” parent and not pushy at all. Ashley does have some good friends in Sierra and Kiersten and her neighbors, Pavan and Edna. She has a unique friendship with her ex-boyfriend from high school and it doesn’t make his new girlfriend happy.
We also meet Mr. Leslie, the dog groomer in the shop next to Ash’s cat yoga studio. He wants her out of business and out of the building yesterday. I was not a fan of Police Chief Higgins, but he may not be too bad with a little attitude adjustment. Ashley’s eclectic group of clients, a woman who wants to get into shape for her husband, some college students, Walker Hawk who seems to make Ashley flustered when he is around, the victim, Professor Jonas Valentine, and his professor wife, Fay, along with several others fill the class. All the characters develop in the story but because it is a large cast we have only learned basic details. There is plenty of room for growth as the series continues.
Oh, there are cats, a lot of cats. Their cuteness and antics were so much fun. Ash quickly adopts one, and others are adopted too. With the overpopulation of frisky felines, I am sure the shelter will be able to provide Ashley with as many as she needs and the cat yoga studio will help them all find their furever homes.
Ash is a new amateur sleuth so her investigation was a bit all over the place. With several suspects, she had her hands full. She put a lot of effort into finding her brother and chance observations led her astray more than once. She did have her sister Alexi along as a sidekick sometimes which was good because she is married to Officer Olivia Chase’s brother. This gave them a way to work around the grouchy Police Chief Higgins. Like Ashley, I had pared down the list of suspects to one, but I had the right one and Ash did not. That set up an unusual showdown. The killer was apprehended at the end but I was left with a few questions which hopefully will be cleared up in the next book.
A Pose Before Dying has given the Cat Yoga Mystery Series series a good start. There are characters I want to get to know better, some I would like to disappear, and a couple I know need to be there but hopefully will become not so disagreeable and spiteful. There are good bones here and I am confident this will be another long-running series for this author. I am rounding my rating up from 3.5 to 4 star-fish.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
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About the Author
Alex Erickson has always wanted to write, even at a young, impressionable age. He’s always had an interest in the motive behind murder, which has led him down his current path. He’s always ready with a witty-at least in his opinion-quip, and tries to keep every conversation light and friendly. Alex lives in Ohio with his family and resident felines, who provide endless amounts of inspiration.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” “As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.”
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. Alex has always wanted to write, even at a young age. He currently lives in Ohio with his family and resident felines, who provide endless amounts of inspiration.
