A Fatal Mantra: A Lark Linley Yoga Studio Mystery

By Rowan Callery

The last thing Celeste Alder left behind was supposed to be a mantra.
Then someone rewrote it as a threat.

For years, Lark Linley has known every sound, scent, and shadow inside Sun & Sparrow Yoga Studio-the old mill floorboards, the river light through the arched windows, the brass bell Celeste rang at the end of every class.

Now Celeste is dead after a fall down the back stairs, and Lark is trying to keep the studio breathing through its grief.

Then she opens the studio before sunrise and finds new words written across the chalkboard wall:

RELEASE WHAT BINDS YOU, OR BE RELEASED.

At first, it could be cruel vandalism. A grieving student with terrible judgment. A threat meant to frighten Lark away from the space Celeste left in her care.

But the room tells a different story.

The handwriting is wrong. The chalk has two layers. The back stair rail is loose. A screw is missing. And on the top tread, Lark finds a slick trace of custom-blended oil that should never have been there.

Celeste's death was not an accident.

As Lark begins following the clues through studio keys, scholarship records, lease pressure, curated wellness personas, sound bowls, lavender oils, and the quiet habits of people who know exactly how the studio works, one truth becomes harder to avoid: whoever staged Celeste's fall understood Sun & Sparrow from the inside.

This was not a stranger.
This was one of them.

A Fatal Mantra is an atmospheric yoga studio mystery for readers who love observant women sleuths, small-town secrets, wellness-world tension, and murder investigations where the language of healing can hide something far more dangerous.

Step onto the mat-but don't assume everyone in the room came there to find peace.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GXV9HR5P
• ISBN13: 9798258067272
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"