A.J. is also dealing with two prima donna customers, actress Nicole Manning and reality star and mob boss’s daughter Barbie Siragusa who wants to film an episode of her reality show in A.J.’s studio.  A.J. has put her foot down against that, but when Nicole calls and asks A.J. to bring the cell phone Nicole left at the studio to her home, she agrees. When A.J. arrives at Nicole’s house, there is much activity preparing for the evening’s party, but no one seems to have noticed that the host is dead, her head bashed in by an ice sculpture of a koala bear. 

Once again in the wrong place at the wrong time, A.J. calls her new boyfriend, detective Jake Oberlin, who warns A.J. not to get too involved in this case. When A.J.’s ex shows up on her front porch asking A.J. for refuge for a few days, A.J. begrudgingly agrees, knowing Andy is hiding something from her. She soon is sorry she said yes when Andy reminds her that as a marketing firm, the two set up Nicole’s original fan website and they have the phone number of the original fan club president turned celebrity stalker. 

All this is starting to make A.J.’s head spin, and she is very happy her eccentric mother is on a tour of Egypt, or so she thinks. Apparently Nicole was famous enough that word or her death reached the African continent and Elysia speeds home to “help” her daughter. Without meaning to, A.J. keeps running into clues and people who were connected to Nicole and before she knows it, she’s up to her neck in the investigation.

  Dial Om for Murder is a fun, quick read with an interesting cast of characters and a well-plotted mystery.  A.J. is engaging as she makes her transition from a hectic paced life in New York City to a more rural, slower-paced (or so A.J. thought!) way of life.  A.J. is trying to make a go of the yoga studio and has started living a healthier life, incorporating yoga and meditation into her life.  She is very kind, and still cares about her ex-husband, but is not willing to get too deeply involved in his problems until he faces them and comes to grips with them on his own. 

She is also not willing to let Andy’s presence, nor her mother’s interest in A.J. and Andy reuniting, get in the way of her new relationship with Jake.  Readers will more than likely guess the who, what and how of Nicole’s murder before the end, but will be rooting for A.J. as the managing of the yoga studio and its employees comes to a head.                                                     

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry